Sleep
I don't know about you, but I've never thought about the evolutionary reason for why we sleep. I'm always telling people that the reason we have to eat so much (compared to other species) is that in order to have big brains and high body temps, we gotta eat frequently. But what is the evolutionary reason for sleep?People who seem to know something about this say its NOT to rest the mind or body. The mind is just as active during sleep as during waking hours. And if its about body rest, why does a couch potato need as much sleep as an Olympic athelete?
I stole that last line from this blog which comments on an article in the WaPo about sleep. It turns out that we may sleep because, from an evolutionary standpoint, its too dangerous for us to be out hunting or forgaing or whatever to eat. So we find a safe place and sleep.
Interesting, eh? Read the post, its fascinating.
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