Some people believe that they can train their bodies to not require as much sleep as they once did. However, this belief is false. Sleep is needed to regenerate certain parts of the body, especially the brain, so that it may continue to function optimally. After periods of extended wakefulness or reduced sleep neurons may begin to malfunction, visibly effecting a person’s behavior. Some organs, such as muscles, are able to regenerate even when a person is not sleeping so long as they are resting.
One study stated that people who sleep less than four hours per night are three times more likely to die within the next six years Although the longest a human has remained awake was eleven days, rats that are continually deprived of sleep die within two to five weeks, generally due to their severely weakened immune system.
Sleep deprivation studies help us to study the relationship between the brain and behavior in a very unique way by observing how a person’s behavior changes as the brain shuts down. Without sleep our brain deteriorates and if the argument that brain = behavior is true, then our behavior will also suffer accordingly.
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