We spend about 8 hours/day, 56 hours/week, 240 hours/month and 2,920 hours/year doing it...that's right...SLEEPING.

We apparently spend one third of our lives doing nothing. But is sleep really doing nothing? It looks like it...our eyes are closed, our muscles are relaxed, our breathing is regular, and we do not respond to sound or light. Sleep is a physical and mental resting state in which a
person becomes relatively inactive and unaware of the environment. In essence, sleep is a partial detachment from the world, where most external stimuli are blocked from the senses. Normal sleep is characterized by a general decrease in body temperature, blood pressure, breathing rate, and most other bodily functions. In contrast, the human brain never decreases inactivity. Studies have shown that the brain is as active during sleep as it is when awake Sleep is defined as a state of unconsciousness from which a person can be aroused. In this state, the brain is relatively more responsive to internal stimuli than external stimuli. Sleep should be distinguished from coma. Coma is anunconscious state from which a person cannot be aroused. Sleep is essential for the normal, healthy functioning of the human body. It is a complicated physiological phenomenon that scientists do not fully understand. Historically, sleep was thought to be a passive state. However, sleep is now known to be a dynamic process, and our brains are active during sleep. Sleep affects our physical and mental health, and is essential for the normal functioning of all the systems of our body, including the immune system. The effect of sleep on theimmune system affects ones ability to fight disease and endure sickness. States of brain activity during sleep and wakefulness result from different activating and inhibiting forces that are generated within the brain. Neurotransmitters (chemicals involved in nerve signaling) control whether one is asleep or awake by acting on nerve cells (neurons) in different parts of the brain. Neurons located in thebrainstem actively cause sleep by inhibiting other parts of the brain that keep a person awake.

most of us acknowledge at some level that sleep makes us feel better. We feel more alert, more energetic, happier, and better able to function following a good night of sleep. However, the fact that sleep makes us feel better and that going without sleep makes us feel worse only begins to explain why sleep might be necessary. One way to think about the function of sleep is to compare it to another of our life-sustaining activities: eating. Hunger is a protective mechanism that has evolved to ensure that we consume the nutrients our bodies require to grow, repair tissues, and function properly. And although it is relatively easy to grasp the role that eating serves given that it involves physically consuming the substances our bodies needeating and sleeping are not as different as they might seem. Both eating and sleeping are regulated by powerful internal drives. Going without food produces the uncomfortable sensation of hunger, while going without sleep makes us feel overwhelmingly sleepy. And just as eating relieves hunger and ensures that we obtain the nutrients we need, sleeping relieves sleepiness and ensures that we obtain the sleep we need. Still, the question remains: Why do we need sleep at all? Is there a single primary function of sleep, or does sleep serve many functions? An Unanswerable Question? Scientists have explored the question of why we sleep from many different angles. They have examined, for example, what happens when humans or other animals are deprived of sleep. In other studies, they have looked at sleep patterns in a variety of organisms to see if similarities or differences among species might reveal something about sleep's functions. Yet, despite decades of

research and many discoveries about other aspects of sleep, the question of why we sleep has been difficult to answer. The lack of a clear answer to this challenging question does not mean that this research has been a waste of time. In fact, we now know much more about the function of sleep, and scientists have developed several promising theories to explain why we sleep. In light of the evidence they have gathered, it seems likely that no single theory will ever be proven correct. Instead, we may find that sleep is explained by two or more of these explanations. The hope is that by better understanding why we sleep, we will learn to respect sleep's functions more and enjoy the health benefits it affords.

Sleep has an important effect in our daily life and functioning, it also affects our physical and mental health in many ways. This can be proved easily, when we do not sleep well or have problem sleeping we wake up tired, without energy and sometimes angry, and as a result of this, we are not able to do all the things that we normally do as working or studying, also it is very difficult to concentrate on anything and we usually are not in the mood to talk with anybody or get very angry for things without importance. On the other hand, none or almost none of these things happen when we have a good night's sleep. So, how much sleep is actually necessary? It varies for each person, and it depends on several factors like age. For example, infants require around 16 hours of bedtime, teenagers need about 9 hours and most adults need 8 hours on average. Pregnancy is another factor, women in their first trimester usually need to sleep more hours than they normally do. Also, if a person has been deprived of sleep in past days, the amount of sleep that person needs will increase. And what does a good night's sleep do for our health? Sleep seems to be important so that our nervous systems can work correctly. If we do not sleep enough we feel drowsy and can not concentrate on what we do, we also experience impaired memory and physical performance and we are less able to carry out math calculations. If sleep deprivation is prolonged, we experiment hallucinations and mood swings. Doctors and scientist say that, with enough sleep, used neurons have an opportunity to repair themselves, so if we dont sleep properly these neurones become so depleted in energy that they can malfunction. So here are the most important questions so far, what can we do to assure that well get the amount of sleep we need? What can we do to treat any sleep disorder that doesnt allow us to get that good nights sleep we require? Doctors have many recommendations for their patients, but the most important of them is to use natural sleep aids and products like Sleepatil that help us to achieve their objective