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Why Do We Need Sleep?

NPR | By NPR/TED Staff

Published April 17, 2015 at 8:13 AM CDT

Part 2 of the TED Radio Hour episode Maslow's Human Needs

About Russell Foster's TED Talk

What do we know about one of our most basic needs: sleep? Not a lot, says circadian neuroscientist Russell Foster. We know we need to do it to stay alive, but much about it remains a mystery.

About Russell Foster

Russell Foster is Professor of Circadian Neuroscience and the Head of the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Oxford. Foster studies sleep and its role in our lives, examining how our perception of light influences our sleep-wake rhythms.

NPR/TED Staff