We've all encountered children who arrive at nursery school yawning or who fail to sleep after lunch, and noticed how it impairs their motor skills, reduces their mental alertness, causes mood swings and slows their learning. And we tend to refer to it as: 'he hasn't rested enough'.
Yet while sleep is a time of rest for the body, it is certainly not a resting time for the brain! Indeed, it used to be thought that sleep was when the brain takes a long rest from activity, and merely ticks over for vital functions like breathing. In reality, our brains are extremely busy during sleep.
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