37 Interesting Facts About Sleep And Dreams

Human dreaming: 37 fascinating, surprising, and interesting facts about sleep and dreams.

Interesting Facts About Sleep And Dreams
Interesting Facts About Sleep And Dreams

Human dreams are a topic that has hardly been studied by modern science. Have you ever wondered what our dreams mean? Are these hints for the future, or are they just the result of our daily life?

Some dreams are so vivid and realistic that, upon opening our eyes, we feel that everything we saw was in reality. But after a while, dreams are forgotten, and we no longer remember anything.

We have prepared for you the facts about sleep and dreams, knowing and taking into account which, you will be able to better control your sleep processes.

If the article does not contain what you were looking for, open the spoiler in the “Questions and Answers” ​​section at the bottom of the page

Interesting facts about sleep and dreams.

So, this article is dedicated to unheard-of and surprising facts about our dreams! Buckle up, we’re starting 🙂

37. Vision is not important in a dream

It is generally accepted that people suffering from blindness are not able to see colorful dreams. However, it is not.

The dreams of blind people are just as vivid due to other sensory sensations, as well as a greater depth of the dream itself. This is one of the most common unknown facts about dreams.

36. Dreams can be controlled

Did you know that everyone can take control of their dreams? This phenomenon is called lucid dreaming.

It lies in the fact that right during sleep, a person can control his behavior and situations that occur in a dream. This effect is achieved by focusing on sleep events. Dreamwork is a whole science, the fact is that controlled dreaming is quite possible.

35. The subconscious mind during sleep “speaks” to us

It is a fact proven in psychology that a person often sees his possible future in dreams. Dreams can be about a task that needs to be completed, or about a goal that needs to be achieved.

Thus, the subconscious gives us a hint in which direction we need to move in real life.

34. Great ideas come in dreams

It is believed that the best ideas come from the toilet seat, but history proves that dreams also play a significant role in generating great ideas. You can recall at least Mendeleev and his table.

33. Color TVs – Vivid Color Dreams

Since the advent of color television, the percentage of color dreams among people has increased significantly.

Previously, 12% of people had black and white dreams, now there are much fewer of them.

32. Sleep symbolizes images in our subconscious

Dreams are not always easy to understand and, moreover, remember.

They are, however, very symbolic. During our lives, completely different ideas and situations come together in dreams. This provides a connection between the elements of our consciousness so that the brain can process information faster and give us ready-made solutions based on past experience.

For example, let’s say you’re playing a crocodile game. Without saying a word, you are trying to convey to other people some holistic image that you have in your head. They need to tie together all your “clues” and guess what you are trying to say.

31. Prophetic dreams do happen

Surely, you more than once caught yourself thinking: “Hey, this situation has already happened” or “Damn it, I’ve heard this before”? It is quite possible that you have already experienced this – only in a dream. The deja vu effect is closely related to prophetic dreams.

30. Sometimes you don’t need to sleep to dream

You got it right: you don’t have to sleep to dream. Such dreams are called active dreams, and there is nothing particularly complicated about them.

Active dreams only require a good imagination and constant concentration on any object, image or situation.

29. Negative dreams are more common

Have you noticed that most of the dreams we have are filled with negative emotions? Most often it is anxiety, anger, sadness, and fear.

Unfortunately, we dream of positive, good dreams much less often.

28.60% of all dreams are forgotten 5 minutes after waking up

And the remaining 40% dissolve without a trace during the rest of the day. Only a very, very, very small part of dreams is remembered for a long time.

27. Babies are bad dreams

The facts about human sleep say that children under the age of four cannot actively engage in their dreams. They are not yet fully aware of themselves due to the fact that their minds are poorly developed for deep and intense dreams.

26. Women can have orgasms in their sleep

Did you think that only men go through this? Not really.

25. We have a lot of dreams every night.

The average person has several dreams per night, each dream has its own intensity, and each personifies an image in the subconscious of a person.

But we remember very little of all this. This is the phenomenon of dreams and dreams.

24. All faces in a dream belong to real people

In a dream, we see only the faces of those people whom, in one way or another, we saw in our lives.

Sleep is what connects the subconscious and reality.

23. Animals also dream

If you thought that only people dream, then this is not so. In fact, dogs, monkeys, and many other animals have the ability to dream as colorful as humans.

Therefore, the different moods of the animal can be easily explained by an unusual dream.

