Sleep is a much studied but little understood phenomena. We spend a third of our life asleep, here are some fun facts about sleep.
- 12% of people dream entirely in black and white. Before colour television was introduced, only 15% of people dreamt in colour. Older people dream in black and white more often than younger people, it’s all here in this study.
- Humans spend 1/3 of their life sleeping. This obviously differs depending on the age of the human, but on average it’s around a third, which is quite a lot when you think about it.
- The record for the longest period without sleep is 11 days. Set by a Californian student named Randy Gardner in 1964. Definitely not recommended, Randy experienced extreme sleep deprivation and others have died staying awake for too long.
- Sleep is an active state. We used to think that everything shuts down when we sleep. But over the last 60 years scientists have discovered that our brains are very active while we sleep. In fact, some parts of the brain use more oxygen and glucose while asleep than when awake.
- Falling asleep can be hard. You cannot make yourself fall asleep – just like you can’t digest your food faster. Sleep onset is not something we can control. We can only create the right conditions for sleep – both in our minds and in our environment.
- Why do we sleep? Scientists don’t yet understand exactly why we need sleep so badly. They believe it restores us physically and helps us organise things in our brain. We do know, however, that we can’t live well without it.
- Man is the only mammal that willingly delays sleep.
- In general, most healthy adults need seven to nine hours of sleep a night. However, some individuals are able to function without sleepiness or drowsiness after as little as six hours of sleep. Others can’t perform at their peak unless they’ve slept ten hours.
- Sleep is just as important as diet and exercise.
- The body never adjusts to shift work!
- People who don’t get enough sleep are more likely to have bigger appetites due to the fact that their leptin levels (leptin is an appetite-regulating hormone) fall, promoting appetite increase.
- Poor sleep is linked to weight gain
- Good sleep can improve concentration and productivity
- Sleep can enhance athletic performance
- Sleeping less than 7–8 hours per night is linked to an increased risk of heart disease and stroke.
- Sleep deprivation can cause prediabetes in healthy adults in as little as 6 days. Many studies show a strong link between short sleep duration and type 2 diabetes.
- Getting at least 8 hours of sleep can improve your immune function and help fight the common cold.
- Sleep deprivation may reduce your social skills and ability to recognize people’s emotional expressions.
- Sleep deprivation will kill you more quickly than food deprivation
- Parasomnias are disorders that cause people to do things while sleeping. The most well-known are sleepwalking and sleep-talking. But there are rarer, potentially riskier variations: sleep sex and eating.
