Tuesday Tangent: Sleep

Tuesday Tangent: Miscellaneous bits of information I have come across that caused me to pause and ponder.

Have you ever wondered if sleep is our "normal" mode of existence and we are just awake in order to get back to sleep? Instead of asking "Why do we sleep" maybe we should ask "Why do we wake up?"OK - this is really a tangent, I know. But, what if sleeping (and dreaming) was the default mode of life and being awake is just a time to do things like find food and multiply?

We spend a third of our lives sleeping and no one really knows why. There are two main theories: one is that we need sleep to "heal and renew", to hard wire memories, or to purge waste buildup in our cells. The second is that sleep is for preservation - that is, we really don't need to be up and at it when the sun's not shining and it's dangerous out, so we get safely tucked into bed until the morning. What we do know for sure is that we can't exist without sleep. So far the record for going without sleep is only a little over 11 days. We can make it longer without food than we can without sleep!

All mammals sleep and the smaller they are, the more sleep they seem to need. Rats sleep about 14 hours per day while giraffes and elephants only need about four hours per day. Adult humans need about 7 to 8 hours per day. Could you imagine a world in which no one slept? It's hard to even fathom.

I was thinking about sleep in the Bible and did a quick search for the word sleep. There were many, many more references than I thought I would find, even if you subtract out all of the occurrences that have to do with sex instead of actual sleep. Eve was made while Adam slept, Abram fell into a deep and dreadful sleep after God revealed Himself, Jacob slept with his head on a stone and dreamed of angels going up and down a ladder to Heaven, Joseph's dreams got him in trouble with his brothers, Delilah tricked Sampson by lulling him to sleep, and on and on. Sleep would be an interesting topic for a Bible study, I think.

I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the LORD sustains me. Psalm 3:5

John Piper once wrote (and I can't find the reference) that sleep forces us all to become humble. In sleep, even the most powerful of us, become weak and vulnerable. Daily we are reminded of our dependence on God's grace an mercy. And daily we need to thank Him for sustaining us.