120 Psychological Facts about not Being able to Sleep

Hi dear friends welcome to again my new post. The Psychological Facts about not Being able to Sleep.

Sleep is vital to our health and well-being. Most of us need around 7-8 hours of sleep a night. It is important to get a good quality sleep, as poor sleep can lead to health problems such as obesity, heart disease, diabetes and depression.

There are a few things that you can do to ensure you get a good night’s sleep:

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• Make sure that you are getting enough sleep
• Keep a sleep diary to track your sleep habits
• Avoid caffeine and alcohol before bedtime
• Use a sleep mask to block light from entering your room
• Use a comfortable mattress

There are some common myths and surprises facts of Sleeping:-

1. One of the primary causes of excessive sleepiness among Americans is self-imposed sleep deprivation.
2. Believing you’ve slept well, even if you haven’t, is believed to improve performance.
3. Beauty sleep is a thing! During sleep, your skin can repair any damage (UV rays, dirt, etc.) and regenerate new skin cells.
4. Ever fall asleep and wake up with a sudden jolt seconds later. That action is called a myoclonic jerk.
5. The older you get, the fewer hours of sleep you need.
6. The average person has about 1460 dreams a year. That’s about four per night.
7. Women are found to have more nightmares than men and also have more emotional dreams.
8. One sleepless night affects your brain in the same way as being drunk.
9. People with short sleep duration tend to weigh significantly more than those who get adequate sleep. short sleep duration is one of the strongest risk factors for obesity.
10. Sleep is just as important as diet and exercise.
11. 30 minutes of exercise each day correlates with 14 extra minutes of sleep per night.
12. You spend roughly 75% of the night in NREM sleep.
13. The sensation of falling when half asleep and jerking yourself awake is called ‘hypnic jerks.
14. Good sleep can maximize problem-solving skills and enhance memory. Poor sleep has been shown to impair brain function.
15. Bullfrogs and dolphins are some animals that barely sleep or don’t require sleep.
16. Self-control is like a muscle. It can become fatigued by overuse, but it can also be strengthened in the long term through exercise.
17. If you fall asleep in less than 5 minutes, chances are you are sleep deprived or suffering from a sleep disorder! It should take about 10-20 minutes to fall asleep.
18. A study found that when people were asked by a stranger if they would sleep with them, 75% of men said yes and every single woman said no.
19. Giraffes can get by on an average of 30 minutes of sleep a night.
20. Three-quarters of those who suffer from depression also suffer from a lack of sleep.
21. We used to think that everything shuts down when we sleep. But over the last 60 years, scientists have discovered that our brains are very active while we sleep. In fact, some parts of the brain use more oxygen and glucose while asleep than when awake.
22. Sleeping on your front can aid digestion. Hands should apparently be positioned above the pillow so you’re in a ‘freefall’ position, whilst laying on your left side can apparently help reduce heartburn.
23. Even when you feel like you’re failing and the tide is against you, put on your best face and show up.
24. Don’t lie in bed awake. If you can’t get to sleep, do something else, like reading or listening to music, until you feel tired.
25. Most adults need between seven and nine hours of sleep each night for optimum performance, health, and safety. When we don’t get adequate sleep, we accumulate a sleep debt that can be difficult to “payback” if it becomes too big.
26. Newborn babies spend twice as much time in REM sleep than adults do.
27. Dreams often reveal feelings that we’ve hidden or repressed, because dreams are a reflection of our unconscious mind, our emotional truth.
28. Sleep changes across the night in cycles of about 90 minutes. There is REM (dreaming) sleep in every cycle, even if only for a short time. We also have very brief arousals many times across the night. We are not aware of most of these arousals and we forget most dreams.
29. Dreams carry more weight and meaning than our conscious thoughts while awake. 70% of your dreams contain secret messages.
30. People who stay up later at night are likely to be more intelligent than those who go to bed early.
31. Two-thirds of US high school students get less than 8 hours of sleep on school nights.
32. If your house was on fire while you were asleep, you wouldn’t wake up. The sense of smell is off when you’re sleeping.
