Fun Fact Friday

Sleep!

We need it and often in theatre we don't get it.

Scientists are still trying to nail down exactly why we need to sleep, especially for 8 hours. Since every animal has to do it there must be a real importance to it.

So far the basic agreement is that the rest we get when we sleep allows our brains to reuptake chemicals released during the day to make our world real and full of emotions. It may also be the reason the brain sends out a chemical to paralyze us while in deep sleep. Stopping any data from coming in means the brain can get a break from new processing to clean and arrange what it already gathered.

I think of it as cleaning and resetting props and the stage after the show. if you don't have the downtime to do so the stage remains cluttered and all the things you need are scattered everywhere from being used. You can still make it through a show in this disarray but it wont be smooth or as clear.

There is also some evidence that sleep allows us to run through and practice what we have learned that day or are thinking about most. Physical proof is when you wake up after an engaging dream with your heart rate racing, mind confused, and unfortunately exhausted for the rest of the day. With the visualization basketball free throw experiments showing that thinking about something can help someone Improve as much as doing the same activity, the Idea of dreams being practice fields makes sense.

Bottom line is that sleep is one of the most important things you can do to keep yourself safe onstage. It keeps you happy by your brain cleaning out alp the negative chemicals, it keeps your focus sharp, and you may even learn something!

Greg