Scientists Discover the Reason We Need Sleep

Humans need sleep; everybody knows that without it, we get cranky, a bit loopy, and then we die. Unfortunately, science has been a little iffy about it; though we understood the negative effects associated with lack of sleep, no one really knew why those things happened. Now, we’re finally getting some insight into what sleep does for our bodies.

For the first time ever, scientists at the University of Rochester have found one of the reasons our brain needs sleep to survive. Turns out, when we sleep, our brain takes that time to clean out the build-up of brain junk we accumulate during our waking hours. Sleep is pretty much necessary for our body’s mental street-cleaners to come out and do their work. Read more...