Sleep - a great medicine - but we don't know why

Did you know that scientists actually don't know why we sleep?  Seriously!!

Here is a few words from a website called Live Science

Humans spend nearly a third of their lives asleep. Going without sleep will literally make you psychotic and, eventually, kill you. It's clear that shut-eye is crucial to the body's ability to function.  But no one knows what sleep actually does.

"It's sort of embarrassing," said Dr. Michael Halassa, a neuroscientist at New York University. "It's obvious why we need to eat, for example, and reproduce … but it's not clear why we need to sleep at all."

However, scientists from the Germany University of Tubingen have proved that sleep helps your immune system fight viruses and cancerous cells. Findings published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine show the team were able to monitor "T-Cells" - which attach themselves to infected cells and kill them. People who slept well had higher levels of the protein molecules that cement these T-Cells to their targets.

Study co-Author Dr. Luciana Besedovsky says "This is especially relevant in light of the high prevalence of sleep disorders and conditions characterised by impaired sleep, such as depression, chronic stress, ageing and shift work."

T-Cells are a type of white blood cell, and are critical for the immune system. They fight tumour growth, oxygen deficiency, stress related disorders, and many other conditions.