33. The timing of our need for sleep is based on two things. The first is how long we have been awake. The second is our body clock. If we stay awake all night we will feel more tired at 4 am than at 10 am. Scientists call the time between 3 am and 5 am the ‘dead zone’. It’s when our body clock makes us ‘dead’ tired.
34. People born blind do not have visual dreams instead their taste, touch, and smell are heightened. If a person loses their vision after the age of 5 though, they may still have visual dreams for a while but the frequency and clarity will diminish over time.
35. The record for the longest period without sleep is 18 days, 21 hours, and 40 minutes during a rocking chair marathon. The record holder reported hallucinations, paranoia, blurred vision, slurred speech, and memory and concentration lapses.
36. In general, exercising regularly makes it easier to fall asleep and contributes to sounder sleep. However, exercising sporadically or right before going to bed will make falling asleep more difficult.
37. During REM sleep chemicals in your brain paralyze your muscles to stop you from acting out your dreams.
38. It’s difficult to tell if someone is really asleep because people can actually sleep with their eyes open! In fact, about 10% of the population sleeps with their eyes either fully open or partially open.
39. The act of sleep talking is known as “somniloquy” and takes place during overlapping states of consciousness. The brief outbursts last only 1 or 2 seconds.
40. Sleeping too little or too much is not ideal and might result in a shorter life span!! So be aware, sleep for 7 to 8 hours a day.
41. If a person sleeps a lot, then he/she is sad.
42. People who don’t get enough sleep are more likely to have bigger appetites due to the fact that their leptin levels (leptin is an appetite-regulating hormone) fall, promoting appetite increase.
43. Adults aged 18 to 64 generally need seven to nine hours of sleep. Adults 65 and older are generally fine with seven to eight hours. Children can need as many as 17 hours.
44. It’s possible that, while sleeping, we experience something called a micro-arousal, in which we change posture.
45. No wonder it’s so hard to diet! When we have low levels of glucose, our willpower goes down the drain. The best cure is a meal rich in protein, which produces a constant and steady glucose level and enables the most optimal willpower.
46. Some people cope with a lack of sleep much better than others. But everyone who is very sleepy loses concentration easily and experiences mood changes. The usual mood changes are feeling more depressed and irritable.
47. 1 in 4 married couples sleeps in separate beds for a better sleep experience, according to surveys.
48. Spending at least 60 minutes in conversation with someone you care about an hour before bed can really help you sleep peacefully.
49. 11 days is the record for the longest period without sleep. In 1964, Randy Gardner fought exhaustion and suffered extreme sleep deprivation after his feat. We definitely don’t recommend trying this, like a Chinese man who dies in 2012 from staying awake for 11 days to watch soccer.
50. If a person wakes up in the REM stage of the dream, it is more likely that he or she will remember the dream.
51. Some people try to sleep less during the weekdays — perhaps to cope with their work schedules — and then try to catch up on lost sleep on the weekend. But studies said that doesn’t really work.
52. So, when is willpower at its peak? Early morning after a good rest. Want to start a side project? Start taking action early in the morning.
53. Each year, sleep-related errors and accidents cost U.S. businesses an estimated $56 billion, cause nearly 25,000 deaths, and result in 2.5 million disabling injuries.
54. Dysania is the state of finding it hard to get out of bed in the morning.
55. Mothers who breastfeed and co-sleep get more sleep in a 24-hour period than those that don’t.
56. If you live to be 75 years old, you’ll have spent approximately 25 years of sleep – 6 of those years will be jam-packed with dreams.
57. Those who fly regularly for work could be more at risk of sleep deprivation. Flying at high altitudes leads to disturbed sleep due to the lack of oxygen.
58. Napping improves stamina, boosts your creativity, boosts your libido, and reduces stress. The best kind of nap is 30 minutes long.
59. On average people sleep around three hours less than other primates like chimps, rhesus monkeys, squirrel monkeys, and baboons.
60. The colder your room, the easier it will be to fall asleep.
61. Sleeping less than 7–8 hours per night is linked to an increased risk of heart disease and stroke.
62. When it’s after 2 am, just go to sleep. The decisions you make after 2 am are always the wrong decisions.
63. During the first two years of a baby’s life, parents will miss six months of sleep on average.
