10 Most Sleepiest Animals On Earth

Thanks for watching.....
1) Koala - 20-22 hours in a day
2) Sloth - 20 hours in a day
3) Armadillo - 19 hours in a day
4) Opossum - 19 hours
5) Lemur - 16 hours
6) Owl Monkey - 17 hours a day
7) Lion - 14-16 hours
8) Hamster - 14 hours
9) Squirrel - 13-14 hours
10) Cat - 11-12 hours per day

In animals, sleep is a naturally recurring state characterized by altered consciousness, relatively inhibited sensory activity, and inhibition of nearly all voluntary muscles. It is distinguished from wakefulness by a decreased ability to react to stimuli, and it is more easily reversible than being in hibernation or a coma.

During sleep, most systems in an animal are in a heightened anabolic state, accentuating the growth and rejuvenation of the immune, nervous, skeletal and muscular systems etc. It is observed in mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish, and (in some form) in insects and even simpler animals such as nematodes (see the related article Sleep (non-human)), suggesting that sleep is universal in the animal kingdom.

The purposes and mechanisms of sleep are only partially clear and the subject of substantial ongoing research. Sleep is sometimes thought to help conserve energy, though this theory is not fully adequate as it only decreases metabolism by about 5--10%. Additionally it is observed that mammals require sleep even during the hypometabolic state of hibernation, in which circumstance it is actually a net loss of energy as the animal returns from hypothermia to euthermia in order to sleep.

In most human societies sleep is conducted during the night, but in very hot climates it may be done during the day. Humans may suffer from a number of sleep disorders. These include dyssomnias (such as; insomnia, hypersomnia, and sleep apnea) and parasomnias (such as sleepwalking and REM behavior disorder; and the circadian rhythm sleep disorders).

In mammals and birds, sleep is divided into two broad types: rapid eye movement (REM sleep) and non-rapid eye movement (NREM or non-REM sleep). Each type has a distinct set of physiological and neurological features associated with it. REM sleep is associated with the capability of dreaming. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) divides NREM into three stages: N1, N2, and N3, the last of which is also called delta sleep or slow-wave sleep.

Sleep proceeds in cycles of REM and NREM, usually four or five of them per night, the order normally being N1 → N2 → N3 → N2 → REM. There is a greater amount of deep sleep (stage N3) earlier in the night, while the proportion of REM sleep increases in the two cycles just before natural awakening.

Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep