Why Do We Sleep? - Instant Egghead #55

We spend nearly a third of our lives asleep, but scientists don't agree on sleep's purpose. Scientific American contributor Joss Fong explains what we know, and don't know, about our nightly slumber.

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More to explore:

A Night's Sleep Cleans Brain of Harmful Toxins (LiveScience)
http://www.livescience.com/40510-sleep-cleans-brain-harmful-toxins.html

Sleep Is The Brain's Way of Staying in Balance [Video] (Scientific American)
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=sleep-brains-way-staying-balance-video-giulio-tononi&WT.mc_id=SA_sciamerican_meta

Is Sleep Essential? (PLoS Biology)
http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.0060216

Sleep 2009 Interview with Jerome Siegel (The Science Network)
http://thesciencenetwork.org/programs/sleep-2009/jerome-siegel

Why Does My Brain Sleep? - Matthew P. Walker (GoogleTechTalks)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51e2NEmuI7I

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Credits:
Written & presented by Joss Fong
Edited by Joss Fong
Produced by Eric R. Olson