Why does sleep help with healing?

When we are asleep the body is working just as hard as it does during the night. Our cells are doing more repairing when we are asleep. REM sleep is when a lot of the healing is going on. If the body does not go through enough REM cycles we are not able to fully heal ourselves. Our immune system is knocked off balance without an adequate amount of sleep, causing more sickness. This is why when we are sick or injured we are told to get a lot of rest, so the body is able to heal itself faster.