HouseWife invites you to explore the world of sleep with a curious mind. We delve into concepts like jet lag, sleep paralysis, prophetic dreams, the “Sleeping Beauty” syndrome, and placebo sleep, among others. Discover more about the phenomenon of siesta, the dreams of the blind, sleep positions, and the healthy duration of rest.
“Rehearsal for Death”: Chilling Facts About Sleep
Philosophical musings have likened this mysterious physiological process to a “daily death,” “dying on a budget,” and a “lifetime exercise in dying.” To study the physiology of sleep, a specialized branch of neurology called somnology has been established. The significant medical discoveries made by these specialists would make even the most stoic person shudder.
No Cause, No Cure
The “Sleeping Beauty” syndrome affects more than just the heroine of the fairy tale: this rare neurological disorder (occurring in one to two cases per million) is documented on every continent and has been increasingly reported in recent years. In reality, this “fairy tale” condition of prolonged sleep typically affects young men rather than young maidens.
In scientific terms, periodic hypersomnia or prolonged sleep is known as Kleine-Levin syndrome, named after the researchers who studied nine cases of multi-day sleep attacks in 1925 and five cases in 1936. Although the first description of this enigmatic condition dates back to 1786 (by French physician Edme Pierre Chavot de Bausset), this long-known nervous system disorder remains poorly understood. Scientists attribute complaints of total drowsiness, which occur once or twice a year and last from three days to three weeks, to neuroendocrine disruptions, but specific treatments have yet to be developed.
A Teenager’s Illness
Excessive sleepiness, coupled with difficulty waking, can literally knock a person off their feet, yet it is characterized by a benign clinical course and spontaneous resolution. Typically, it begins during adolescence (in 81% of cases). Male gender, early onset (before age 12), and late onset (after age 20) are predictors of a longer course of the illness. While episodes tend to fade with age, the average duration of the condition is 14 years, and in some cases, it can extend to 18 years.
During periods of hypersomnia, individuals may sleep for 18-20 hours a day, struggling to rise only for basic needs. During brief awakenings, patients exhibit lethargy, apathy, derealization (altered perception of the environment), and retrograde amnesia (loss of memory). Women often display symptoms of depression and anxiety, while men show increased sexuality. Sometimes, the symptoms of the illness are limited to periodic drowsiness. During an episode, patients are confined to bed and, due to psychomotor suppression, are unable to work or study, even though other physical indicators remain normal. Surprisingly, between episodes of drowsiness, patients appear completely healthy.
Dangerous Experiments
It’s frightening to think that we spend 25 years of our lives sleeping! While humans are considered the only mammals capable of controlling natural drowsiness, doctors do not recommend consciously depriving oneself of sleep. Reducing the “lost time” of this natural state is impossible without harming one’s health.
Brutal scientific experiments on animals have shown that sleep is more crucial for the body than food. Puppies that could be saved even after 25 days of starvation died after just five days of enforced wakefulness. Sleep-deprived rats perished within two to three weeks. Lack of sleep in laboratory rodents diminished their ability to heal wounds and produce new brain cells.
The consequences of attempting to go without sleep were demonstrated by American radio host Peter Tripp, who, in 1959, stayed awake for 8 days and 9 hours during a live charity event. Ultimately, 201 hours without sleep led to paranoia, cognitive decline, auditory and visual hallucinations. Fortunately, these effects were not permanent.
Records – Banned
The last officially recorded achievement of sleep deprivation was 264 hours (11 days) of wakefulness by Randy Gardner, a high school student from San Diego, California. In early 1964, the 17-year-old participated in a scientific project under the supervision of Stanford University professor William Dement and Colonel John Ross. Hallucinations struck the physically robust teenager on the fourth day: he saw a person in a road sign and felt like a football player in the American league. By the end of the experiment, the subject could not complete a simple counting task because he forgot what he was doing.
Following this, the Guinness Book of World Records ceased to register such results to prevent people from endangering their lives. However, this did not deter those willing to risk their health. In 2007, a 42-year-old live-stream host from the UK, Tony Wright, stayed awake for 274 hours. Online users could observe in real-time the changes occurring in the experimenter: increasing fatigue, disorganized speech, and altered perception.
