These 'Facts' About Sleep You've Believed Your Whole Life Are Complete Lies
1. LIES! All Lies!
Do you always feel like you get enough sleep? My mom always said, "If you count sheep, you'll fall asleep." Or how about, "Just drink a warm glass of milk, honey." Or now as an adult, "Down a glass or two of wine before bed and you'll sleep like a baby."
There are many myths attached to a healthy sleep routine, but guess what? They are LIES. ALL LIES.
2. You Should Sleep At Least Eight Hours A Night
Eight hours? Well, wouldn't that be amazing? The truth is, not everyone needs to get a full eight hours of sleep a night. Some people feel great after only six or seven hours. Some only need four. It all depends on the person: their genes, how active they are, their age, etc. So, don't sweat it if you aren't getting eight hours in every night because you may not need it.
3. Alcohol Will Make You Sleep Like A Baby
Yes, a couple of glasses of wine before bed will make you feel sleepy, but it will actually disrupt your sleep cycle and make you feel even more tired and groggy in the a.m. Researchers have been studying how alcohol consumption affects sleep since the '30s, and there is proof that drinking before bed messes with your ability to get a good night's rest. The body may have a hard time multitasking because it's trying to metabolize alcohol while attempting to sleep, resulting in disrupted sleeping patterns.
4. You Will Catch Up On Sleep This Weekend
Because you hardly slept all week, you'll try to sleep all weekend to catch up on the missed zzz's. Guess what? You are making your internal clock tick-tock out of control. If you aren't consistent with your sleeping patterns, your body is going to feel like it's out of control, almost like it's jumping time zones and coming back again, and you're going to feel the consequences on Monday. To make sure you are getting the best sleep possible, try to sleep the same number of hours each night and hit the sack around the same time every evening.
5. Loosing Sleep Won Not Kill You
Actually, it will. Long term sleep deprivation increases your risk of diabetes, obesity, heart disease and stroke. Short term sleep deprivation can blur your vision, change your mood and give you headaches. Still want to mess with your sleep? I didn't think so.
6. Warm Milk And Turkey Will Help You Sleep
Both milk and turkey contain tryptophan, a compound that our body turns into serotonin. Serotonin is a chemical in our brain that influences sleep. But according to Art Spielman, M.D., an insomnia expert and professor of psychology at the City University of New York, "foods that contain tryptophan don't produce the hypnotic effects pure tryptophan does, because other amino acids in those foods compete to get into the brain."
So, drink as much milk as you want, but it's not going to fix your sleep patterns and it's probably just going to give you gas.
7. Napping Will Ruin Your Sleep Later
I didn't sleep enough last night so now I need a nap. But if I nap I won't sleep enough tonight, and then I'll be tired tomorrow, and this vicious cycle of sleep anxiety will continue on and on until the end of time. Well, don't sweat it. Scientists have found 10-20 minute naps help people feel more alert throughout the day. Naps have been linked to improving memory, mental performance and can even help boost your immune system.
Nap, nap away!
8. You Can Only Dream During REM Sleep
You can actually dream during both the REM and the non-REM stages of sleep. Non-REM dreams are less frequent are usually related to your day-to-day life, while REM dreams are more vivid, emotional and fantastical. So, an REM dream may be more exciting, but non-REM dreams are dreams too!
9. If You Count Sheep, You'll Fall Asleep
So, you're telling me that if I can't sleep I should stay up all night concentrating on fake sheep jumping over my head?
No.
In a study, researchers monitored the sleeping patterns of people suffering from insomnia. They found that on the nights they were instructed to count sheep, it took them much longer to fall asleep than on nights that they weren't told to do anything. So, go home sheep. We don't need you anymore.
10. REM Sleep Is The Most RestFul Kind Of Sleep
It is actually the exact opposite. REM sleep is the sleep phase that puts you in a deep sleep, but your brain and body are very much awake. Your first REM cycle happens 90 minutes after you fall asleep. Your heart rate increases and your blood pressure rises. Non-REM sleep is actually much more restive and restorative. Your breathing slows down and your blood pressure, brain temperature and heart rate decrease.
11. People Who Go Under Anesthesia Are Fast Asleep
When we sleep, our brains produce brain waves, but when we are under anesthesia, our brain hardly emits any waves at all. It is more like a drug-induced coma than actual sleep. So, yeah. That'll make you never want to go under the knife.
12. Insomnia = Can't Fall Asleep
You may suffer from insomnia and not even know it. Insomnia doesn't just mean that you can't fall asleep. 1 in 3 Americans suffer from other symptoms like waking up early and not being able to go back to sleep, waking up numerous times in the middle of the night, and waking up feeling more tired than when you went to sleep.
13. If You Wake Up A SleepWalker , You Can Kill Them All
This one is just plain silly. While the sleepwalker may feel scared, or disoriented or lash out if you wake them up, you're not going to kill them.
#16 Sleep tight
