40 FACTS ABOUT ***** YOU PROBABLY DIDN'T KNOW...
(OR WERE TOO TIRED TO THINK ABOUT)
-The record for the longest period without ***** is 18 days, 21 hours, 40 minutes during a rocking chair marathon. The record holder reported hallucinations, paranoia, blurred vision, slurred speech and memory and concentration lapses.
- It's impossible to tell if someone is really awake without close medical supervision. People can take cat naps with their eyes open without even being aware of it.
- Anything less than five minutes to fall ****** at night means you're ***** deprived. The ideal is between 10 and 15 minutes, meaning you're still tired enough to ***** deeply, but not so exhausted you feel sleepy by day.
- A new baby typically results in 400-750 hours lost ***** for parents in the first year
- One of the best predictors of insomnia later in life is the development of bad habits from having ***** disturbed by young ********.
- The continuous brain recordings that led to the discovery of REM (rapid eye-movement) ***** were not done until 1953, partly because the scientists involved were concerned about wasting paper.
- REM ***** occurs in bursts totalling about 2 hours a night, usually beginning about 90 minutes after falling ******.
- Dreams, once thought to occur only during REM *****, also occur (but to a lesser extent) in non-REM ***** phases. It's possible there may not be a single moment of our ***** when we are actually dreamless.
- REM dreams are characterised by bizarre plots, but non-REM dreams are repetitive and thought-like, with little imagery - obsessively returning to a suspicion you left your mobile phone somewhere, for example.
- Certain types of eye movements during REM ***** correspond to specific movements in dreams, suggesting at least part of the dreaming process is analagous to watching a film
- No-one knows for sure if other species ***** but some do have ***** cycles similar to humans.
- Elephants ***** standing up during non-REM *****, but lie down for REM *****.
- Some scientists believe we ***** to fix experiences in long-term memory, that is, we ***** about things worth remembering. Others reckon we ***** about things worth forgetting - to eliminate overlapping memories that would otherwise clog up our brains.
- Dreams may not serve any purpose at all but be merely a meaningless byproduct of two evolutionary adaptations - ***** and consciousness.
- REM ***** may help developing brains mature. Premature babies have 75 per cent REM *****, 10 per cent more than full-term bubs. Similarly, a newborn kitten puppy rat or hampster experiences only REM *****, while a newborn guinea pig (which is much more developed at birth) has almost no REM ***** at all.
- Scientists have not been able to explain a 1998 study showing a bright light shone on the backs of human knees can reset the brain's *****-**** clock.
- British Ministry of Defence researchers have been able to reset soldiers' body clocks so they can go without ***** for up to 36 hrs. Tiny optical fibres embedded in special spectacles project a ring of bright white light (with a spectrum identical to a sunrise) around the edge of soldiers' retinas, fooling them into thinking they have just woken up. The system was first used on US pilots during the bombing of Kosovo.
- ********* hours of sustained wakefulness leads to a decrease in performance equivalent to a ***** *******-level of 0.05%.
- The 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill off Alaska, the Challenger space shuttle disaster and the Chernobyl nuclear accident have all been attributed to human errors in which *****-deprivation played a role.
- The NRMA estimates fatigue is involved in one in 6 fatal road accidents.
- Exposure to noise at night can suppress immune function even if the sleeper doesn’t ****. Unfamiliar noise, and noise during the first and last two hours of *****, has the greatest disruptive effect on the ***** cycle.
- The "natural alarm clock" which enables some people to **** up more or less when they want to is caused by a burst of the stress hormone adrenocorticotropin. Researchers say this reflects an *********** anticipation of the stress of waking up.
- Some ******** tablets, such as barbiturates suppress REM *****, which can be harmful over a long period.
- In insomnia following bereavement, ******** pills can disrupt grieving.
- Tiny luminous rays from a digital alarm clock can be enough to disrupt the ***** cycle even if you do not fully ****. The light turns off a "neural switch" in the brain, causing levels of a key ***** chemical to decline within minutes.
