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Trees definitely sleep nightly and hibernate in winter [0]. Their root system and the mycelial network that interoperates with them is astoundingly complex and

Trees definitely sleep nightly and hibernate in winter [0]. Their root system and the mycelial network that interoperates with them is astoundingly complex and looks very similar to a brain as we faster moving life are blessed with on top. Here is a lady talking about some of Paul Stamets' research. [1] I also recommend this talk by him. [2] Mushrooms interacting with plant roots look similar to a brain and we are just beginning to grok how deep that goes. [0] https://onetreeplanted.org/blogs/stories/trees-sleep-night https://onetreeplanted.org/blogs/stories/trees-sleep-night [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Q0un2GPsSQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Q0un2GPsSQ [2] https://q.sustainability.illinois.edu/a-fungal-estrangement/ https://q.sustainability.illinois.edu/a-fungal-estrangement/

everdrive 6y ago
>Trees definitely sleep nightly We're equivocating the term "sleep" here. Trees have a nightly cycle, but it's not sleep in the sense that I go to sleep at night.
- vimacs2 6y ago
  I don't necessarily buy that this is equivocating anything. How else would you define sleep scientifically other than as a nightly cycle that follows a circadian rhythm and propagates metabolic and hormonal changes throughout the body? If you're trying to argue that it needs to have a "rest" component to it, I would remind you that during night time, trees do not photosynthesise and also the human brain is not at all at rest during sleep in terms of objective neurochemical activity. Consciousness is lost (except even this is a hazy cut off thanks to dreams) but there is a lot going on still in the brain and body.
  - tayo42 6y ago
    How do you expect plants to photosynthesize at night without light. I don't think that holds up
    - vimacs2 6y ago
      That's a fair rebuttal, my bad. However, one thing that plants do more during the night without any bio-mechanical necessity attached to it is the release of auxin which is the flora analogue to growth hormone, just like animals do during sleep.
- stuntkite 6y ago
  I guess you're catching up on the conversation. I don't think you know that much about tree sleep.

everdrive 6y ago

>Trees definitely sleep nightly We're equivocating the term "sleep" here. Trees have a nightly cycle, but it's not sleep in the sense that I go to sleep at night.

vimacs2 6y ago
I don't necessarily buy that this is equivocating anything. How else would you define sleep scientifically other than as a nightly cycle that follows a circadian rhythm and propagates metabolic and hormonal changes throughout the body? If you're trying to argue that it needs to have a "rest" component to it, I would remind you that during night time, trees do not photosynthesise and also the human brain is not at all at rest during sleep in terms of objective neurochemical activity. Consciousness is lost (except even this is a hazy cut off thanks to dreams) but there is a lot going on still in the brain and body.
- tayo42 6y ago
  How do you expect plants to photosynthesize at night without light. I don't think that holds up
  - vimacs2 6y ago
    That's a fair rebuttal, my bad. However, one thing that plants do more during the night without any bio-mechanical necessity attached to it is the release of auxin which is the flora analogue to growth hormone, just like animals do during sleep.
stuntkite 6y ago
I guess you're catching up on the conversation. I don't think you know that much about tree sleep.