64. Focus on one goal at a time. Reduce the decisions you need to make. Structure and arrange your priorities weekly and start making progress consistently.
65. Drinking alcohol or taking any drug is basically you poisoning yourself. Speaking slowly and slurring after a drink, puking or sleeping is the body’s reaction intended to help you overcome the effects of the poison.
66. Experts say one of the most alluring sleep distractions is the 24-hour accessibility of the internet.
67. Adults who sleep for less than 7 hours a night are more likely to report suffering from asthma, cancer, and diabetes.
68. It takes only a small amount of light–even the light from a digital alarm clock–to disrupt the sleep cycle.
69. According to the results of NSF’s 2008 Sleep in America poll, a surprising 34 percent of respondents reported their employer allows them to nap during breaks and 16 percent provide a place to do so.
70. Sleeping on your front can add to digestion problems.
71. A person who sleeps a lot and barely steps outside the home is often depressed and has a smaller friend circle.
72. It’s common for the deaf to sign in their sleep. Just like talking in your sleep, the hearing impaired communicate via sign language while sleeping. There are many recorded instances of people who have reported seeing their deaf partner or child signing while snoozing.
73. Pulling an all-nighter to finish a report or study for an exam? Not sleeping for 16 hours can make you behave as if you have a blood-alcohol level of 0.05%.
74. Athletes may improve their performance by sleeping up to 10 hours per night because all of that physical activity means that their bodies require more sleep to repair muscles and restore energy.
75. Ducks at risk of attack by predators are able to balance the need for sleep and survival, keeping one half of the brain awake while the other slips into sleep mode.
76. Shift workers who work nights lose more sleep than those who work during the day.
77. Sleep deprivation may reduce your social skills and ability to recognize people’s emotional expressions.
78. Full moon? Some studies suggest that the full moon robs us of a good night’s sleep. Even if your sleep is restricted to windowless rooms free of environmental and time-based cues, such as those found in a sleep lab, your sleep is likely to be shorter and interrupted more.
79. Six in ten healthcare professionals do not feel that they have enough time to have a discussion with their patients about insomnia during regular office visits.
80. We tend to think of sleep as a time when the mind and body shut down. But this is not the case; sleep is an active period in which a lot of important processing, restoration, and strengthening occurs.
81. Fire alarms were invented because we can’t ‘properly’ smell smoke while we’re asleep. Many studies have shown that while noise can wake you up, smells won’t.
82. People who regularly sleep for longer than 10 hours have a greater risk of heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and depression.
83. Sleeping without a bra improves the quality of sleep by over 95% and is an effective way of treating insomnia.
84. Meanwhile, the subconscious doubts, fears, and desires come out in the form of your dreams. Dream Analysis is helpful to find the true meaning of your dreams.
85. While sleeping we grow about 8 mm! Unfortunately, we shrink back down to our previous size when we wake up. This occurs because our cartilage discs are squeezed like sponges by the force of gravity when we stand or sit.
86. 33% of those who drink 4 or more caffeinated beverages daily are designated at risk for sleep apnea – a disorder in which breathing is interrupted briefly and repeatedly, chronic snoring can be an indicator.
87. Lack of sleep can affect your memory as sleep triggers changes in the brain that solidifies memories.
88. Dreams may not serve any purpose at all but are merely a meaningless byproduct of two evolutionary adaptations – sleep and consciousness.]
89. When you’re in REM sleep your brain is almost as active as when you are awake.
90. Humans are the only mammal that can delay sleep. Dogs, cows, and even sheep must go to sleep when their body tells them to. We have the ability to tell our body no to exhaustion (to an extent) and finish watching Stranger Things on Netflix.
91. Nearly 40% of the world population suffers from what is known as Sleep Paralysis. This is actually a phenomenon where a person fails to move for about a minute when he or she wakes up from a dream and recognizes the surroundings.
92. Keep learning and expanding your knowledge in your field of interest – mentally, then take a good rest and eat the right foods to stay at your peak state – physically.