- To drop off we must cool off; body temperature and the brain's *****-**** cycle are closely linked. That's why hot summer nights can cause a restless *****. The ***** flow mechanism that transfers core body heat to the skin works best between 18 and 30 degrees. But later in life, the comfort zone shrinks to between 23 and 25 degrees - one reason why older people have more ***** disorders.
- A night on the grog will help you get to ***** but it will be a light ******* and you won't ***** much.
- After five nights of partial ***** deprivation, three drinks will have the same effect on your body as six would when you've ***** enough.
- Humans ***** on average around three hours less than other primates like chimps, rhesus monkeys, squirrel monkeys and baboons, all of whom ***** for 10 hours.
- Ducks at risk of ****** by predators are able to balance the need for ***** and survival, keeping one half of the brain awake while the other slips into ***** mode.
- Ten per cent of snorers have ***** apnoea, a disorder which causes sufferers to stop breathing up to 300 times a night and significantly increases the risk of suffering a heart ****** or stroke.
- Snoring occurs only in non-REM *****
- Teenagers need as much ***** as small ******** (about 10 hrs) while those over 65 need the least of all (about six hours). For the average adult aged 25-55, eight hours is considered optimal
- Some studies suggest women need up to an hour's extra ***** a night compared to men, and not getting it may be one reason women are much more susceptible to depression than men.
- Feeling tired can feel normal after a short time. Those deliberately deprived of ***** for research initially noticed greatly the effects on their alertness, mood and physical performance, but the awareness dropped off after the first few days.
- Diaries from the pre-electric-light-globe Victorian era show adults ***** nine to 10 hours a night with periods of rest changing with the seasons in line with sunrise and sunsets.
- Most of what we know about ***** we've learned in the past 25 years.
- As a group, 18 to 24 year-olds deprived of ***** suffer more from impaired performance than older adults.
- Experts say one of the most alluring ***** distractions is the 24-hour accessibility of the internet.
- The extra-hour of ***** received when clocks are put back at the start of daylight in Canada has been found to coincide with a fall in the number of road accidents.
(OR WERE TOO TIRED TO THINK ABOUT)
-The record for the longest period without ***** is 18 days, 21 hours, 40 minutes during a rocking chair marathon. The record holder reported hallucinations, paranoia, blurred vision, slurred speech and memory and concentration lapses.
- It's impossible to tell if someone is really awake without close medical supervision. People can take cat naps with their eyes open without even being aware of it.
- Anything less than five minutes to fall ****** at night means you're ***** deprived. The ideal is between 10 and 15 minutes, meaning you're still tired enough to ***** deeply, but not so exhausted you feel sleepy by day.
- A new baby typically results in 400-750 hours lost ***** for parents in the first year
- One of the best predictors of insomnia later in life is the development of bad habits from having ***** disturbed by young ********.
- The continuous brain recordings that led to the discovery of REM (rapid eye-movement) ***** were not done until 1953, partly because the scientists involved were concerned about wasting paper.
- REM ***** occurs in bursts totalling about 2 hours a night, usually beginning about 90 minutes after falling ******.
- Dreams, once thought to occur only during REM *****, also occur (but to a lesser extent) in non-REM ***** phases. It's possible there may not be a single moment of our ***** when we are actually dreamless.
- REM dreams are characterised by bizarre plots, but non-REM dreams are repetitive and thought-like, with little imagery - obsessively returning to a suspicion you left your mobile phone somewhere, for example.
- Certain types of eye movements during REM ***** correspond to specific movements in dreams, suggesting at least part of the dreaming process is analagous to watching a film
- No-one knows for sure if other species ***** but some do have ***** cycles similar to humans.
- Elephants ***** standing up during non-REM *****, but lie down for REM *****.
- Some scientists believe we ***** to fix experiences in long-term memory, that is, we ***** about things worth remembering. Others reckon we ***** about things worth forgetting - to eliminate overlapping memories that would otherwise clog up our brains.
- Dreams may not serve any purpose at all but be merely a meaningless byproduct of two evolutionary adaptations - ***** and consciousness.
