Do you know the facts about our sleep? Here are 15 Things You Didn’t Know About Sleep:

1) Lights have changed our natural sleeping patterns

Without light, we would sleep in two blocks every night. Study have shown that people revert to sleep this way if isolated from lights.

2) Children around the world have vastly different sleep patterns

In Vietnam 95 per cent of babies sleep in their parents’ bed, compared to 15 per cent in Australia. In New Zealand, the average bedtime for an infant is 7.30pm and in Hong Kong it’s 10.30pm.

3) Therapy has better effect than sleeping pills

According to study that people who used behavioural therapy to deal with insomnia nights reported much better overall sleep experience than those treated with pills alone.

4) Dreams tend to follow well defined patterns

In his lifetime, psychology Prof Calvin Hall collected more than 50,000 dream reports. Using Prof Hall’s database, researchers identified that we tend to dream about the things that make us anxious.

5) The ideal temperature for a good night’s sleep is 16-19°C

Researchers in Lille, France, worked out the ideal temperature was 16-19ºC for someone sleeping in pyjamas and covered by sheets. If they sleep naked, the ideal temperature jumps to 30-32ºC.

6) The longest known period anyone has stayed awake is 11 days

In 1964, Randy Gardner stayed awake without any kind of stimulants for 264 hours, experiencing phantom sounds and visions the longer he went without sleep. No long-term ill effects were reported.

7) Sleeping rhythms can affect sports performance

Circadian rhythms (the natural cycles that govern when we’re awake and asleep) have an ‘outsized effect’ on sports pros –athletes at their peak circadian rhythms have an unseen advantage over opponents.

20 Amazing Facts About The Human Brain- Read Here

8) Some animals only send half their brain to sleep

Ducks are able to sleep with one eye shut and one half of their brains asleep. Whales and dolphins keep half their brain awake, letting them surface for air and be on the lookout for danger while still sleeping.

9) Sleep may help us to learn new skills

After volunteers played the video game Tetris before going to sleep, they tended to dream about the game that night. Those who dreamed about it showed the most improvement when playing it the next day.

10) Female sleep is the key to a happy marriage

A women’s ability to fall and stay asleep has a greater impact on marital satisfaction than her daily interactions with her husband. The same effect was not found for men in relationships.

11) Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep boosts creativity

During REM sleep the concentration of acetylcholine is twice that when awake, encouraging neural connections and, hence, creativity. The Beatles classic Yesterday is said to have been penned after a good kip.

12) Dreams pervade all stages of our sleep

The idea that dreams only occur in REM sleep isn’t true. We have dreams in all stages of sleep and even when we’re awake, as daydreams. But dreams are more common in REM, and more vivid and bizarre.

13) Sleep deprivation is an antidepressant

Sleep deprivation leads to a sort of semi-euphoric state and has been used to treat depression since the early 1970s. But low mood often returns as soon as the patients are allowed to get some sleep.

14) Our sleep requirements vary widely

According to study carried out at the University of Pennsylvania, eight hours sleep found for most people. But an estimated five per cent of us, including Maggie Thatcher, can get away with five hours or fewer.

15) There is an excuse for late nights

Early to bed, early to rise doesn’t suit everyone. Some people are genetically predisposed to stay up later at night and get up later in the morning. This is the optimum pattern for roughly 40 per cent of us.

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20 Amazing Facts About The Human Brain- Read Here