The Need for Sleep

A unique and curiously appealing aspect of the cat's behavior is its enavior is its ability to relax into deep sleep apparently at will.

As in all other animals, the cat's natural rhythms are controlled by an internal biological clock, a complex interaction between the body and the mind.

The most common rhythm in animals is a 24-hour cycle called circadian rhythm. This dictates when animals are most and least active.

The cat is most alert at dawn and dusk, when hunting is best, and sleepiest around midday and the middle of the night.

The cats need to be active when humans want to sleep, and to sleep when humans are most active,  is difficult to change, because its origins are so  deeply embedded in feline behavior.

French research has shown that sleep is induced by a chemical, melatonin, released in the brain, and that this release is ably under the control of the gene that determines circadian rhythm.

Melatonin is thought to be responsible for the cats habit of sleeping for 16 hours a day on average. Just why cats sleep so much is not yet properly understood, although in kittenhood, growth hormone is released only during sleep.

Sleep is certainly necessary for all animals to maintain general health, and feline dreams, like ours, may act as periods during which the cat's mind can reorganize and reclassify information.