I’m sorry Patrick but I think you’re wrong this time! B-b-but WHY?! So let&rsqu

I’m sorry Patrick but I think you’re wrong this time!

B-b-but WHY?!

So let’s say that you want to watch all two seasons of Orange is the New Black (WE NEED MORE SEASONS BTW) without pausing to go outside or sleep. What is wrong with this?

1. It’s “Unhealthy”.

2. You need sleep and you will probably die because OITNB is too interesting for you to sleep. Therefore, death from lack of sleep. R.I.P.

We’ve established that we NEED sleep (or will die) but no one really knows why we need to sleep. Some scientists say that sleep gives the body a chance to recover from the day’s activities, however, we only save 50 kCal of energy from eight hours of sleep. 50 kCal isn’t much and is the same amount of energy in a piece of toast.

Oh so I can just eat a piece of toast and never sleep?

No because then you will start speaking liek dis and getvery grupmy fro reassanss you can’t remember (and probably die, R.I.P).

If you haven’t slept in a while, the part of the brain that controls language, memory, planning and sense of time will become severely affected. Fun fact:17 hours of sustained wakefulness leads to a decrease in performance equivalent to a blood alcohol level of 0.05%, essentially two glasses of wine!

Other consequences:

Sleep-deprived individuals often have problems with making rational judgments and the consequences of sleep-deprivation can be quite serious. Sleep deprivation is said to have been a contributory factor to a number of international disasters (Chernobyl, Challenger shuttle explosion, etc.).In other words, GO TO SLEEP.

Sleep loss may increase the risk of obesity because the chemicals and hormones that control appetite and weight gain are released during sleep.

Horrible headaches.

Hallucinations and delusions.

Are you getting enough sleep?

The amount of sleep people need, varies from person to person. You can take THIS test to see how much sleep YOU need. Jim Horne from Loughborough University’s Sleep Research Centre has a pretty good answer to this question:

The amount of sleep we require is what we need not to be sleepy in the daytime.

Don’t worry if you can’t stay awake for 11 days like Randy Gardner did in 1965. Sleep isn’t for the weak, it’s just for people who feel like having hallucinations.. OR playing League of Legends all night (guilty).

Different animals have outstanding and fascinating variations when it comes to how much they need to sleep. A python could sleep for 18 hours a day, whilst a giraffe only sleeps on average 1.9 hours a day!

Soon I too well be sleep-deprived from staying up to write this post. Next post will likely be on how we dream!

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