Explain · Like I'm five version
Sleep in terms of a phone battery
Why do we have to plug ourselves into our beds every single night just like a tablet?
Your body is just like a phone that runs on a battery made of energy. During the day, you use up your power to run, play, and think, which makes your little battery bar go from bright green down to a sad shade of red. If you do not stop and plug into a nap, your screen starts to get dim and you might even crash in the middle of the carpet.
When you climb into bed, you are basically plugging your charger into the wall. While you are fast asleep, your body works hard to fill up your battery again, tidying away all the messy bits from your long day. It is just like waiting for a game to load, except you get to close your eyes and dream of big blue dinosaurs or giant piles of jelly while the power bars slowly climb back up to one hundred per cent.
If you jump out of bed too early, your battery stays stuck at a low, grumpy percentage. You might feel very slow and start making silly mistakes, like putting your socks on your ears or forgetting where your favourite toy is hiding. By staying under the duvet for the right amount of time, you wake up feeling like a brand new phone with a super fast processor and a very shiny, happy screen.
Where the analogy breaks downA phone does not have dreams about jelly while it is charging.