From the beginning of life, living creatures have slept. Whether a few short hours or nearly the whole day, all living things sleep or rest in some shape or form. There are three major theories on why humans and other animals sleep. The three theories are repair and restoration, evolutionary or adaptive, and the information processing theory. Each one has tons of support, and scientists agree it could be a combination of any one of these. The first theory I will talk about is the repair and restoration theory. The repair and restoration theory is one of the most backed theories of sleep. Scientists have conducted extensive research to support this theory. The restoration theory’s main point is the repair of the physical processes that keeps the body and mind working properly (Cherry, 2017). This is seen very clearly when a person is sick. When sick or infected, your
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Nearly all animals have adapted to sleep or some other form of rest when being awake would be unsafe. This can be seen in many animals species, ranging from the smallest of rodents all the way up to the kings of the jungle, lions. When comparing these animals it is clear that each has a very diverse sleep schedule. Rabbits and other rodents, who have many natural predators, sleep very lightly for only short periods of time. Whereas lions, who have few to no natural predators sleep long hours in the open during the day (Cherry, 2017). This theory can also be seen in humans. Our early ancestors lacked night vision and natural weapons so they may have evolved sleep as a way to escape larger night time predators (Hock, 2015). A counter argument to this theory is that many people believe being awake and conscious would allow for a much greater survival rate than being asleep. Incase of an emergency, being awake would give animals a much longer time to react than if they were asleep (Why Do We Sleep, Anyway?,
Nearly all animals have adapted to sleep or some other form of rest when being awake would be unsafe. This can be seen in many animals species, ranging from the smallest of rodents all the way up to the kings of the jungle, lions. When comparing these animals it is clear that each has a very diverse sleep schedule. Rabbits and other rodents, who have many natural predators, sleep very lightly for only short periods of time. Whereas lions, who have few to no natural predators sleep long hours in the open during the day (Cherry, 2017). This theory can also be seen in humans. Our early ancestors lacked night vision and natural weapons so they may have evolved sleep as a way to escape larger night time predators (Hock, 2015). A counter argument to this theory is that many people believe being awake and conscious would allow for a much greater survival rate than being asleep. Incase of an emergency, being awake would give animals a much longer time to react than if they were asleep (Why Do We Sleep, Anyway?,