While you are weighing out
the advantages and disadvantages of sleeping on a warm comfortable waterbed, here are some fun
facts about sleep in general!
Did you know that depending on
your age, people require a certain amount of sleep to function properly? The
brain is the master controller of the body, and while a person sleeps the brain
has a chance to recharge. There are other important body functions
that go on while asleep and are more effective during sleep. For
example, your body releases hormones while asleep to help achieve
balance, and body cells perform major repairs. Infants require
about 16 hours of sleep. No wonder babies cry, then eat, then sleep most
of the day away. By the time your teenage years come to a close you
will only require half as much sleep as a baby. In fact, by the time
you are approaching retirement, your body will only require 6 hours of sleep!
While we are sleeping, dreams
often enter our subconscious. It is estimated that men have dreams
that involve other men well over 50% of the time whereas women have dreams
involving both genders equally. Whether or not you remember a face
in a crowd, or at a concert, or in the park as you pass them by, researchers
have concluded that faces that enter our dreams are all faces that we have
caught a glimpse of at one point in time! Did you know that it is
estimated that more than 10% of people dream in black and white? How
about the fact that even blind people can still see images in their
dreams? Since dreams are the norm, generally those who don’t have
some sort of personality disorder!
It is believe by psychologist
and psychiatrists alike that sleeping position can help in determining your
personality! With over 40% of people sleeping in the fetal position,
it has shown that these personalities are very warm with an open heart even
though initially they may seem brusque. Other sleeping position such
as the log, the soldier, and the starfish all point to personalities from being
social butterflies, to being reserved, to being great listeners! Switching
subjects, did you know that 1 out of every 4 married couples sleep in separate
beds? I wonder if it has anything to do with clashing sleep
positions? It is very hard for a fetus to share the bed with a
starfish!
The next time you struggle to
fall asleep remember these little facts. Researchers have concluded
that a person can survive at least two weeks without food, but it can take as
little as 10 sleepless nights and days to kill you! Dolphins have
adapted to sleeping with half of their brain shut down, and while sleeping, the
other half helps with its breathing! Some people have been known to
do some extremely unruly things while asleep, and thus completely unaware of
their actions!
Whether you are a koala bear
which sleeps an estimated 22 hours every day or a giraffe which averages about
2 hours a day, we still all require sleep. Within 5 minutes of
waking up, we have forgotten as much as 50% of our dreams and within 10 minutes
the dreams have all but faded away! I guess if you were a koala
bear, you would be dreaming so much that it would be frightening to want to
remember it all each and every day. I hope you have enjoyed these
tidbits of information as you ponder over a waterbed mattress or a conventional
one.
