5 Interesting and Fun Facts About Sleep

Every day science and research is teaching us more about sleep. In fact, much of what we know about sleep has been discovered in the last 30 years. We are finding out things we could never imagine.

Here are five interesting and fun facts about sleep that you may not know.

1-A giraffe only needs 1.9 hours of sleep a day.

Most animals have a daily pattern of rest and activity, just like humans. Here is a chart showing the difference in the amount of sleep different animals have made by Washington EDU.

2-Humans have between 4 to 6 dreams a night.

Dreaming is a very important process for the body and most dream every night. Several scientists believe dreaming is a way to process your events of the day. Many people say they do not dream, but it’s more likely you have simply forgotten your dreams by the time you wake up.

3-The Longest recorded period without sleep is 11 days and 25 minutes (264.4 hours).

A high school student won first price in the Annual Great San Diego Science fair in 1964 for staying awake for over 260 hours. Several claim to have beaten the high students record but none of the attempts were ever recorded under close supervision. Learn more about Randy Gardner’s sleepless experiment.

4-An estimated 12% of the population dream in black and white.

Based on a report by the National Library of Medicine, before color television 85% of all dreams were in black and white and the numbers have completely reversed. Have a look at this study.

5-Infants and tigers sleep about the same amount.

Human infants need an estimated 16 hours of sleep a day. The same amount of a fully grown tiger!