When I started recovering from insomnia my mood instantly changed. Manly cause I had more energy so I was able to interact with people without feeling as tired and "not bothered". It was crazy how much happier I was and how I noticed people were more willing to talk to me because I was more willing to talk to them. Sleep. It's so so important you have no idea.
We actually know a lot about why we need it haha
We need it so our neural pathways grow and develop as we learn throughout the day thus allowing us to retain information. We need it to process emotions,thoughts and experiences we've had and we also need it for bodily growth hence why babies sleep so much. Sleep allows us to process stimuli and give our organs a rest, that's why you literally die without it.
Well the second question is answered from my previous comment. Basically sleep gives our bodies a break, if we continually take in stimuli 24/7 we would overload and die. Think about people who don't sleep, it's even used as a form of torture, within 2 days your body/brain can't cope as it has to continuously process and store information but doesn't have enough down time to do that. You act as though your blood alcohol level is at 0.10 percent. We have these things called Altered States of Awareness, a few examples of these are being conscious, daydreaming and asleep. When we don't sleep our brain begins to confuse reality with that of our other states, thus making it feel like you're not really "here", some even start to hallucinate. All in all, sleep is not only a mechanism in which we recharge, process experiences, store memories and heal but it's also something that keeps our body in check and our functions operating at optimal capacity.
You're not thinking quite deep enough. Most of what you described are symptoms of a lack of sleep, but what actually causes those symptoms?
For most of our bodies' ailments we know the specific chemical reasons for symptoms.
Why can't we take in stimuli 24/7 without overloading and dying?
Why do you act as though your blood alcohol level is at 0.10 percent?
Why does your brain start to confuse states of awareness and/or hallucinate?
What actually causes those things?
Alright well, to explain most of those things It's gonna take a lot more words than I can use. Our brain, for starters, is made up of neurons that are constantly firing information throughout the body and new ones are also growing, some are dying. Energy is needed to do all of these processes, we eat and drink for energy and we also sleep to retain and recharge energy. We can't take in stimuli 24/7 as this would take up too much energy, without sleep we pretty much just run out as it's hard and tiring for neurons to constantly work. You act as though your bac is 0.10% because your brain begins to confuse states of awareness, you get slower reaction times, can't focus etc. Because your brain needs energy and that is gained through sleep. Chemical/hormonal wise, when you are constantly awake you are at a higher arousal level than when asleep, which takes more energy to obtain, when you don't sleep for a lengthy period of time your body believes you are in danger and releases (con)
more cortisol and noradrenaline, this activates your stress response (even more energy). When you are in this stage of stress for a long time it’s detrimental for the development of the brain architecture especially in early age. and When you are asleep, your brain knows you are safe as this is our most venerable state, it releases melatonin, serotonin and dopamine. All chemicals needed to build healthy neural pathways and keep the body in a state of lower arousal so energy can be focused on healing/ building. Different parts of the brain are used when you’re awake and when you’re asleep, if you don’t sleep then only those specific parts needed in wakefulness is used thus growing, pretty much “you don’t use it you lose it” so those parts needed for sleep/health/ energy don’t grow and you can’t function. Does that help with any of your questions? If you don't understand or are still interested then I suggest you take up some classes or maybe research more yourself.
Because they are different states of awareness, sleep is when we use the least amount of energy. Sleep is the only state where the body and brain can fully power-down and focus on recharging, the brain can't go without sleep because that's just not how humans function, the hormones needed for healing/processing etc etc. are only released during sleep. Thus, we can't retain and recharge energy without it. Your brain believes you are in danger when you don't sleep because we naturally run on a cycle - sleep, wakeup, sleep, wakeup etc- when we don't follow that pattern the brain believes something is wrong as biologically we always follow patterns. By not sleeping our brain goes "oh, something must be wrong, there must be a threat nearby so I have to go on high alert to protect myself", cause when we are safe we sleep, when we don't we're in trouble. I can explain certain systems our brain has to reach that conclusion if you want?
Retaining and recharging is a simpler way of saying, sleep gives us time for our body to make and store glucose (and other sugars) which are our source of energy. The brain uses glucose for majority of its cellular activities. You don't give your body time to process food we intake into separate sugars and nutrients, then you run out, then the brain can't function, then you die.
We need it so our neural pathways grow and develop as we learn throughout the day thus allowing us to retain information. We need it to process emotions,thoughts and experiences we've had and we also need it for bodily growth hence why babies sleep so much. Sleep allows us to process stimuli and give our organs a rest, that's why you literally die without it.
What does sleep actually do?
For most of our bodies' ailments we know the specific chemical reasons for symptoms.
Why can't we take in stimuli 24/7 without overloading and dying?
Why do you act as though your blood alcohol level is at 0.10 percent?
Why does your brain start to confuse states of awareness and/or hallucinate?
What actually causes those things?
Why does your brain believe you're in danger when you don't get enough sleep?