Every night, the average person spends about 7-9 hours giving their body a restful vacation in the land of dreams. Considering this, we spend 1/3 (or 25 years) of our entire life indulging in this idle activity. While these numbers may seem like a waste of time in our daily lives, sleeping and/or napping is the energy that helps our bodies function properly. Sleep is a necessary function in our daily routine to keep our brain functioning at its most efficient level. While we sleep, the brain helps us recover and regain strength by “restoring and repairing brain tissue” (Myers, 2010, p 99). Without this process of rebirth, sooner or later we would all deteriorate. By compromising sleep deprivation mentally and physically, it can potentially cause serious harm. We must fade our conscious mind and let our mind relax into the subconscious state. Much of society mistakenly believes that every individual needs eight hours of sleep to have a full night's rest. This is not true because the amount of sleep you need depends largely on numerous factors that influence healthy energy. Age is a great indicator of how important sleep is to an individual. Studies conducted by Milner (2008), “Benefits of napping and an Extended Duration of Recovery Sleep on Alert and Immun Cells after acute Sleep Restriction” show that an adult needs nine hours a day to do work productively, feel rejuvenated and maintain happy moods. In contrast, newborns tend to need more time to rest their bodies even if they are less active. A toddler spends 2/3 of his time sleeping, this has a lot to do with the amount of growth hormones that are released during sleep – especially at… middle of paper… anxiety, grumpiness. , and forgetfulness, we must rest well during all REM phases and cycles while we recover. References Faraut, B., Boudjeltia, K. Z., Dyzma, M., Alexandre, David, E., Stenuit, P., et al. (2011). Benefits of napping and extended duration of recovery sleep on alertness and immune cells after acute sleep restriction. Brain, Behavior and Immunity, 25(1), 16-24Milner, C.E., Cote, K.A. (2008). Benefits of napping in healthy adults: Impact of nap duration, time of day, age, and napping experience. Journal of Sleep Research, 18(2), 272-281Mednick, S.C., Cai, D.J., Kanady, J., Drummond, S.P.A. (2008). Comparison of the benefits of caffeine, naps, and placebo on verbal, motor, and perceptual memory. Behavioral Brain Research, 193(1), 79-86Myers, D., (2010). Psychology: Ninth Edition. New York: Worth Publishers