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Neurobiology

Sleep on it

Nature volume 430, pages 27–28 (2004)Cite this article

Is the function of sleep to replenish energy resources or to modify neural connections in the brain? Recordings of the brain's ‘reverberating circuits’ evident during sleep shed light on the question.

“With regard to sleep and waking, we must consider what they are: whether they are peculiar to soul or to body, or common to both; and if common, to what part of soul or body they appertain.” This question was posed by Aristotle1 in 350 BC. Although the dualist view of body and soul is not part of modern neuroscience, we are still at a loss to understand the function of sleep. On page 78 of this issue2, Huber et al. provide elegant results that favour the role of sleep in neural plasticity and memory consolidation.

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Figure 1: Why sleep? Huber et al.2

M. ZAGARIS/C. CLAYWORTH

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco, 94143, California, USA

    Ilana S. Hairston

  2. Department of Psychology and the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, 94720, California, USA

    Robert T Knight

Authors
  1. Ilana S. Hairston
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  2. Robert T Knight
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Hairston, I., Knight, R. Sleep on it. Nature 430, 27–28 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/430027a

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