Comments on: Sleeping keeps you out of trouble http://www.oxfordschoolblogs.co.uk/psychcompanion/blog/sleeping-keeps-you-out-of-trouble-70/ Psychology: The Online Companion Sun, 29 Jan 2012 15:51:29 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Cara Flanagan http://www.oxfordschoolblogs.co.uk/psychcompanion/blog/sleeping-keeps-you-out-of-trouble-70/comment-page-1/#comment-243 Cara Flanagan Fri, 16 May 2008 14:26:49 +0000 http://www.oxfordschoolblogs.co.uk/psychcompanion/blog/?p=70#comment-243 Adrian raises the question about lions - the reason they sleep all the time is because they can. They don't have to worry about predators so sleeping isn't life threatening and they eat huge meals and then have time to spare, so they sleep. This fits the view that sleeping is what animals to do when they can. I still don't completely buy it because I feel awful when I haven't had much sleep so it seems that sleep must be doing something for me. Adrian raises the question about lions – the reason they sleep all the time is because they can. They don’t have to worry about predators so sleeping isn’t life threatening and they eat huge meals and then have time to spare, so they sleep. This fits the view that sleeping is what animals to do when they can.

I still don’t completely buy it because I feel awful when I haven’t had much sleep so it seems that sleep must be doing something for me.

]]> By: contemporarymottledsheep http://www.oxfordschoolblogs.co.uk/psychcompanion/blog/sleeping-keeps-you-out-of-trouble-70/comment-page-1/#comment-146 contemporarymottledsheep Sun, 04 May 2008 08:42:52 +0000 http://www.oxfordschoolblogs.co.uk/psychcompanion/blog/?p=70#comment-146 Brown Bats and Students, OK.......but what about Goats? Brown Bats and Students, OK…….but what about Goats?

]]> By: Adrian Frost http://www.oxfordschoolblogs.co.uk/psychcompanion/blog/sleeping-keeps-you-out-of-trouble-70/comment-page-1/#comment-98 Adrian Frost Wed, 23 Apr 2008 13:51:27 +0000 http://www.oxfordschoolblogs.co.uk/psychcompanion/blog/?p=70#comment-98 Given the logic of this argument, surely animals at the top end of the food chain (eg elephants or lions) should need sleep less as they have less to fear from predators - yet lions sleep all the time? In a given ecological niche, do prey species sleep more than predators? I dunno - I'm normally the first to defend the evolutionary arguments, but in this case it all feels so counter-intuitive. We are able to suppress so many of our other natural drives, at least temporarily, but the urge to sleep can quickly become distressingly overwhelming, which is why sleep-deprivation is used as a torture technique. And, smarty-pants dolphins aside, it's clear to all of us that even slight sleep deprivation can significantly affect our emotional and cognitive functioning. There MUST be more to sleep than just staying out of trouble.... Given the logic of this argument, surely animals at the top end of the food chain (eg elephants or lions) should need sleep less as they have less to fear from predators – yet lions sleep all the time? In a given ecological niche, do prey species sleep more than predators? I dunno – I’m normally the first to defend the evolutionary arguments, but in this case it all feels so counter-intuitive. We are able to suppress so many of our other natural drives, at least temporarily, but the urge to sleep can quickly become distressingly overwhelming, which is why sleep-deprivation is used as a torture technique. And, smarty-pants dolphins aside, it’s clear to all of us that even slight sleep deprivation can significantly affect our emotional and cognitive functioning. There MUST be more to sleep than just staying out of trouble….

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