20 Interesting Facts About Sleep

We cannot live without sleep, yet we know so little about it. It is usually not until we have problems with sleep that we try to learn more about it. We’ve compiled a list of 22 interesting fun facts about sleep that you might not have known. It’s time to give sleep the attention it deserves.

Interesting Facts About Sleep

1. We spend about one-third of our life either sleeping or attempting to do so.

2. You are more likely to develop sleep apnea if you are a middle-aged man. Women, too can develop it, however, only after they enter menopause.

3. Overall, 12% of people dream in black and white while the rest dream in colour. Only 15% of individuals dreamed in colour prior to the advent of colour television.

4. Speaking of dreams, did you know blind people dream as much as anyone else? Most of their dreams contain features that are kinesthetic (related to movement) or auditory (related to sound).

5. Humans are the only mammals that willingly delay their sleep.

6. A California high school student, Randy Gardner, set the world record for staying awake in 1964, for over 264 hours. He managed to stay awake for 11 days and 25 minutes.

7. Post-lunch sleepiness is real! Our bodies naturally feel a dip in alertness at 2:00 P.M.  and 2:00 A.M. 

8. Do you hate getting out of bed in the morning? This condition is real and is called Clinomania, or Dysania. People suffering from depression or anxiety are most exposed to clinomania.

9. Up until the 17th century, humans used to sleep in two shifts. People would get up in the middle of the night for an hour or two and read, pray, or socialise with others.

10. Investigations of the grounding of the Exxon Valdez oil tanker and the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger have concluded that sleep deprivation also played a critical role in these accidents.

11. According to a Fitbit study, Indians are the second most sleep-deprived people in the world after Japan.

12. One of the creepy facts about sleep is that a study revealed that persistent night shift work that disrupts circadian rhythms may cause breast cancer in women and prostate cancer in men.

13. According to a research article published in ScienceAdvances, in the days leading up to a full moon, people go to sleep later in the evening and sleep for shorter periods.

14. Sleep is more important than food as sleep deprivation has worse implications for your body than hunger. 

15. Regular exercise can help you get better sleep. But workout 2-3 hours before sleep.

16. Yoga Nidra can improve sleep in patients with chronic insomnia.

17. You can’t sneeze during sleep because there isn’t much airflow or movement to stir up irritating particles that stimulate the nerve cells in the nose.

18. One of the most interesting facts about sleep for all the women reading this piece is that women need 20 minutes more sleep than men. The reason? Women multitask, so they use more of their actual brains than men do. Meaning their brains work harder and take longer to recover.

19. Morning people are more likely to be successful in their careers. According to a survey, people who sleep well and wake up at a consistent time are better positioned for career success than people who ignore sleep and delay waking up. 

20. One of the scary facts about sleep is that people who hit the bed later are prone to bad dreams. Although the reason for this remains unclear.

Did you find yourself surprised by some of these facts? We hope you had fun feeding your brain some sleep facts!

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