The Work We Do While We Sleep

The Work We Do While We Sleep

By Maria Konnikova

It’s strange(strānj), when you think about it, that we spend close to a third of our lives asleep. Why do we do it? While we’re sleeping, we’re vulnerable(ˈvəln(ə)rəbəl)—and, at least on the outside, supremely(so͞o-,səˈprēm) unproductive. In a 1719 sermon(ˈsərmən), “Vigilius, or, The Awakener,” Cotton(ˈkätn) Mather called an excess(ikˈses,ˈekses) of sleep “sinful”(ˈsinfəl) and lamented(ləˈmentid) that we often sleep when we should be working. Benjamin(ˈbenjəmən) Franklin(ˈfraNGklən) echoed(ˈekō) the sentiment(ˈsen(t)əmənt) in “Poor(po͝or,pôr) Richard’s(ˈriCHərd) Almanack,” when he quipped(kwip) that “there’ll be sleeping enough(iˈnəf) in the grave(grāv,ˈgräˌvā).” For a long time, sleep’s apparent(əˈparənt,əˈpe(ə)r-) uselessness(ˈyo͞osləs) amused(əˈmyo͞oz) even the scientists who studied it. The Harvard sleep researcher Robert Stickgold has recalled his former collaborator(kəˈlabəˌrātər) J. Allan Hobson joking that the only known function of sleep was to cure(kyo͝or) sleepiness(ˈslēpēnis). In a 2006 review of the explanations(ˌekspləˈnāSHən) researchers had proposed(prəˈpōz) for sleep, Marcos Frank, a neuroscientist then working at the University of Pennsylvania(ˌpensəlˈvānyə) (he is now at WSU Spokane(spōˈkan)) concluded(kənˈklo͞od) that the evidence(ˈevədəns) for sleep’s putative(ˈpyo͞otətiv) effects(iˈfekt) on cognition(ˌkägˈniSHən) was “weak or equivocal(iˈkwivəkəl).”

But in the past decade, and even the past year, the mystery(ˈmist(ə)rē) has seemed to be abating(əˈbāt). In a series(ˈsi(ə)rēz) of conversations with sleep scientists this May, I was offered a glimpse(glimps) of converging(kənˈvərj) lines of inquiry(inˈkwī(ə)rē,ˈiNG-,ˈinkwərē,ˈinˌkwī(ə)rē) that are shedding(SHed) light on why such a significant(sigˈnifikənt) part of our lives is spent lying(ˈlī-iNG) inert(iˈnərt), with our eyes closed, not doing anything that seems particularly meaningful or relevant(ˈreləvənt) to, well, anything. (The meetings were facilitated(fəˈsiliˌtāt) by a Harvard Medical School Media Fellowship.)

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