Think you know everything about sleep? Guess again. There are many things about sleep that you might not know anything about and those strange sleep facts could surprise you. We sleep in order for the body to be able to restore itself plus rejuvenate. Sleep is healing and can help with synthesizing the hormones, repair tissues and even help with growing muscles. This is another reason as to why babies need a lot of sleep. However, there are some strange facts about sleep that never get talked about much and still remain a mystery.
Check out these 10 Top Strange Facts about Sleep
10. Roughly, we sleep around 1/3 of our life
Did you know that we sleep for around 1/3 of our life? Despite all the research that has been done, scientists still cannot explain as to why we actually sleep this long. Some people even sleep more then 1/3 of their life. Each of us are so unique and we all require different amounts of sleep but we still sleep a portion of our life away.
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9. You’ll lose 50K calories when sleeping for 8 hours
If you do the recommended amount of sleep, you will lose 50K calories. This is around the amount of a piece of toast. If you sleep for a longer period of time, you might wake up hungrier then the morning of when you had less than 8 hours of sleep because of it. Sleeping normal hours is very important for when you’re trying to lose weight.
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8. Your brain is more active at night
You’re wrong if you think that your brain has no activity when you’re sleeping. In fact, your brain is more active at night then it is during the day. It can even be more alert when you’re sleeping. Your brain needs this activity and that is actually another reason as to why we need to sleep. You can’t function properly without getting the proper amount of sleep because your brain needs to be active when you’re sleeping.
7. Only people delay sleep willingly
People tend to be the only ones that willingly delay sleep. Animals and other creators willingly sleep. They don’t fight it. Perhaps they are smarter than we are with knowing that we need sleep. Baby animals especially never fight sleep. Kittens are known too just suddenly fall asleep when playing and they can end up looking so adorable when they do.
6. We feel tired naturally during two parts of the day
It’s natural that we tend to feel tired during two parts of the day. Those two parts tend to be around 2:00 am and then around 2:00 Pm. If you’re still awake when it’s dark out then around 2am your body will start feeling it. People who work night shift might go on breaks more around this time. Around 2 pm the reason why we’re more tired is because of the post lunch dip that happens around noon, or depending on when you eat. Some people might feel tired around 3 or 4 and again, it reflects back to your lunch time hours.
5. Snoring is one of the main reasons why people cannot sleep
Snoring causes a lot of problems. Caffeine is another reason as to why people cannot sleep but snoring can not only keep people up but prevent them from going to sleep. They might know they snore but then battle staying up until their partner is sleeping so they won’t stay up when they are sleeping. This causes the one who snores to struggle with insomnia even more.
4. Pain tolerance decreases the more you sleep
Your pain tolerance decreases the more you sleep. If you’re a runner or someone into sports then sleeping can be very good for you. It will decrease your pain. It will might your muscles stronger during the time that you’re sleeping. This is another reason as to why it’s important to sleep a healthy amount at night. Building up pain tolerance can also help with boosting up your immune system.
3. After 17 hours of not sleeping you start having cognitive problems
Another reason why it’s important is that studies show if you don’t have sleep for 17 hours, you start experiencing cognitive problems. You will have a hard time remembering things properly but that’s not the only thing that starts to happen. You also won’t be able to perceive things properly. You could take things out of context and much more. A proper amount of sleep can help with better communication.
2. Your life expectancy might be cut short without proper sleep
Studies also show that if you have less than 7 hours of sleep per night or make a habit of not getting enough sleep then it also reduces your life expectancy. It’s true that some people might not need much sleep in order to be alert the next day but at the same time their body isn’t healing from lack of sleep. This is another reason as to why their life expectancy might be cut short from not properly sleeping at night.
1. Lack of sleep causes weight gain
Sleeping can cause you to lose weight but at the same time if you don’t sleep you can gain weight. If you’re trying to lose weight then it’s even more important to get sleep. You can gain around 2 Pounds KG in just under one week from not getting enough sleep at night. This might not seem like a lot but in time it can add up.
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Conclusion
If you find yourself having problems with sleep be sure to talk with your doctor. Your doctor might be able to give you suggestions on how to sleep at night. Medications might also sometimes interfere with sleep so that’s another reason as to why you should tell your doctor when you’re not sleeping properly.