Comment by kridsdale1
4 days ago
The body expends 2000 calories of energy (via mitochondria) simply to be alive, even if you lie in a hospital bed and are unconscious. You do a marathon’s amount of work every day. You need to sleep to deal with that.
We're also alive when we're asleep ... The difference between being asleep or awake lying on the couch seems to have more to do with reduced/different mental activity than energy usage.
Being unconscious, or in a coma, in a hospital bed is more akin to being asleep, which is why you can be in a coma for years without dying.