Why do we have to sleep? Do some animals don't sleep?

Do bacterias sleep?

>>8970536
It's actually pretty amazing that we still don't know for sure. I mean we spend about a third of our lives with it, but we don't really know why.

Anyway, it seems obvious that it has to do with brain function, considering what happens when we don't do it enough. Also, I think everybody made the experience to some degree that sleep helped reinforce whatever we learned or getting over emotional trauma. Children sleep more than adults, which probably has to do with increased neural plasticity. So it kind of seems plausible that during sleep there is some sort of maintenance going on in our heads. If I think about neural networks in computer science, I can imagine hat there's some kind of gradient descent thing going on in our heads.

>>8970543
I would just add that it's also probably beneficial for some metabolic functions unrelated to brain.
Unspent energy saved from not moving around can be used elsewhere.

>>8970543
Sorta, from what little I recall memories go through a process called consolidation when sleeping and reconsolidation when recalled, both of which attempt to trim the fat and retain only the needed information. This may be loosely analogous to minimizing a cost function I suppose.

Neurons decrease in size while unconscious and molecules flow more freely through the interstitial fluid.

>>8970536
When neural networks are deployed, usually a much smaller neural network is retrained using the output of a bigger one as a label. That way, you reduce the complexity of your model and thus the computational load drastically, without meaningfully compromising the performance.

I actually imagine that processes like that are going on in the brain, some kind of optimization to make room for new shit and to enhance the efficiency and performance.

It depends on how you're asking it. Like it's not like there is a single benefit to sleeping. Essentially the brain establishes a connection to the outside world upon bein woke. When you sleep you go offline in a way. There are many processes that are done while being asleep but not all of them are absolutely necessary for survival. Sometimes it seems even detrimental. Like when you're driving lol.

There's no single reason it's just a function of existing.

besides the benefits to the brain the body also uses sleep to repair muscles and other tissues

>>8970543
>>8970552
>>8970557
>>8970573
>>8970596
>>8970604


>So it kind of seems plausible that during sleep there is some sort of maintenance going on in our heads.
Why can't it happen when we don't sleep.

>>8970596
>i dont know what im talking about and im spewing my stupid opinions and little expertise on the subject: the post

>>8971110
so the body can devote all of its resources to those tasks

>>8971139
Do we sleep since the beginning of all living forms or did a process occur?
Does it concern all living forms including bacterias?

>>8970596
>Essentially the brain establishes a connection to the outside world upon bein woke


this is what realists believe


HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

>>8970536
It's a maintenance phase. Whoever is running this simulation is doing some upgrading/debugging on our code or something, who cares.

Since animals are basically defendless while sleeping we are sure there must be a compelling reason for sleeping.
Only dolphins have developed the ability to sleep with one half of the brain at the time, so to not be completely undefended.
The current theory is brain neurons need it periodically in order to cleanse of some chemicals, and during that process brain can't function properly.

>>8970552
These were early theories that fell apart when they measured the differences in calorie burn between sleeping and just regular conscious resting basal metabolic rate and they turned out to be wholly insignificant.

They also looked at body maintenance such as cellular division in the repairing of damage and growth, and the results also turned out insignificant.

It's also damning that instead of evolving out of having to sleep, evolution was forced to take steps to find defenses while sleeping- tree climbing, burrowing, maintaining balance while asleep, and so on.

>>8971110
this is where science is like "hurr really good question let's go build the large hadron collider we've got some questions more easily answered over in this direction instead"

now there might be a drive to discover more as people look for ways to avoid sleep entirely. there is drugs that provide wakefulness and drugs that induce sleep, but there's no kind of method that permits the brain to do its maintenance or w/e it's doing while being conscious and functional. I think some day soon the interest will expand and we'll get our answer, instead of just the shoulder shrug we get now.

>>8971139
>Why don't you repair the car when you're driving?
Admittingly that doesn't quite translate but still.

>>8971147
>HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
>this is what hysterical idiots believe

>>8970536
>Do some animals don't sleep?
I read some time ago that the shrew (Soricidae)
does not sleep, but I can't find a credible reference.

>>8971421
According to wikipedia the shrew does sleep.

>>8971142
>waht

To discern between waking and asleep state you need to be capable of being conscious in the first place.

>>8971384
*changes tire while driving*
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WLwRg3erm4

>>8970536
It conserves energy in predators.

Giraffes, in the wild, only sleep for about 5 minutes at a time for a total of about 20-30 min.
Lions on the other hand sleep up to 20 hours a day.

>>8970536
brain are tired