

Snorting a Brain Chemical Could Replace Sleep - wavesound
http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2007/12/sleep_deprivation

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Cossolus
Sure, and snorting vitamins could replace eating meals. Sleep has been
implicated in a lot of secondary roles, including memory consolidation, the
body's ability to repair itself, etc. It's unlikely such a fundamental process
can be easily replaced.

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jacques_chester
Sleep is also implicated in muscle repair, aceytlcholine turnover (related to
memory formation and muscle power output) and ... well ... pretty much
everything.

If sleep wasn't performing useful functions, it would have been selected
against ever since higher animals evolved.

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astrodust
Unless, of course, stumbling about in the dark and unable to see while bored
out of your skull because you can't sleep posed some sort of risk.

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bpodgursky
Owls and lots of cats have no trouble seeing at night, and still sleep for
half the day. I can't think of any organism with high-level cognitive ability
that doesn't sleep.

