Trump says he sleeps four hours a night. [View all]

[kpete]

Sleep acts as a cleansing agent to remove the brain’s toxins. That's why doctors say we need at least 7 hours per night -- "not five or six hours because you think you can handle it."

You can live for about three minutes without air, three days without water and about 21 days without food. But in between food and water, there is something else critically essential: sleep.

It turns out you can only live about 11 days without sleep. You can give it a try if you don’t believe me, but, just like the other essentials, after day 11 you will probably die.

Sleep is one of the most important things we overlook, because most of us don’t consider it vital. The problem isn’t you — it’s your brain. Brain scientists really don’t know what they are talking about when it comes to sleep. For far too long, we have known too little about why we sleep. Instead of acknowledging that fact, scientists have made up fairy tales to explain our need for sleep. They have guessed that sleep is necessary for creativity, rest, rejuvenation and recovery.

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When it comes to the brain, we have no artificial way to replicate nature. That’s where sleep comes in, by reducing the brain’s size to make room for the mental mouthwash. The process of sleep very elegantly acts as a cleansing agent to remove the brain’s toxins.


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https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/columnist/2017/12/22/heres-why-sleep-deprivation-toxic-and-eventually-kill-you/967151001/