Mysterious Things That Occur While You Sleep

#1

Sleep—such a peaceful word, isn't it? It evokes images of closed eyes, slow breathing, dreams and relaxation. But while you're dozing, your body's systems are doing lots of crazy things that will blow your mind.

Don't worry! They're all normal. Still, you may never think of hitting the hay the same way after reading this.

#2 Sleep talking

About 5 percent of adults yap in their sleep, according to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Most pillow-talk sessions last only about 30 seconds on average.

“It often happens within the first hour or two of sleep when your body is entering into deep stages of sleep, but there’s still enough muscle tone to produce sounds or movements that may accompany dreams,” says Dr. Winter.

#3 Sleepwalking

One of the worst things about sleepwalking is that it can occur in tandem with night terrors, making for a truly harrowing experience that you may not remember but those around you will. Sleepwalking symptoms can range from being asleep and doing routine activities and talking to putting yourself in physical danger. It's rare that sufferers are injured when they sleep walk but possible nonetheless.

#4 Your muscles are temporarily paralyzed.

Sounds scary, but it's actually what keeps you from acting out your dreams, says Lisa Shives, MD, an internist and sleep medicine specialist in Evanston, IL, and the medical expert for SleepBetter.org.

Comedian Mike Birbiglia, the writer and star of the film Sleepwalk With Me, has a rare condition called REM Behavior Disorder. In his performances, he shares how dangerous it can be to do whatever weird thing is going on in your head in the middle of the night. So this is one type of paralysis you wan

#5 Your Eyes Move

Have you ever watched a sleeping person and gotten completely freaked out because their eyes were moving? Don’t worry, it’s not abnormal; it happens to all of us.

There are five stages of sleep, out of which four are non rapid eye movement (REM) stages and the fifth is REM sleep. The REM stage is when you dream, and as you can guess from the name, your eyes move rapidly when you are in this stage of sleep.

#6 Strange body jerks

If you've ever drifted off and then suddenly experienced a weird arm or leg twitch in the night, these are called 'hypnic jerks'.

According to Coolidge & Wynn, hypnic jerks could be a leftover reflex from evolution. A hypnic jerk may have occurred when humans used to live and sleep in trees, so your body can jolt yourself awake before you fell out of your tree and to your death. It's a bit like having hairs on your arm now. You don't need this evolutionary gift, but it's still there.

#7 Slows Down Your Kidneys

Kidneys normally function to filter toxins out of the bloodstream and to produce urine. As you sleep, the filtering action of these organs slows, so that less urine is produced.That's the reason your urine is usually so dark the first time you pee in the morning.

#8 Slow heart and breathing rate.

That "can't...move...another...muscle" feeling comes from the fact that all sorts of normal physiological processes slow way down at bedtime, like how many breaths you take per minute and how quickly your heart beats. Even your muscles and organs chill out. "The intestines quiet down in the nighttime, and the liver goes from trying to detoxify during wakefulness to trying to build and synthesize when you're sleeping," Veasey says.

There's also less adrenaline pumping through your veins, since you won't be needing your fight-or-flight response between the sheets (at least, we hope).

#9 Your muscles regenerate

“A good night’s sleep may be the key to the body’s production of human growth hormone, touted by some as a cure-all for the ills of aging, from weight gain to wrinkles. (ChicagoTribune)

Human growth hormone, or hgH, helps muscles, bone and other tissues regenerate. The helpful hormone is released during sleep, especially its deepest stages, and is thought to be prompted by low blood glucose levels present during sleep, among other factors. So, there is some science behind the concept of beauty sleep!

#10 Exploding Head Syndrome

A very strange night affliction is the shocking ‘exploding head syndrome’, where suddenly you wake up feeling that you have experienced a loud noise, or a flash of light, or feel like your head is exploding. When you realize nothing has happened you (hopefully) will quickly fall back asleep.

This happens when your body is not completely paralyzed and your senses are switched on. Just before you fall into a deep sleep you get this sudden rush, but it is absolutely fine, and not caused by any underlying problem.