בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה' אֱלהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעולָם. אֲשֶׁר נָתַן לַשּכְוִי בִינָה לְהַבְחִין בֵּין יום וּבֵין לָיְלָה.
THE BEAUTY OF SLEEP
Most people would agree that there's nothing better than a good night's sleep. Stressful day at the office? Long hours doing yard work and housework? All this can be repaired with a nice, long slumber. You awake the next day feeling calm, refreshed and ready for anything - the stresses, aches and pains of the previous day are long gone.
There have been thousands of sleep studies performed over the years, but we still aren't exactly sure why we sleep. The old joke is that the function of sleep is to cure sleepiness. Prior to 1951, scientists thought bedtime was merely shutdown mode for both the body and mind. It wasn't until a graduate student at the University of Chicago hooked his son to a brain wave machine during sleep that we learned about rapid eye movement (REM) -- sleep periods when the brain speeds up its activity. During REM sleep our eyes twitch, our limbs and facial muscles may move and we dream.
Even though we aren't exactly sure why we sleep, we know that we have to -- all mammals sleep. In fact, a lab rat that would normally live for three years will die in about three weeks without sleep. We know that when we get too little sleep we feel lethargic, sluggish and fuzzy-headed. Long-term sleep deprivation has such an impact on the human psyche that it's been used as a form of torture by virtually every military in existence.
Response:
1. IF YOU WERE DESIGNING A HUMAN- WHY DESIGN HIM IN A WAY THAT MAKES HIM COMPLETELY USELESS FOR 1/3RD OF HIS DAY?
Every human needs sleep no matter what, we need to rejuvenate and prepare for the next day.Every living thing needs to sleep. This is extremely important because once we get sleep we are able to complete the next day's task. We can now be the best we can be for the next day and conquer a lot. We don't realize how many people's heart we touch each and everyday. We really make a difference although, we don't think that just one day of work and Torah study doesn't make a difference but it does. We can conquered so much in just one day!
ReplyDeleteGod made us this way because every person needs to sit down and just think. We need to review what we did in that day, in order to try to be better the next day. We can think right before we go to sleep to say shima. We can focus on how to improve ourselves. You need time to just relax, review and refresh for the Next day's task.
-Daphna Ansel
1. Why design a human that is useless 1/3 of his day? Well, a human may be useless 1/3 of his day but taking this 1/3 of his day to sleep, is what makes him super efficient the other 2/3 of his day. Sleep is what allows us to take a few hours to destress and be the best and most amazing version of us we can be the next day. It allows us to wake up in the morning and conquer the world. So although we lose 1/3 of our day, it is better that we be the best we can be for 2/3 of the day rather than being less great for 3/3 of the day.
ReplyDelete2. Hashem made us this way because he wanted to give us that 1/3 of the day to destress, feeling calm, refreshed and ready for anything the next day. Giving us this 1/3 of our day allows us to be the best version of ourselves possible and that is all Hashem wants for his creations. Being sleep deprived only makes you feel lethargic and sluggish and not be as amazing as you can be, and that is not what Hashem wants for us. Therefore, Hashem gave us 1/3 of our day off to recharge and wake up the next morning ready to do all of Hashem's mitzvoth and commandments that he commanded us to do.
1. In order for human beings to be useful to our highest ability we must have breaks. Without sleep we would be cranky, annoyed, and wouldn't be able to function properly. Our bodies are like machines and we can do amazing things with them, but they still need time to rest or else they will break, just like any other machine.
ReplyDelete2. I think G-d created us this way because He knew we would have some stressful days when we just need a break. Sleep is the best way to isolate yourself from the world and just rest. When we awake the next day we are refreshed and are ready to do even more good things.
1. For something to work, it needs to be energized/charged. Sleep is one of the ways we get energized.
ReplyDelete2. I think G-d created us this way to give us a break from work.
Eliana Goldstein
Rachel Menasha
ReplyDelete1. I think that everyone needs sleep no matter what they are whether if they are a human or a mammal. Every human needs a lot of sleep so they won't get tired or angry
the next day. Once we have a good amount of sleep, we can have a lot of energy the next day.
2. Gd created us so we can serve him and do a lot of fun things. When we come back from a long day we need some sleep so we can have as much energy as we had the day before,
1. I think that every human needs a break at some point during the day. Imagine wiring 24/7. You would not be able to get as much work done without any breaks because you would be tired and slower. But since we have sleep, that is our break from work so that the next day we get more work done.
ReplyDelete2. I think God created us this way so that we can serve Him with more kavana. If we were to serve Hashem 24/7 we would get tired and not serve Him as well, but since we take a break for sleep, we can serve Him right, with full kavana.
Imagine if sleep simply didn't exist. This idea seems completely absurd to us because sleep is essential for us to survive. But what if we could function perfectly fine without sleep. I think if sleep didn't exist people would go crazy. Regardless if sleep didn't exist people still need breaks and that's exactly what sleep is, a break. Sleep is a brake from reality, a break from whatever is going on in our mind. Sleep allows us to temporarily escape our problems while at the same time our subconscious finds a solution. When we sleep, we give our mind and body a break and as a result we feel refreshed. If sleep didn't exist people would never stop working. If people never stopped working, then people would be a lot more stressed and not to mention depressed. If g-d didn't create sleep then the world would be a horrible place.
ReplyDeleteI think g-d realized how awful a world without sleep would be. I also think sleep is a very spiritual thing and g-d wanted to give it to us. But also not having sleep is very spiritual. If man never didn't to sleep I think it would make us to much like angels and g-d created us to be less then angels. Therefore by allowing to never need to sleep it would defeat that purpose. Over all, I love sleep and I'm so grateful to Hashem that he created it.
~ Yael Feldman
I think everyday leads to a new day, a new start. We spend 2/3s of our day doing work and preparing for the next day, this brings me to the second question. I think g-d designed us with us not being able to do something for a 1/3 of the day so we can have a break. I dont think that the 1/3 of the day we spend sleeping is useless because we use this time to clear our mind to help us focus for the next day. I think g-d purposely made us this way because he knows we arent machines and that we need a break
ReplyDelete-Shelli Liebov
As said in Berieshit we learn that God likes his rest. So therefore he would create a human that needs rest so that he can have his rest time when they're sleeping. So if I was creating a human I would not want to watch them all day. From Sylvie Culang
ReplyDeleteI think rest is an important thing in an average humans everyday life and that's why Hashem created it so I think we should use it and appreciate it and thank God for it everyday.
ReplyDelete