Do you ever say softly: “Little one, close your eyes. You won’t miss much, mommy and daddy will go to bed soon too. Do like the little ants underground and the big whales in the deep seas, like the playful dogs and the wise grandmas and grandpas. And close your eyes.” You wouldn’t always say it, but everyone sleeps, even – sometimes – all the sweet babies in their cribs.

But why do we actually sleep?

That’s a great question! Our dear brains are busy during the day helping us walk, talk, think and much more. They are like a circus director who puts all his performers to work. But at night, when the stars twinkle in the sky and the moon shines its soft light, the circus director’s work is far from over. He puts other performers to work: the heroes of the cleaning crew.

During the day, the circus director has his hands full and his tent fills up with people running around, moving things around and making a bit of a mess. But at night, when everyone is asleep, the cleaners come in. They get out the broom and the vacuum cleaner and start tidying everything up. They suck all the dust out of the corners and even the smallest crumbs are swept away. The trapezes are scrubbed, the lions' teeth are brushed and the magician finds his pigeons. Finally, to clean everything with water, they use your cerebrospinal fluid: the fluid that forms a cushion between your skull and your brain during the day.

Thanks to all that order and tidiness, everything runs smoothly in your brain. Synapses – small connections between neurons – that you don’t use are cut away so that the remaining, important connections between neurons become stronger. Your prefrontal cortex becomes stronger so that it can help you make choices and think about things you want to do. And your memories are cleaned out: what is not so interesting can go. What is important is neatly sorted alphabetically in its place in your long-term memory.

We also dream real circus dreams while we sleep.

In our dreams we sometimes experience the craziest adventures, from flying on a unicorn to discovering a hidden treasure. Some people dream up a whole alternative life, others barely remember a vague dream feeling. It is actually not so clear whether this is also part of the great clean-up operation. Scientists are still curious about why we dream. Some believe that dreams help us to process events and make sense of our experiences. Others think that dreaming simply keeps our minds occupied while we sleep. The principle of thinking-nothing-is-harder-than-thinking-something. For centuries, philosophers have debated the meaning of dreams. They are as fascinating as a magician making something vanish and reappear as something entirely different. Do we dream in language? Are dreams connected to our consciousness—or perhaps separate from it? Do they reveal secret truths about our fears and desires? Perhaps dreams are a gateway to our deepest thoughts and feelings, hidden from us in the light of day.”

But there is one thing we are sure of: without REM sleep, the sleep phase in which we dream, we cannot live. It is as if our body and mind need this special time to recharge and prepare for a new day full of adventures.

When you put a child to bed, tell them about how people and animals all over the world are sleeping while their brains are busy cleaning, dreaming, and recharging. Replace that TV FOMO with dream FOMO: Maybe tonight you will have the most beautiful dream you could ever have dreamed. Tomorrow, let's tell each other our dreams.

Want to learn more about how to develop the best sleep habits? Stay tuned and sign up for our monthly newsletter, because we’ll be delving deeper into that in our next blog post! Oh, or contact us.

Sleep well and sweet dreams!

This blog was written by coach Annelies Engelen.

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