Why Do We Have To Sleep?

Sleep remains the great unsolved puzzle, the big black hole in the scientific universe.
That’s a bit of an exaggeration but it’s true that sleep is weird.
What’s it for?
And why does it come to some more easily than others?
If you don’t sleep you hallucinate and, eventually die.
Sleep deprivation is used as a form of torture.

The Americans now spend £15.6 billion a year on goods and services related to sleep, and America’s National Sleep Foundation claims that 70 million Americans – that’s more than the population of France – suffer from some sort of sleeping disorder.
There are more than 80 recognised sleep disorders.
In 1975, there were only three accredited sleep laboratories in the United States.
Today there are 1,782.