Sleep’s Surprising Role: Is Forgetting the Real Purpose of Sleep?

Surprising function of sleep
That is the real reason we sleep

by Merle Blankenfeld
December 21, 2021, 4:18 pm

What are we sleeping for? For regeneration? For strengthening the immune system? For cell renewal? Everything – at least in part – correct. But our slumber is also important for something completely different, having that University of Wisconsin researchers found out. The thesis of the psychiatrists: inside around Chiara Cirelli and Giulio Tononi of the “Wisconsin Center for Sleep and Consciousness”: People (and also animals) sleep in order to forget.

Study of sleep and its function: what role does it really play?

I’m sorry, what? We forget things in sleep – and is that also wanted by nature? In fact, it is necessary that our brains do not retain certain things, because otherwise it would not be able to process the sheer mass of information. During the day, it builds up new synapses practically every second as soon as we see, hear, do or think something. These connections link the information together so that they make a meaningful context. Memories are also saved there.

The research by Chiara Cirelli and Giulio Tononi has confirmed that these synapses are partially cut again while we sleep. The number of synapses decreases by almost 20 percent during the night. This function is important so that, for example, unimportant memories that are of no use to our brain can be “deleted”. Incidentally, this theory is called the synaptic homeostasis hypothesis, and the two US researchers were able to prove it in their laboratory experiment on mice.

Sleep in order to forget (unimportant things)

But why do we have to forget things at all? In fact, this process makes our lives a lot easier. Because if we were to store every horrible memory from the past in bright, bright colors in our brain, that would have a massive impact on us. For example, we would very often have to struggle with fear because we would remember every unimportant but bad detail from our life. By banning such negative experiences from memory, we can later react in a much more relaxed manner. And this is exactly why the function of the synapse cap is so important during sleep.

Of course, not all newly formed synapses are disconnected while we sleep peacefully. After all, we don’t want to forget everything we’ve ever learned – some memories are definitely helpful (for example work-related things, where we have to file the tax return or which type of chocolate tastes best). But by letting our brain draw unimportant information, we have more space for what is relevant.

Unfortunately, this scientific knowledge cannot be used as an excuse for forgotten birthdays. Unless the person whose special day you (literally!) Overslept is not that important to you …

Sources used: news.wisc.edu, The New York Times

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