TOW Post #15- Article: "Goodnight. Sleep Clean."

            On the news every so once in a while there is always a report or a story about how important it is for children and even adults to get enough sleep every night. The average expected healthy amount of sleep that an adult should get every night is eight to nine hours of sleep: for children and teens eight to nine hours as well. And as we all know that most of us do not get nearly nine hours of sleep every night. They continue to say that we need the maximum hours of sleep, but why if we can still get up early in the morning without passing out? Well an opinion writer of the New York Times looked into this common question.
           Author Maria Konnikova mostly known for her first book, Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes, which was a New York Times bestseller. She is now working on her first novel and second book. Her writing has not only appear in the New York Times but also The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal, The Paris Review and many other well-known newspapers. In her most recent article "Goodnight. Sleep Clean." she talks about the importance of sleep. She establishes her argument by saying that sleep is important because it clears out "all of the junk that has accumulated as a result of your daily thinking." She makes her argument strong by presenting multiple counter arguments, using claim of fact, and claim of value.
            In the beginning of the article Konnikova starts off with multiple counter arguments. She states rhetorical questions such as "Why would our bodies evolve to spend close to one-third of our lives completely out of it, when we could instead be doing something useful or exciting? Something that would, as an added bonus, be less likely to get us killed back when we were sleeping on the savanna?" Right after she proves how these counter arguments aren't important, due to the compelling aspect of her argument. Besides presenting counter arguments Konnikova also uses a claim of fact by supporting the fact that there is a lymphatic system that empties out "trash" in the brain during sleeping. Konnikova supports her claim of fact by using research done by scientists like Dr. Nedergaard. 
           Lastly Konnikova ends with a claim of value by noting that this potential discovery is good, considering the positive affects. Overall Konnikova made very good points, and by using claims of fact and value and presenting counter arguments, she successfully creates a strong argument.
         
Link:http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/12/opinion/sunday/goodnight-sleep-clean.html?rref=opinion&module=Ribbon&version=origin&region=Header&action=click&contentCollection=Opinion&pgtype=article