Why is it that babies need more sleep than adults?

[Treebore]

Yep, in a nut shell they are growing. When they are sleeping the body maximizes its growth because their body can "concentrate" on growing.

 

[Piratecat]

Pfft, I am 18 and sleep a average of 2-3 hours a night, not all teenagers need lots of sleep

And the cool thing is I know what that's doing to your body!

Chronic sleep debt is a bad thing.

 

[ssampier]

I know one of my college roommates could easily sleep from 12 am to 3 or 4 pm on a weekend (assuming his mother didn't call to wake him up for church).

 

[Olaf the Stout]

Hey, if you were growing now at the rate that babies grow you would be tired too!

Seriously though, babies (especially in the first year or so) are growing really quickly. My baby was about 3.6 kilos when she was born. She is now just over 4 months old and is somewhere around 6.5 kilos. She has almost doubled her weight in 4 months. Obviously she is getting bigger (i.e. taller) as well.

Imagine if you were doubling your weight in 6 months (and getting a lot taller at the same time). If your body is spending so much energy doing that then it's not surprising that they need to sleep so much.

Olaf the Stout

 

[Goobermunch]

On a related note, between the ages of about 12 and 20, the human brain undergoes neurological changes on par with those that an infant goes through between the ages of birth and 4.

There are some significant consequences of that, not the least of which is that teenagers do tend to sleep more than adults.

The other interesting consequence of that significant growth period is that teenagers' brains literally function differently than adults. Which explains a lot of my high school and college years. It also explains the "get off my lawn" moments I go through now.

--G

 

[Fallen Seraph]

I actually watched a documentary on PBS about that, they had scans of teenage brains showing the synapses, etc. firing off and growing. It was really quite neat, and definitely my new excuse for things