I have a theory

Because of the whole sleep deprivation that’s been going on in my life recently (a 4 month old baby and a nearly 2 year old with chicken pox), I have developed a theory…

A theory you say?

Yes, the theory is that the need for sleep is not really required (or maybe it is), sleep on an evolutionary side has allowed:

1. The development of community and hence civilization
2. something else that’s good
3. oh yeah…  our survival

Ok, stay with me here (it may be lack of sleep driving this theory and the wandering nature of my writing).  If we did not need sleep way back in our past (when trying to survive against animals that were bigger and scarier than us) on the surface sleep is not a good thing (can you imagine a big scary creature with lots of teeth coming at you while you’re sleeping? I can)..  So how did we survive that?

We banded together, that’s how…  We worked together “You stand watch while I sleep”, “Ok”.  Allowing us to survive the dangers of the night (well, some of us)…  While our compatriots who didn’t need sleep continued to wander around by themselves (why did they need others if they never slept, plus they were always grumpy), we started living with larger and larger groups, able to not only survive the night, but also to take the night back (capturing and taming some of those animals)..

So when next you hear someone say “Ha! Sleep is for the dead” you can respond “No! Sleep is for the living, if I didn’t sleep I would be dead!”

-- Feel free to repost with your own and better words, I merely ask that you keep the ‘I have a theory’ reference