A TED-Ed Lesson That Scientifically Reaffirms the Importance of a Good Night’s Sleep

In “The Benefits of a Good Night’s Sleep,” a TED-Ed video cleverly animated by Javier Saldeña, educator Dr. Shai Marcu explains why a good night’s sleep is an essential part of a person’s day and should not be considered a waste of anyone’s time.

Sleep occupies nearly a third of our lives, but many of us give surprisingly little attention and care to it. This neglect is often the result of a major misunderstanding. Sleep isn’t lost time, or just a way to rest when all our important work is done. Instead, it’s a critical function, during which your body balances and regulates its vital systems, affecting respiration and regulating everything from circulation to growth and immune response. …t turns out that sleep is also crucial for your brain, with a fifth of your body’s circulatory blood being channeled to it as you drift off. And what goes on in your brain while you sleep is an intensely active period of restructuring
that’s crucial for how our memory works.