This is most evident if you have experienced deep sleep: you wake up with a sense of clarity, and feel rested. REM does more than memory plastering: one minute of REM is equal to five of non-REM sleep, so that sometimes, you can feel rested after a good nap, but still feel fatigued despite having shallow sleep all night.

What other benefits does sleep carry?

• If you are a teenager and still going through your growth phase, then you need a lot of sleep. This is because the pituitary gland churns out growth hormones during sleep; leave off those few hours in dreamland, and you could put your height behind you.
• As evidenced by cranky co-workers, sleep keeps you on your toes and still keeps a smile upon your face. Studies show that people who sleep at least seven hours a night not only perform better at work, but feel better about themselves and consequently are less hostile to their co-workers.
• Recent research has also shown that people who do not experience frequent REM sleep, or those who do not sleep more than seven hours a night, have impaired motor functions and balance. You may notice this after pulling an all-nighter: you have a hard time walking straight, and you may sometimes be clumsy.
• Lack of sleep, on the whole, impairs memory, vision, and even the ability to make wise judgment.
• People who have less sleep are more likely to experience anxiety and depression, which, in turn, impair the immune system’s ability to heal illness.

In short, sleep may seem like a waste of a precious few hours, but if it means giving you a longer life, then you should have as much deep sleep as you possibly can. So get that immune system stimulated, have a few winks, and say hello to good health!

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