system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Does extreme sleep deprivation cause hallucinations, and if yes, how/why?
gpt
Sleep tech here.  It does cause hallucinations, however we dont know why.  We barely even know why we sleep.  We do know the feeling of having rested is linked to the amount of REM sleep we get.  Studies have shown that rats, when allowed to sleep all they want, but are deprived of REM sleep specifically, die within a week or so.  Humans dont die, we become deranged, but again ,the reason is not yet understood.  We only know that sleep is vital to our survival b/c if it were not, we would have evolved out of it- sleeping is a dangerous prospect in the natural world.