Sleeping is so weird. We do not know why we do it and we cannot stop ourselves from doing it. It is the part of our lives we are not allowed to witness. One-third of our lives and we are not allowed to be conscious for it. If we do get a rise in consciousness while sleeping, we scare ourselves. I have no proof at all but I think those who believe they have been abducted by aliens, have had their sleep interrupted. While their body is going about rejuvenating itself, they wake up a little and feel powerless and paralyzed. They interpret that as aliens examining their bodies. Those people have every reason to believe the experience they remember.

We cannot keep ourselves awake but researchers have kept rats awake. The result is instead of living two or three years, they live about three weeks. That is a simple fundamental truth. You sleep or you die. Sleep and you live. Sleep well and you live longer. No mystery there. If you do not sleep, before you die, you lose the ability to concentrate and perform normal daily tasks. Stay awake longer and you start hallucinating. First, you go crazy and then you die. Our neurons fail if deprived of sleep because of reduced energy. Sleep gives our brain a chance to exercise neuronal connections so they do not decline. We do not get to watch any of this happening. If anything on my body is exercising, I need proof.

It seems we do need beauty sleep. That happens during deep sleep when our cells increase production of proteins. The cells use the proteins for growth and damage repair. Being awake stressed, anxious and tired is what damages the cells. I am not questioning that but I do not know many people that look better at the beginning of the day than they do at the end of the day. The part of sleep and secret rejuvenation I like is when the brain activity that controls emotions, decision-making and getting along with others slows down. By the end of the day, I am ready to be done with all that thinking, question answering and smiling politely at everybody. I do appreciate that my brain at some point just shuts it down. Then I can cocoon myself into my comfortable mattress and pillows and let the neurons or aliens or whatever have at it. I do not need to watch.

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