22 Interesting Facts You Didn’t Know About Sleep

Before color television was introduced, only 15% of people dreamed in color whilst older people dream in black and white more often than younger people.

This will come as no surprise to most cat owners.

Cutting a person’s sleep in half dramatically reduces pain threshold although it’s not 100% clear why.

Muhammad said, “Whenever you go to bed, perform ablution like that for the prayer, and lie on your right side”

This is also according to Professor Idzikowski, suggesting that those who sleep in the foetal position “may appear tough but are actually sensitive souls right to their core.”

If it takes you less than five minutes, chances are you are sleep deprived.

Researchers have found that it’s most often feelings of sadness, guilt and confusion.

Hands should apparently be positioned above the pillow so you’re in a ‘freefall’ position.

This obviously differs depending on the age of the human, but on average it’s around a third.

This was set by a Californian student named Randy Gardner in 1964. This is definitely not recommended, however, as Randy experienced extreme sleep deprivation and others have died staying awake for this long.

There are many instances where people have reported their deaf partners or children using sign language in their sleep.

We’ve all no doubt found it tricky getting out of bed every now and again, but those suffering from Dysania find it particularly difficult. It is most likely to be a form of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

Some people have even committed crime due to parasomnia, including sleep driving and even murder.

No-one is totally sure why hypnic jerks occur but they are deemed to be perfectly healthy. However, they may be increased by anxiety, caffeine or physical activity close to bedtime. They are more frequent in young people and decrease as we get older.

This is according to the National Sleep Foundation. It’s also a myth that you shouldn’t wake someone who is sleepwalking.

Neither are good for you, but sleep is actually more important than food in the short term.

This is a topic that is really quite interesting and the timing of the blindness in a person’s life may impact what that person dreams about.

After an additional 5 minutes, 90% of recollection is gone. Sigmund Freud believed this was because dreams represent our repressed thoughts and so our brain wants to get rid of them quickly. However, it’s much more likely due to our brains simply being used much more as soon as we’re awake and so we forget much of what we’ve dreamed about.