Body’s Reaction
Psychiatrists from Arizona concluded that the brains of subjects adapt to life without sleep by alternately shutting down and activating parts of neurons. After one day without sleep, vision and hearing deteriorate, body temperature drops, chills occur, muscle tension increases, and levels of stress hormones (cortisol and adrenaline) rise, while insulin levels decrease (leading to increased blood sugar). Sleep deprivation triggers overeating due to a deficiency of leptin in the body. Under stress, the brain conserves energy by temporarily shutting down parts of neurons and entering a “local sleep” mode.
After two days of enforced wakefulness, speech becomes impaired, the risk of making poor decisions increases, thinking slows down, and motivation decreases. The threshold for recognizing emotions is reached after 30 hours without sleep. After 48 hours, brief unconscious periods lasting a few seconds (microsleep) occur. There is an increased susceptibility to infections and disorientation.
After three days or more, mental health deteriorates: various psychoses emerge as a mandatory accompaniment to diminished cognitive abilities, making even simple tasks difficult. Illusions and memory loss are characteristic phenomena at this stage. Additionally, there is a rapid heartbeat, fluctuating heart rate amplitude, mood deterioration, loss of professional skills, and difficulty communicating. While proper nutrition and hydration may mitigate some unwanted effects, they cannot replace sleep.
Consequences of Sleep Deprivation
Not only extreme sleep deprivation, which is akin to torture, is harmful, but also the familiar chronic lack of sleep. The cumulative effect of regular sleep deficiency manifests with the same symptoms as its prolonged absence: even leading to reduced fertility and the likelihood of respiratory arrest.
Childhood Delays
Sleep deprivation poses particularly severe consequences for young children. Kids and teenagers need more sleep than adults. Childhood sleep deficits can be a starting point for declining academic performance, loss of socialization skills, communication problems, dangerous relationships, harmful habits, stunted growth, and delays in physical development.
Breathe Deeply
Regular breathing interruptions (10-15 times per hour) are signs of sleep apnea syndrome. This is a serious diagnosis with poor prospects. For people with breathing interruptions, sleeping is as dangerous as not sleeping at all. Apnea is characterized by temporary cessation of lung ventilation during sleep, lasting from ten seconds to three minutes. In severe cases, apnea can occur for up to 60% of sleep time.
Sleepy as a Drunk
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a full day without sleep can be compared to consuming 30-60 ml of pure alcohol: that’s 0.8-1.0 promille in the blood, significantly exceeding the legal limit for drivers. Operating machinery after a sleepless day is just as dangerous as driving under the influence. If someone sleeps six hours a night for 12 consecutive nights, their condition will be equivalent to having 0.1% alcohol in their blood. The symptoms are the same: slurred speech, loss of balance, poor coordination, and forgetfulness.
Scientific Paradoxes: Fascinating Facts About Sleep
In addition to insomnia, sleepwalking, and narcolepsy, scientists are aware of around 80 sleep disorders, and as science progresses, the number of identified pathologies continues to grow.
Placebo Sleep
Researchers have proven that when deprived of sleep, a person can be energized by the suggestion that they have rested. This deception is known as placebo sleep. Participants in a sleepless experiment stopped yawning and increased their productivity when cognitive tests were conducted after doctors assured them they had slept well. In this control group, volunteers who had actually not slept at night performed better on tasks than those who were led to believe their brains were fatigued.
Fighting Fire with Fire
Breaking causal relationships, therapists use sleep deprivation to treat depression and insomnia. For medical purposes, deprivation is employed to restore a disrupted sleep pattern. This approach can be beneficial when combined with cognitive-behavioral therapy. Swiss psychiatrists discuss the favorable effects of sleep deprivation on patients with depressive states. When this method is used in conjunction with pharmacology (particularly antidepressants), rapid treatment becomes possible in most cases (60% of case histories). Controlled sleep restriction under professional supervision allows for the restoration of a normal cycle of activity and rest.
