2l. What Does Your Brain Do All Night?
Just because your brain is hard at work all day, doesn’t mean it gets a break when you sleep. Yes, your brain stays busy making you sleepy, keeping you asleep and even works hard while you catch some zzzs.
Sleep is a super important part of your life; in fact, you should spend about a third of your time sleeping! Without enough sleep, your brain cannot form the nerve pathways needed to help you learn or create new memories. Because sleep affects many systems in our body, not getting enough sleep or sleeping badly can increase your risk of developing health conditions like diabetes and depression.
The Science of Sleep
About the time you become a tween, your brain starts changing up your sleep patterns. Instead of popping out of bed with the sun, you suddenly want to sleep waaaayyy past sunrise. And rather than feeling sleepy when the sun sets, you might get a burst of energy that can power you late into the night. Your body needs around 9 hours of sleep each night, which means that if you stay up until midnight, waking up around 9:00am is ideal. Which would be great except school starts at 8:00am, right? 😭
Let’s take a little tour of the brain around bedtime to see what’s going on up there!
Sleepytime Secrets
Now that you know more about what the brain is doing while you sleep, what can you do to help yourself get a good night’s sleep? Hover over or tap the flip cards below to learn more.
