What Happens When We Sleep?!?

According to Brain Rules, “Sleep occupies a walloping one-third of our time on the planet, it is incredible to contemplate that we still don’t know why we need to sleep.” (Chapter 7 on Sleep).  Have you ever wondered what happens in your brain while 

you’re sleeping?

Brain Rules tells us, that when we are asleep, are brains are hard at work!

What?! Hmmm… wonder if that means we can actually learn and grow smarter while we’re sleeping, and the only real resting period for the brain is during non-REM sleep. 

(REM stands for Rapid Eye Motion)

So what are our brains DOING during all that electrical neuron storm? Apparently processing our day and life lessons!  I don’t know about you, but I love the idea that my brain is working and learning and processing lessons while I am sleeping! 

Here’s and analogy:  It’s like our body is like an iPod, and our beds are like our charging docks.  You get that right away, right? We know we have to recharge our devices after long periods of use.  Same thing with our bodies, and the bed-charging dock is also our sync-and-download period! 

(To read more on about what happens to your brain while asleep, read chapter 7 of Brain Rules).