- REM ***** may help developing brains mature. Premature babies have 75 per cent REM *****, 10 per cent more than full-term bubs. Similarly, a newborn kitten puppy rat or hampster experiences only REM *****, while a newborn guinea pig (which is much more developed at birth) has almost no REM ***** at all.
- Scientists have not been able to explain a 1998 study showing a bright light shone on the backs of human knees can reset the brain's *****-**** clock.
- British Ministry of Defence researchers have been able to reset soldiers' body clocks so they can go without ***** for up to 36 hrs. Tiny optical fibres embedded in special spectacles project a ring of bright white light (with a spectrum identical to a sunrise) around the edge of soldiers' retinas, fooling them into thinking they have just woken up. The system was first used on US pilots during the bombing of Kosovo.
- ********* hours of sustained wakefulness leads to a decrease in performance equivalent to a ***** *******-level of 0.05%.
- The 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill off Alaska, the Challenger space shuttle disaster and the Chernobyl nuclear accident have all been attributed to human errors in which *****-deprivation played a role.
- The NRMA estimates fatigue is involved in one in 6 fatal road accidents.
- Exposure to noise at night can suppress immune function even if the sleeper doesn’t ****. Unfamiliar noise, and noise during the first and last two hours of *****, has the greatest disruptive effect on the ***** cycle.
- The "natural alarm clock" which enables some people to **** up more or less when they want to is caused by a burst of the stress hormone adrenocorticotropin. Researchers say this reflects an *********** anticipation of the stress of waking up.
- Some ******** tablets, such as barbiturates suppress REM *****, which can be harmful over a long period.
- In insomnia following bereavement, ******** pills can disrupt grieving.
- Tiny luminous rays from a digital alarm clock can be enough to disrupt the ***** cycle even if you do not fully ****. The light turns off a "neural switch" in the brain, causing levels of a key ***** chemical to decline within minutes.
- To drop off we must cool off; body temperature and the brain's *****-**** cycle are closely linked. That's why hot summer nights can cause a restless *****. The ***** flow mechanism that transfers core body heat to the skin works best between 18 and 30 degrees. But later in life, the comfort zone shrinks to between 23 and 25 degrees - one reason why older people have more ***** disorders.
- A night on the grog will help you get to ***** but it will be a light ******* and you won't ***** much.
- After five nights of partial ***** deprivation, three drinks will have the same effect on your body as six would when you've ***** enough.
- Humans ***** on average around three hours less than other primates like chimps, rhesus monkeys, squirrel monkeys and baboons, all of whom ***** for 10 hours.
- Ducks at risk of ****** by predators are able to balance the need for ***** and survival, keeping one half of the brain awake while the other slips into ***** mode.
- Ten per cent of snorers have ***** apnoea, a disorder which causes sufferers to stop breathing up to 300 times a night and significantly increases the risk of suffering a heart ****** or stroke.
- Snoring occurs only in non-REM *****
- Teenagers need as much ***** as small ******** (about 10 hrs) while those over 65 need the least of all (about six hours). For the average adult aged 25-55, eight hours is considered optimal
- Some studies suggest women need up to an hour's extra ***** a night compared to men, and not getting it may be one reason women are much more susceptible to depression than men.
- Feeling tired can feel normal after a short time. Those deliberately deprived of ***** for research initially noticed greatly the effects on their alertness, mood and physical performance, but the awareness dropped off after the first few days.
- Diaries from the pre-electric-light-globe Victorian era show adults ***** nine to 10 hours a night with periods of rest changing with the seasons in line with sunrise and sunsets.
- Most of what we know about ***** we've learned in the past 25 years.
- As a group, 18 to 24 year-olds deprived of ***** suffer more from impaired performance than older adults.
- Experts say one of the most alluring ***** distractions is the 24-hour accessibility of the internet.
- The extra-hour of ***** received when clocks are put back at the start of daylight in Canada has been found to coincide with a fall in the number of road accidents.