Guarding Immunity
German scientists have confirmed the link between the state of the immune system and sleep duration. Chronic sleep deprivation weakens immunity and provokes frequent illnesses. This occurs because lymphocytes, responsible for combating pathogenic bacteria and viruses (T-cells), organize information during sleep. When a “foe” invades the body, the T-cells that recognize it trigger the production of antibodies. However, producing an effective “barrier” is only possible with accurate identification of the “poison.” Constant sleep deficiency disrupts the scanning of pathogens. Errors made by T-cells in recognizing microorganisms can lead to the re-emergence of recently contracted illnesses, necessitating repeat treatments.
Deviation from the Norm
It has been scientifically established that geniuses sleep less than ordinary people. Nikola Tesla needed only two hours of sleep per day, Albert Einstein four hours, and Leonardo da Vinci napped for 15 minutes every four hours, regardless of day or night. These well-known examples demonstrate that passionate and excited individuals require less sleep, just as adrenaline-fueled warriors do not feel tired during risky combat missions. A surge of energy drives away feelings of fatigue, while sleep typically overwhelms a person in a depressed state.
Leaders’ Schedule
There are reports that Donald Trump sleeps for three hours, while “The Iron Lady” Margaret Thatcher and another British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, manage with four hours (in contrast, fans of short nighttime sleep could rest for a few hours after lunch).
How Much Sleep Do We Need?
Can everyone get by on two hours of sleep a day like Julius Caesar? According to sleep specialists, healthy sleep duration is determined by age and genetics. While newborns need 18 hours of sleep per day, schoolchildren require 10 hours, and adults aged 25-55 need between 7.5 to 8 hours, the elderly can fully recharge with just 6.5 hours. However, 30% of people are forced to sleep no more than six hours, which is objectively sufficient for only 3% of the population.
Innate Predisposition
Researchers have confirmed the dependence of sleep needs on genetic constitution. People with a mutation in the DEC2 gene sleep the least: four hours of sleep per day is normal for them. During this time, their bodies fully recover, and they experience no negative consequences from short sleep. However, such mutants make up no more than 5% of the planet’s population.
Sleep or Life
Bad news for “sleepers”: scientists from the University of Warwick (Coventry, UK) deny long life to sleep lovers. A grim pattern has been established: the longer we sleep, the shorter our lives. A decade-long observation of a million volunteers revealed that both insufficient and excessive sleep are equally dangerous. Sleeping less than seven hours or more than nine hours a day can lead to health issues (depression, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases). Both sleep deprivation and oversleeping increase the risk of premature death by 30%.
Time for Sports
Physical activity improves sleep, but there are conditions. Regular exercise strengthens nighttime sleep, reducing the need for daytime rest. However, engaging in physical activity right before bedtime can have the opposite effect.
Wonders of Nature
Dolphins alternate sleeping between their brain hemispheres to maintain control over their breathing. During long flights, frigatebirds sleep in the air, but not for more than 42 minutes a day. The enormous giraffe needs only two hours of sleep per day, while ferrets and opossums require at least 18 hours of rest.
“Personal Movie Screening”: Incredible Facts About Sleep
Haruki Murakami referred to dreaming as “the only right activity in the world.” Scientifically, it has been established that most patients with sleep disorders are guided by misconceptions about the adequate amount of sleep. Since slow-wave sleep restores the body’s physical resources, while REM sleep fosters creative potential, a proper daily routine can enhance quality of life: depending on which type of sleep is more important for you.
Dreams or Mental Hospital
Sleep unloads the brain, but simply sleeping is not enough for health: one must also dream. American scientists have studied the connection between the absence of dreams and mental disorders. For scientific purposes, volunteers were not allowed to dream: they were awakened during this phase. Despite continuing to rest in bed afterward, three days without dreams had consequences. All participants in the experiment became irritable and distracted, unable to focus on tasks, and suffered from hallucinations.
More Color
64% of human dreams are associated with sadness, anger, irritation, fear, anxiety, and bad premonitions. Joy and happiness are found in only 18% of dreams. Colorful dreams are not exclusive to creative individuals: vivid dreams are familiar to 75-95% of people, but before the advent of color television, only 15% of subjects reported seeing color in their dreams. The predominant colors in dreams vary among individuals and depend on their physical and emotional states. A blue-green palette is typical for calm individuals with stable lives. An abundance of red hues may indicate an underlying illness or fever. Under stress and mental overload, people tend to have monochrome dreams. Exclusively black-and-white dreams are characteristic of only 5% of individuals. And one in a hundred does not dream at all.
