Sleep

Sleep is a necessary element of our daily life . It is during sleep that the new memories are etched in the brain . Sleep is likewise essential for it allows the brain to discern the connections of newly acquired knowledge to what is already known . Also , sleep helps people perform tasks better . The lack of sleep has often times led to accidents in jobs that put a strain on the regular sleeping pattern of people . These are the points raised in the article , The Need to Nod , written by Robert Lee Hotz . The article

highlighted the reasons why sleep is a necessary part of life

Indeed , sleep cannot be disregarded . It is a must that an individual sleeps for the lack of it can affect their life in so many ways . The role of sleep in a person 's life is taught at a very early age . Parents ask their children to sleep early at night and to take afternoon naps People are often told that a person must have 8 to 10 hours of sleep every night . The reason that is most often given but rarely fully accepted is that people need to rest to regain physical strength . People often think that sleep is only a necessity of their physical body However , as Hotz pointed out , sleep plays a critical role in the mental health of the person . Hotz wrote , It is these patterns of meaning - the distilled essence of knowledge - that we remember so well . Sleep helps stabilize memory (D1

The role of sleep in memory-building is not a commonly accepted notion Many people , most especially students take the value of sleep for granted . When critical assignments or exams are coming up , most students stay up all night studying or working . What they do not realize is that such practice is not really effective . They are merely forcing the brain to process information when in fact , such information can only be fully processed and integrated into their thoughts when they sleep . As Hotz wrote , Slumber seems to boost our ability to make sense of new knowledge by allowing the brain to detect connections between things we learn (D1 ) Also , Hotz cited a study conducted in which it was found that a student 's understanding is increased after a night 's sleep . He wrote , Walker and his collaborators at the Harvard Medical School tested 56 college students and found that their ability to discern the big picture in disparate pieces of information improved measurably after the brain could , during a night 's sleep , mull things over (D1

However , there are people who , as much as they want to sleep , cannot simply do so . A probable reason , as Hotz noted , is genetic in nature Specifically , the gene known as Period3 is the gene partly responsible for an individual 's sleeping patterns (Hotz , D2 ) It is this gene that is said to determine why some people end up as night owls and why some can go to bed early regularly . Another likely...