Your brain is you!

Everything you think, feel, see, hear, and do is mediated by your brain. It holds your memories, creates your dreams, lets you learn, controls your muscles, and tells your body when to eat and sleep. It's where your consciousness comes from! Pretty cool, huh? Neuroscience is the study of the brain and its interactions with the body. We (Stefanie and Erin) are neuroscience graduate students at Emory University. This website is a way for us to answer all of your neuroscience questions. You can also read questions asked by others.

Here's how it works:

Email your questions to braininfo@gmail.com. You can include your name, grade and school if you want. We'll put your question on this website along with an answer. If you really stump us, we might ask a professor! Check back often for new questions.

Why do we sleep?

Another good question! Again, even very smart neuroscientists don't know the answer to this question for sure. But there are lots of theories.

One idea is that you need to sleep in order for your body to repair itself after being active all day. But it has to be more than that, because you wouldn't feel rested after just laying still and not sleeping for eight hours at night.

Another idea is that you need to sleep in order for your brain to do a little housekeeping. Maybe it can't do that while you're awake because it's too busy helping you see, think, move, talk, and do everything else that you do! Some of these housekeeping tasks might include:

  • Clearing away any waste made by cells
  • Making new molecules that will become building blocks for the neurons or chemical messengers between them
  • Helping you solidify new memories and skills
  • Giving your brain time to grow
One thing's for sure, though. Your brain and body need sleep. If an animal or a person can't sleep, they can't stay healthy and alert. You actually need sleep to survive! There are several things you can do to get a good night's sleep:
  • Try to go to bed at the same time each night
  • Get plenty of exercise and playtime, and eat healthy food
  • Avoid sugar and caffeine before bed (and scary movies!)
  • Do something quiet and relaxing before bed, like reading a book