In this ever-busy and fast-paced world, you could be one of the lucky few who get to sleep six to eight hours on a daily basis. Everyday our body seems to be doing a lot of work that our waking hours cannot always accommodate, thus resulting to either extended hours of wakefulness or decrease in sleep.

We may kid ourselves in thinking that we don’t need to sleep the whole night to regain our strength for the next eight hours of work but that’s just our mind talking. Our bodies – specifically our organs – wouldn’t agree.

This is due to the fact that sleep is a very important aspect for our organs as much as rest is important to most people. When people sleep, important activities happen inside our bodies such as the following:

• Certain parts of the body need to regenerate, especially the brain, so that it may continue to function optimally. After periods of extended wakefulness or reduced sleep, neurons may begin to malfunction and affect a person's behavior.

While some organs, such as muscles, are able to regenerate even when a person is not sleeping, just resting, the same cannot be said to the other integral parts of our body.

• Certain stages of sleep are needed for the regeneration of neurons within the cerebral cortex while other stages of sleep seem to be used for forming new memories.
• One of the symptoms of prolonged sleep deprivation is hallucinations.
• One of the possible side effects of a continued lack of sleep is death. Usually this is the result of the fact that the immune system is weakened without sleep.

One study stated that people who sleep less than four hours per night are three times more likely to die within the next six years.

• Our white blood cells, the so-called soldiers of the body, decrease in number when we lack sleep and the remaining white blood cells also decrease their activity in turn decreasing the growth hormones produced.

Minor effects of sleep deprivation include:

• Yawning
• Irritability
• Aching muscles
• Dizziness and nausea
• Temper tantrums in children

So the next time you choose to do something else when you should be in your bed sleeping, remember that more important activities happen during sleep. Never take your brain for granted. Even computers need rest in order to function correctly, be sure to get the right amount of sleep you need.

Read more on the effects of sleep deprivation on brain and behavior.