COOL FACTS ABOUT SLEEP YOU PROBABLY DIDN'T KNOW

A NEW BABY TYPICALLY RESULTS IN 400–750 HOURS

OF LOST SLEEP FOR PARENTS IN THE FIRST YEAR

IN THE REM (RAPID-EYE MOVEMENT) STAGE OF SLEEP

(IT’S WHEN WE ARE DREAMING) YOUR BODY IS

NORMALLY PARALYZED. IN RARE CASES, HOWEVER,

PEOPLE ACT OUT THEIR DREAMS. THIS HAS LED TO

BROKEN ARMS AND LEGS, BROKEN FURNITURE

AND IN AT LEAST ONE REPORTED CASE,

A HOUSE BURNING DOWN

DREAMS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR MANY OF THE

GREATEST INVENTIONS OF MANKIND. A FEW

EXAMPLES INCLUDE THE IDEA FOR GOOGLE, THE

ALTERNATING CURRENT GENERATOR, DNA’S

DOUBLE-HELIX FORM, AND THE SEWING MACHINE,

AMONG OTHERS

IT MIGHT SOUND LIKE SOMETHING OUT OF INCEPTION,

BUT IT’S TRUE. FALLING BACKWARD WHILE IN A

DREAM IS A POPULAR TECHNIQUE FOR WAKING

FROM AN UNPLEASANT DREAM, OR CHANGING THE

SCENERY OF YOUR UNPLEASANT DREAM. AND KEEP

IN MIND THAT, JUST AS IN INCEPTION, FALLING BACKWARD

IN A DREAM CAN SOMETIMES CAUSE A “FALSE AWAKENING,”

WHERE YOU THINK YOU’RE AWAKE BUT STILL DREAMING

REGARDLESS OF WHETHER MEN SPEND MORE OF

THEIR WAKING HOURS THINKING ABOUT SEX, A 2007

STUDY FOUND THAT THEY ARE NO MORE LIKELY TO

DREAM ABOUT SEX THAN WOMEN. HOWEVER, THE TYPE

OF SEX DREAMS THAT PARTICIPANTS HAD VARIED BY

GENDER. WOMEN ARE MORE LIKELY TO DREAM ABOUT

SEX WITH CELEBRITIES, EX’S, AND CURRENT PARTNERS.

MEN ARE MORE LIKELY TO DREAM ABOUT HAVING

MULTIPLE PARTNERS, AND NINETY PERCENT OF

MEN’S SEX DREAMS INVOLVE WOMEN INITIATING SEX

IN RARE CASES, PEOPLE CAN DIE FROM INSOMNIA.

TO BE MORE SPECIFIC, FATAL FAMILIAL INSOMNIA IS A

RARE GENETIC DISEASE THAT PREVENTS A PERSON FROM

FALLING ASLEEP, EVENTUALLY LEADING TO DEATH.

THE AVERAGE SURVIVAL SPAN FOR PATIENTS DIAGNOSED

WITH FFI AFTER THE ONSET OF SYMPTOMS IS EIGHTEEN

MONTHS. THIS VERY RARE DISEASE HAS BEEN FOUND IN

JUST TWENTY-NINE FAMILIES WORLDWIDE, AFFECTING A

TOTAL OF SEVENTY-EIGHT PEOPLE, AND THE FIRST

RECORDED CASE WAS AN ITALIAN MAN, WHO DIED

IN VENICE IN 1765

WOMEN ARE TWO TIMES MORE LIKELY TO HAVE INSOMNIA

THAN MEN, ACCORDING TO THE NATIONAL SLEEP

FOUNDATION. EXPERTS SPECULATE THAT THE REASON

MAY HAVE TO DO WITH FEMALE HORMONES. SLEEPLESS

NIGHTS AND DAYTIME SLEEPINESS HAVE BEEN LINKED TO

HORMONAL CHANGES IN A WOMAN’S LIFE, INCLUDING

PREGNANCY, MENOPAUSE, AND THE MENSTRUAL CYCLE

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. THIS EXPLAINS WHY PEOPLE WHO SUFFER

FROM INSOMNIA USUALLY GAIN WEIGHT

SCIENTISTS STILL DON’T KNOW—AND PROBABLY NEVER

WILL—IF ANIMALS DREAM DURING REM SLEEP,

AS HUMANS DO