93. Insomniacs report difficulties falling asleep or staying asleep. Some turn to sleep pills or alcohol, but a number of natural alternatives have been established to assist with sleeplessness. Experts recommend regular exercise, a consistent sleep schedule, and a relaxing bedtime routine for those struggling with insomnia.
94. We don’t learn while we sleep. Not even unconsciously, contrary to popular belief. Sleep serves as a recovery period for the body.
95. It’s a myth that you shouldn’t wake someone while sleepwalking.
96. For some people, dreams work as a device. William Shakespeare for instance used his dreams to create new characters as well as advance the plots of his stories.
97. According to psychologists, daydreaming is an outcome of dreams that occur at night during sleep. However, these two types of dreams have different mental processes.
98. Humans can sleep with their eyes open. Yes, you can sleep with your eyes open, which makes it truly impossible to tell whether someone is really sleeping or not.
99. The happier you are, the less amount of sleep you are required to function in everyday life. Sadness increases your urge to sleep more.
100. Dreaming: although there isn’t yet a suitable reason for it, people usually dream about what they have been thinking about.
101. You find relief in sleeping. When you’re sleeping, you’re not sad, angry, or lonely, you feel nothing.
102. Before color television was introduced, only 15% of people dreamt of color. Older people dream in black and white more often than younger people.
103. Meditation is great for a lot of things – reducing stress, increasing focus, and managing emotions. Now research suggests it even helps us build willpower!
104. While some people like to have the background noise of the TV to help them fall asleep, the changing volume and lighting of the TV can break up the quality of your sleep and may lead you to wake up in the middle of the night
105. Lack of sleep can raise the sensation of hunger by 25 percent. Sleep more and you can eat more or burn more calories.
106. Alarm clocks don’t necessarily wake you up, they startle you, causing a panic that interrupts your sleep state which isn’t healthy.
107. Waking up multiple times during the night is normal. Some studies suggest we wake up as many as 8 times throughout the night as we cycle between light and deep sleep.
108. Building healthy mini habits is the foolproof way to achieve excellence in life, regardless of how big and impossible, it seems at first. Start with habits that are so small that we have no reason or excuse to ignore them.
109. The sleep disorder “insomnia,” in which a person has difficulty falling and staying asleep at night, is more prevalent in women than in men. Insomnia also increases with age.
110. Dreaming of falling is very common. It is a symbol of fear in real life – perhaps of failing at work or in your love life, claims Russell Grant, author of The Illustrated Dream Dictionary. Falling often expresses a need to let yourself go more and enjoy life more.
111. Singer this one is for you – Singing has positive psychological effects. Singing releases endorphins, making you feel better almost instantly. (No wonder why singers are so happy)
112. Sleep is essential to humans, just like air, water and food. When necessary, people can cope without sleep for periods of time, but the longer we are awake the stronger the urge to sleep becomes.
113. A person who sleeps too much sits too much, and isn’t physically active enough is more than 4 times as likely to die early.
114. Dreams are can be an emotional rollercoaster, cycling through your feelings of the past day. The most common emotion is anxiety, which begs the question – why are we all so stressed.
115. Failing to get enough sleep can interfere with eating habits and insulin production, making it a contributing factor in obesity and high blood glucose.
116. The person you know who secretly thinks of you before going to sleep is more likely to appear in your dream.
117. To achieve a sense of fulfillment in life, material success is not enough…help the less privileged, develop the habit of sharing, and be sincerely genuine to other people…In short touch people’s lives in a positive way…Life will then be much more meaningful.
118. Did you know seasonal affective disorder is believed to be influenced by the changing patterns of light and darkness that occur with the approach of winter?
119. The “natural alarm clock” that allows some people to wake themselves up at will is caused by a burst of the stress hormone adrenocorticotropin. It’s thought to be unconscious anticipation of the stress of waking up.
120. Different people need different amounts of sleep. Eight and a quarter hours is the average for adults. Some people can cope very well with much less and some need much more every night.

Also read- 100 Common Psychological Facts about Depression and Anxiety

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