Agreed, it is still a mystery.

We don't know why sleep is so important, but it clearly is important. You would have thought that evolution would have produced animals that don't sleep (sleeping animals are more susceptible to prey), so the fact that they do sleep for extended periods implies that, for whatever reason, sleep is a critically important function.

It is reasonable to conclude that sleep has a restorative function; healing takes place during sleep, and the brain appears to use this time to integrate memories.

I read somewhere that sleep is actually the normal state of consciousness. A chemical is released by the brain that prevents us from falling asleep, the release of this chemical is regulated by an internal clock, and this is where the circadian rhythm comes from.

During the Random Eye Movement stage of sleep our brain is repaired and as Vesuvius said, memories are integrated. During Non Rapid Eye Movement our body and muscle tissue is repaired.

Most of the time 'we' actually leave our bodies when we are asleep - a mini death experience if you wish. This gives relief from 'the drain' (us) - and the body restores is life force.

This is why sleep is a very important part of the healing process. All animals sleep excessively when they are ill.

I have this wild theory that we need to sleep in order to synchronize ourselves with our parallel selves of the other timelines. Our dreams are something like the XOR operation applied to all other waking experiences we made in the other timelines.

I know this theory is way out there, but I do have some strange inspirations now and then lol...

ahh excellent question. we sleep for the obvious reason.....so we can "recharge" our energy. but how does this process work?? as micheal stated earlier. when asleep we are in our "true" mind state. we become our true being( the spirit). see, when we sleep the mind then concentrates on its true purpose....pure spiritiual energy (for that is what we are). when we are awake the mind then is forced to concentrate on the physical aspect, something that we are not (an illusion). so therefore the mind when awake is weakend for it is concentrated on something that is irrelavent to our true being (the physical). but when we sleep the mind is fully concnetrated on who we really are ( spiritual beings). so its true purpose is then fullfilled when we are asleep. and when it fullfills its true purpose the physcial body then benefits from it. energy flows naturally and powerfully. but when awake, the pure natural energy cannot flow properly for the mind is not fully concentrated on its true purpose, it is being "diverted" to say. sleep = Minds true state(pure spiritual energy) awake = mind being DIVERTED from its true state (the physical/illusion/blockage of energy).

-Mebb

the answer is simple. would you stay in your car driving 24/24 of course not eventually you need to get out of it and let the car cool down. you also need to stretch your legs go get some food go interact with people and take a nap. as above as below. experience and enjoy.

All the above are great answers! Fascinating 'Take' on sleep. The question of "Why do we sleep"? Has been a curiosity of mine for many years.

Trying to integrate the idea that we are in our "natural state" while sleeping makes some very good sense. Obviously, here, the conscious mind can promote resistance, but not while asleep. So in sleep, we 'allow'. And. the body does maintenance and repair, but do we need 8 hours for maintenance and repair? Are we that poorly designed/ Nah. There has to be more to it than repair.

But

How useful is sleep to our integration as people living in the Space/Time/Duality World? Most of us do not remember dreams. We may have a floaty or flying feeling while dreaming (possibly astral projection), but the wisps of dreams fade quickly away when we open our eyes to this 3d world.

Vesuvius said, "You would have thought that evolution would have produced animals that don't sleep (sleeping animals are more susceptible to prey), so the fact that they do sleep for extended periods implies that, for whatever reason, sleep is a critically important function."

Physically I don't need much sleep. Once decided to sleep only about two hours a night. But I began to develop some serious mental/emotional and physical problems. I was not getting enough REM sleep.

REM sleep correlates with dream time.