Smart People Have More Fun
After surveying 2,000 individuals about their dreams, American researchers found an interesting pattern: intellectuals remember their dreams better. Participants with high IQs experience more meaningful narratives and recall more details. Nighttime brain activity is proportional to daytime activity, as the brain organizes new information. When there is insufficient information, gray matter simply rests, producing less spectacular dreams.
Blind Dreams
Surprisingly, for the blind, falling asleep is a chance to “see.” In their dreams, blind individuals can see again, but only those who lost their sight after birth. Those who became blind later in life experience images from memory in their dreams. However, congenitally blind individuals do not see images, although they do dream. Their dreams are not visual but consist of sensations: sounds, smells, emotions, and touches.
Controlling Dreams
Dreams can be controlled. An altered state of consciousness allows individuals to influence the content of their dreams while being aware that they are dreaming. Researchers refer to such dreams as lucid.
Expanding Horizons
Scientists have proven that dreams help tackle unsolvable problems in everyday life and find solutions to potential “dead ends” that have been overlooked.
We’ve Met Somewhere
According to researchers, in dreams, we encounter only those people we have seen before. The human subconscious cannot “invent” a new person in a dream; in reality, the “stranger” from the dream has been encountered before.
The Future is on the Pillow
Sleep specialists believe in prophetic dreams: science has found numerous confirmations that “nighttime screenings” contain predictions of the future.
The Nature of Jet Lag
The discrepancy between an individual’s biorhythm and the circadian rhythm is known as jet lag. This condition can be associated with rapid changes in time zones during flights.
Sleep Paralysis
The unpleasant body jolting that occurs while falling asleep is known as “hypnic jerks.” The biological purpose of this phenomenon during the REM phase is to prevent any actions during this state. In addition to body immobility, this stressful yet harmless state, lasting from a few seconds to two minutes, may be accompanied by panic and difficulty breathing, rapid heartbeat, feelings of pressure, disorientation, and the illusion of body movement. At this moment, one may sense a foreign presence, along with auditory and visual hallucinations. In this spectrum of experiences, the sleeper seems to pull themselves out of sleep, resulting in convulsive jerking throughout the body, noticeable from the outside. No wonder the sleeper feels as if they have been tossed in bed.
What Sleep Position Reveals
A person’s sleeping position reveals their character and psychological state. Calm and content individuals sleep on their backs with straight legs and arms extended along their bodies. Those who curl up in a ball while sleeping are seeking protection. Rational individuals rest on their sides. Those who sleep on their stomachs are often sociopaths, people with disrupted personal space, or victims of a sedentary lifestyle. If someone lingers in bed after waking or is reluctant to get up, it may be a symptom of depression.
Sleep in Reserve
Scientists recommend preparing for a sleepless night in advance. Sleep deprivation will be easier to endure if you accumulate extra sleep in the days leading up to it: try going to bed earlier and waking up later.
The Scent of Dreams
At Heidelberg University (Germany), researchers found a connection between sleep quality and scents. Unpleasant odors guarantee heavy dreams, while pleasant ones do the opposite. Joyful and bright dreams are triggered by fruity, herbal, floral aromas, and the scent of frosty freshness. Such olfactory effects promote deep sleep and brain relaxation. Interestingly, there are training methods designed to utilize familiar scents to form necessary memories during sleep and enhance information retention.
Time to Recharge
Nearly half of humanity (40%) is inclined to take an afternoon nap. Research on biorhythms has established that our productivity declines after 16 hours without sleep. This period occurs between 2 PM and 4 PM. In hot climate countries, this time is often used for a daytime nap – a siesta. Some workers may benefit from taking a break eight hours after waking. While an afternoon nap restores physical energy, a midday pause in work can rejuvenate creative abilities.
Stirlitz’s Mistake
A 10-minute power nap, according to Australian scientists, can neutralize the negative effects of a sleepless night. The body activates after waking for the next two to three hours. In contrast, the “Stirlitz method” (the popular film character who could sleep for twenty minutes in a car) and a half-hour nap require two hours of ramp-up for further activation. In any case, a short nap cannot replace a full night’s sleep.