It feels like since we evolved under conditions of sleeping for a third of our lives, there are probably lots of other biological mechanisms that depend on sleep happening to work.
"Although the average adult human brain weighs about 1.4 kilograms, only 2 percent of total body weight, it demands 20 percent of our resting metabolic rate (RMR)—the total amount of energy our bodies expend in one very lazy day of no activity."
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/thinking-hard-calo...
1. What makes you so sure you learn nothing during sleep? All the articles I've read about sleep's role in learning have indicated that it helps us process what we pick up during the day.
2. Why is 'progress' so important? Progress towards what? What are we chasing after?
Whilst I realise you were only questioning sleep from the point of view of its utility, for me utility alone kind of misses the point. For me the rituals around sleep are some of the best parts of daily life. I love drifting off to sleep, I love dreaming (when I'm lucky enough to remember it at least), I love waking up without any great urgency, slowly coming to my senses, wrapped in the warmth of a comfortable bed. Whilst I appreciate it wasn't your intention, I dislike the notion that our time must be spent on making ourselves better people, if we aren't causing great harm isn't enjoying what we do reason enough to do it?
It's too bad our economic society doesn't value sleep? Never understood having to arrive at most jobs before 10 a.m. I've had so many jobs that want employees there the job site at 7 a.m.? I show up, but I'm not truly working until afer 10 a.m., and I'm not the only one?
Then again--I have honestly never been a morning person.
On the other hand people sleep better in the dark so if your start time implies you're going to bed when it's light out it could cause problems. Unless you use a prosthetic night (curtains).
I don't understand how people manage this. I fall asleep in less than 5 minutes if I lie down while the Sun is up in the morning, and stay solidly asleep until an appropriate number of hours have passed. Going to bed in the dark, I can toss and turn for anywhere from 30-120 minutes before finally dozing off.
Night owlism is real, and it's seriously debilitating to be required to conform to working a 9-5/10-6 job. It's Friday night, so I get to live my weekend hours. It's 2:30am now, and I'll be up another few hours. Whenever I am on vacation, or between jobs, I instantly swap to a nocturnal schedule. It is extremely painful to have to work during the day, to the point where I burn out after 12-18 months at a job. For the first time in a decade, I've almost made it 2 years at a single employer. That time is running out. I need a reversion back to my normal hours for a while. :(