Sleep

The spiritual masters of ancient India did not spare even that sleep from their deep observation! All we are left with today is a few names, with prefixes to the Sanskrit name for sleep ‘Nidra’. Our present day experience is no different than our western counterparts, and sadly enough, not even as deep as theirs, at gross level. Their sleeping pills, techniques of psychiatrists, etc are by and large far advanced than what is commercially available here. The by-product of sleep, which we call as dreams are mostly interpreted by ‘predictions’. Where as, they had classified it according to the person, time, place etc. We have a ‘belief’ that early morning dreams are likely to come true. There is also a belief that in real life, the opposite of a bad dream would happen(whether this is for some kind of consolation only, is also a matter of doubt). Meditative practices handed down from Indian culture enable a person to sleep consciously, and ‘dream’ in such a way that the ‘chemistry’ undergoes a transformation, paving way for spirituality to creep in! The names in Sanskrit for these states and practices are technical and not too relevant here.

Somebody asked a very basic and fundamental question, as to ‘why do we sleep’!

This was all that I needed to mount my answer with a subtle dose of philosophical aspect that might persuade the asker or subsequent readers to look a bit deeper within. What I forgot to add in the answer is a bit of verifiable evidence about the rich heritage of Indian culture, when they designated the early morning hours around 4 am to 6 am (where ever we are on the planet, not to bother about IST, GMT etc.) to be that precious period for whatever kind of ‘sleep’ we choose! Load bearing trucks are usually parked for a while during this period for a brief ‘nap’ for the driver. They find it difficult to ward off that ‘dozing-off’ tendency at that time. Patients with excruciating pain in hospital wards find some relief during this period. Experienced surgeons try to plan a surgery during this period. I hesitate to mention the mystic aspect, that spiritual masters perform through their practices, during this period, which helps them to progress, while also helping the people around up to a certain radius of distance.
(It would perhaps be useful for our present day people, to find out whether the teachers at “Yoga” class(of whatever kind) they try to attend, address the quality of sleep, with a few techniques that they try to impart).
Psn(28th September, 2010)

http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100922034430AAeY3P1
Whats so important about the question 'why do we sleep'?
isn't it enough we sleep to take rest can be an answer.
Additional Details
what the scientist are really looking so much on it to find?

My answer:
Sleep is the only way right now, for most of us to go to our 'nothingness', to recover the strength to sustain the 'something' that we claim to be in our wakeful life. (Even that 'holiday' after a hectic work is to bring in that element of 'nothingness' to some extent, dropping or diluting the intense role we do, or perform, at work!
People who start with meditation, happen to 'drop' that somethingness for some time, and if they happen to experience the meditation better, they find a noticeable drop in their sleep-quota requirement.
Animals are in their natural state mostly (they do not 'assume' any role like humans), so they just need rest, and not the 'sleep' the way we do. It is the mind, that needs the rest, which is possible usually only through sleep(without plugging our nose and ears, we happen to withdraw our sensory perceptions, the input devices for the mind's activity).