Readers often tell me that when they can’t solve a crossword clue, they sleep on it and hey presto! In the morning the answer suddenly springs out at them.
Writer John Steinbeck discusses this phenomenon “It is a common experience that a problem difficult at night is resolved in the morning after the committee of sleep has worked on it.”
Scientists have explored the question of why we need to sleep. Reptiles and fish have periods of inactivity but they don’t actually need to sleep, so why do we?
Apart from the fact that we need to rest and recuperate, sleep provides the perfect time for the body to repair and rejuvenate itself.
It’s been discovered in recent experiments that animals deprived entirely of sleep lose all immune function and die in a matter of weeks.
Sleep plays a critical role in brain development in infants and young children. Infants spend roughy 13 to 14 hours a day sleeping, and about half of that time is spent in REM sleep, the stage in which most dreams occur. A link between sleep and brain development is becoming clear in adults as well. This is seen in the effect that sleep and sleep deprivation have on people’s ability to learn and perform a variety of tasks.
Approximately one-third of your life is spent sleeping, and the length and quality of your sleep directly affects your daily performance, your mood, and your entire waking life. If you’re not getting enough hours of sleep, then you’re not living up to your full potential.
So although it may seem a waste of time spending eight hours in complete inactivity, the good news is that your brain is solving life’s problems, including that tricky crossword clue, while you slumber.
Happy Puzzz…ling!
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