Five Important Facts About Sleep

Sleep is something we all think we know about. After all, it is not only what we all have in common, it’s what we do at least once every day. However, here’re some interesting facts you probably didn’t know about sleep:
1. The record for the longest period without sleep stands at 264.4 hours and was set by a high school student in 1964.
2. We are capable of taking short catnaps with our eyes open and without losing our balance.
3. If it takes you less than 5 minutes to fall asleep at night, you’re sleep-deprived. On average, it takes people between 10 and 15 minutes to fall asleep. If you’re falling asleep faster than that, it means you’re overtired.
4. Doctors didn’t discover REM (rapid eye movement) sleep until the 1950’s and this discovery was a leap forward in sleep science. REM sleep is the period of sleep during which dreaming takes place, characterised by rapid periodic twitching movements of the eye muscles and other physiological changes, such as accelerated respiration and heart rate, increased brain activity, and muscle relaxation.
5. Newborn babies spend 65% of their sleep in REM.