What are the potential pitfalls of using the sleep function in PHP to delay function execution?

Using the sleep function in PHP to delay function execution can cause the entire script to pause, affecting the performance and responsiveness of the application. To avoid this issue, consider using asynchronous programming techniques or background processes to handle delays without blocking the main script.

// Example using asynchronous programming with promises
$delay = 5; // Delay in seconds

$promise = new React\Promise\Promise(function($resolve) use ($delay) {
    sleep($delay);
    $resolve();
});

$promise->then(function() {
    // Code to execute after the delay
});