What's the benefit to sleep in Skyrim? I know Lydia yawns alot and it gets kind of annoying, but I've never really noticed any negative side affects to not sleeping. I know one villager commented on how pale I looked, but that was only once...

It's as necessary as this thread is necessary......

Sleeping in a bed you own gets you the Well Rested bonus, which makes your skills go up 10% faster for the next eight hours. Sleeping in a bed you don't own (bandit camp, etc.) gets you the Rested bonus, which I assume is weaker but I've never tried it.

So it's a nice little bonus, but not at all necessary.

There's no negative effect from not sleeping. But there's a positive effect when you do sleep: You skill-up faster. You get a bonus status under "magic effects" called "Rested" that increases your skill improvement rate by 5% for 8 hours if you've slept for 8 hours. There's also a "Well Rested" status, but I'm not sure exactly what causes it, as sleeping for days straight doesn't necessarily grant it.

Edit: Oh, it's from using a bed that belongs to you! Good to know.

No just like cooking,mills,etc. they are there just for roleplaying.

Sleeping gives you a bonus to your skill progression. If you are into smithing and need those mines to replenish it is a good habit to get into to sleep 24 hours every time you stop by your home that way you give the mines to replenish AND you get an experience bonus. Not sure if you will notice a difference but there is one. Grab a guardian stone + the 10% bonus from sleeping

Its an RP element, you can use it or not, whatever you want to do is fine by you, but sleeping does give a resting bonus this time.

You can also get it if you rest at an Inn I think, however one thing that I think should be pointed out is that you cant get the well rested bonus if