National Geographic

Michael Finkel’s latest book, The Stranger inthe Woods, is about a hermit who, after 27 yearsalone, had achieved this insight: “Get enoughsleep.” Swedish photographer Magnus Wenn-man’s exhibit on refugees, Where the ChildrenSleep, has toured worldwide.our first REM session, the most elaborate andcomplex instrument known in the universeis free to do what it wishes. It self-activates. Itdreams. This, one could say, is the playtime ofthe brain. Some sleep theorists postulate thatREM sleep is when we are our most intelligent,insightful, creative, and free. It’s when we trulycome alive. “REM sleep may be the thing thatmakes us the most human, both for what it doesfor the brain and body, and for the sheer experi-ence of it,” says Michael Perlis.Maybe, then, we’ve been asking the wrongquestion about sleep, ever since Aristotle. Thereal wonder isn’t why we sleep. It’s why, withsuch an incredible alternative available, do webother to stay awake?And the answer might be that we need toattend to the basics of life—the eating and mat-ing and fighting—only to ensure that the bodyis fully ready for sleep. jSLEEP 77