The science of sleep is a mysterious territory. Researchers are still not sure what happens in our brains during sleep, which makes us dream, and what they mean. But in recent years, science has discovered several things about what happens to our brains in the arms of Morpheus.
10 surprising facts about why we need a good night's sleep:
1. Familiar smells help to form memories in the brain during sleep, improving your learning performance.
2. Shaking of the body when we fall asleep is very common. It is completely harmless and is called "hypnotic jerks".
3. One small study found that playing the didgeridoo (a musical wind instrument of the Australian Aborigines, which is a long wooden or bamboo tube - Ed.) Improves sleep, because it strengthens the muscles that are involved in breathing.
4. Analysis of human daily biorhythms shows that the most natural time for daytime sleep is between 14:00 and 16:00. While sleeping in the afternoon is more conducive to recovery, a little rest around noon boosts creativity.
5. Research has shown that a mutation in the DEC2 gene allows some people to fully get enough sleep after four hours of sleep a night. No side effects on the body from such a short sleep were found in them.
6. However, you are unlikely to belong to this group of people. Those who are lucky enough to get enough sleep in a few hours, no more than 5% on Earth. Most people need 8 hours of sleep. But about 30% do not allow themselves to sleep more than six hours a night.
7. One theory about why we need to sleep states that during sleep, our brain organizes the memories and impressions that it received during the day. We seem to be able to cope with memories of unpleasant or traumatic events in our dreams.
8. Some researchers, using brain activity analysis, were able to reconstruct videos people watched on YouTube during the day. Scientists are confident that the day is not far off when such a technique will help decipher dreams.
9. Military researchers have found that if you get enough sleep early (for example, going to bed earlier for several days), sleep deprivation will not be as severe.
10. If you sleep only 6 hours for 12 nights in a row, your body will be in the same state as with 0.1% alcohol in your blood - indistinct speech, imbalance, memory impairment. In other words, it is a state of intoxication.
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