Discovery Health - The Secrets of Sleep

Sleep is clearly important-after all, people and animals slumber away a third of their lives--but no one knows why.Most sleep research has focused on health, and sleep has been viewed mainly as a period of rest and rejuvenation for the body.That's why, for decades, most experts dismissed sleep as a boring, idle time for the brain. What they didn't realize is that while sleeping bodies lie motionless in bed, the brain's neurons continue to buzz and chatter.