Why Does Our Body Need Sleep?

Did you ever think about why our brain gets tired and tells us to go to sleep?  The keyword in that question is “brain”.  Well, our brain doesn’t actually get physically tired.  During the day, we learn and retain (store) loads of information and we need to be able to keep this information.  In order for our brain to store all of this new information, it tells us to go to sleep.  While we are sleeping, our brain stores and processes all of the information that was given to us while we were awake.  That’s why little babies sleep so much.  Their brain is constantly working to take in all of the information while they were awake.  If we tried to take in new information and stay up for 24 hours, our brain would have a harder time of processing what we just learned, so it will be harder for us to remember the new information.  Our brain also tells us when our body needs to rest.  Such as when you are sick with a cold.  Our brain tells us that our body needs to rest in order to restore our energy and fight off the virus.  So, sleep is very important!  Our brain needs for us to rest to get smarter and healthier!