Why Is It Important for Us to Have Enough Sleep?

     It may astound us when we realise that we spend one third of our lives sleeping. This means that at the age of sixty a person would have spent twenty years in slumberland! Human beings sleep about 6 to 8 hours a day. This is one-third of the day every day of our lives. Hence when we are sixty, we would have slept for twenty years of our lives. Or at the age of 18, we would have slept for 6 years.


     The capitalists among us calculate that the hours that we spend sleeping, if they could be converted into useful working hours, would result in earning millions of additional dollars. This, however, does not take into consideration that biologically we need to sleep. In truth, a man may drop dead from sheer exhaustion within a week without sleep.

     Sleep is so important because of the activities that go on in our minds and bodies during the time that we sleep. The condition of voluntary parts of our bodies during sleep is to be absolutely inactive and that is what is vital. However automatic functions of the body such as the heart, lungs, the blood, stomach and most of the other organs and - most of all, the subconscious mind, carry on working. It is during the time of sleep that the automatic functions of the body - including the organs and the subconscious mind - work at rejuvenating us. Nature has created us in such a way that some parts of us have to be inactive so that the others can carry out certain vital aspects of work.


     It is obvious that the unconscious mind is very active during sleep. In fact this is the most important reason to sleep. When we sleep, the unconscious parts of ourselves take full control of the body and set to work to repair and regenerate. Indeed when we are ill we are advised to get as much sleep as possible because it has been discovered, that is when we are sleeping that the body recovers from all the wear and tear that we put it through. Of course that is not to say that the more sleep we get the better.

     Hours of sleep are according to habits. We know that some people can get by with a minimum number of hours of sleep while others need many more hours. Observation shows that it is the younger people who need more sleep. As we grow older we need less sleep. That is why we see that babies seem to sleep the whole time, while grandparents are able to go to bed late and wake up early with no trouble at all. Perhaps this is because the body learns to get all its regenerative work done efficiently as we grow older.

     While we sleep, the mind also regenerates. Many of the problems that we carry around with us seem to be solved after a good night's sleep. This is something that has been observed in scientists and inventors and in lay people as well. Quite often decision makers me up with brilliant solutions to problems that had defied solution after hours of logical thinking. Dreams too are important. As we dream, the mind finds solace for its problem by imagining solutions. Often what we are not able to enjoy in the waking state presents itself while we are dreaming. Dreams have been found to be a healthy relese from a lot of stress.

     Sleep is a phenomenon which affects all living things - from simple microorganisms to giant plants and animals. There is even evidence to show that even so called non-living things are actually simpler life forms which sleep. Hence in the future it may be proven that things such as rocks and stones may actually sleep too. Sleep is a wonderful phenomena that nature has built into all beings as part if their existence.

Taken from 200 Model Essays for A level General Paper