22. Women have calmer dreams

Men and women dream differently. Unlike women, who tend to have calmer and lighter dreams, men more often feel aggression in their sleep, and fight violence in socially difficult situations.

21. Six years in a dream

Six years is the time during which people dream during their lives. But, you see, without dreams and dreams, life would be boring.

20. Dreams can lead to psychosis.

Lack of REM sleep and lack of dreaming at this stage can lead to mental disturbances.

This manifests itself in the form of irritability, depression, or even hallucinations.

19. Insomnia is more common in women.

Most women suffer from this common sleep disorder. With insomnia, there are problems both with falling asleep and with the sleep itself.

This disease gets worse with age.

18. Life expectancy will decrease if you sleep less than 6 hours

On average, a healthy person’s good full sleep lasts 7 hours.

Reducing sleep time leads to necrosis of brain tissue. Living in the “sleep off in the next world” mode leads to chronic fatigue and degradation.

17. Mild paralysis after sleep

It happens that a person wakes up unable to move. There is nothing serious in this, sleep paralysis occurs due to the fact that our consciousness is on the border of sleep and reality.

This condition disappears in a few seconds.

16. The sleeping pose shows his character

In whatever position we fall asleep, after a while our body takes a comfortable, natural position in which it feels most comfortable.

Some people bend into a fetal position – this is a sign of longing, while others sleep on only one side – a sign of discipline and stubbornness.

15. Exercise promotes good sleep

An active lifestyle and regular exercise increase your metabolism and heart rate. This requires good rest for the body.

Therefore, a tired person will fall asleep faster and sleep deeper.

14.17 hours of wakefulness

This is the maximum number of hours we can stay awake before we start experiencing sleep deprivation symptoms. These include impaired vision and motor function.

This state of a person is comparable to what if he had a blood alcohol level of 0.5%

13. Air temperature matters

When the temperature is too high, it can be difficult for the body to fall asleep. To start the sleep process, the body temperature must drop slightly, so it is recommended to ventilate the room before going to bed.

12. Internal clock is the most important

Saturday morning is the perfect time for a long nap after a busy week of work and … we wake up at 7 am, as always.

The hypothalamic region of the brain controls wakefulness and sleep time in accordance with the body’s rhythms. They can be customized, but it takes time.

11. Sleep has cycles

In science, it is customary to divide sleep into 5 parts, which in total last about 1.5 hours. The first stage is falling asleep. In the second stage, the body relaxes and its temperature gradually drops until breathing becomes measured.

The third and fourth stages are long and deep parts of sleep, in which the body recovers well and quickly.

Finally, the fifth stage is exciting REM sleep, which is often accompanied by feverish eye movements under the eyelids.

The complete sleep cycle repeats several times until the morning.

10. Counting sheep does not help sleep

You’ve probably heard the story of counting sheep when falling asleep, we all went through this as a child.  Scientists, however, have concluded that counting sheep does not help us fall asleep. Banal boredom makes the body disconnect from reality.

9. Lack of sleep = increased appetite

Studies have shown that people who are sleep deprived tend to eat more. And especially they lean on all sorts of bad things like chips and fast food.

8. In a dream, information fits well

It has been proven that sleep immediately promotes better assimilation of information. Therefore, if you have heard something really important, go to bed. It’s not a joke.

7. Insomnia of parents

Parents lose approximately 6 months of sleep during the first two years of parenting.

6. Sleeping Beauty is a real character

It may seem ridiculous, but there are sleep disorders, which are characterized by persistent episodic hypersomnia, that is, a person can fall asleep at almost any time. However, it is very rare that he sleeps for long periods of time.

5. Taking a nap during the day is beneficial.

People who do something for a long time and without interruptions, there is a drop in efficiency and productivity.

A short nap for 10-15 minutes can restore freshness to a tired body. It is important here not to miss the moment and not fall asleep for a long time, since after that there is a great risk of waking up tired and broken.

4. The person controls falling asleep

Humans are the only mammals capable of deliberately delaying sleep. Good or bad, decide for yourself.

3. Difficulty getting out of bed

Getting out of bed early in the morning is the hardest part. We feel as if 1000 boulders have been piled on top of us, and all the lethargy of this world keeps us in bed. This condition is commonly known as dystonia.

2. “Height” disrupts your sleep

It is ideal to sleep in places that are at sea level, because the oxygen pressure there is normal.

With increasing altitude, the percentage of oxygen decreases, and this leads to sleep disturbance due to difficulty breathing.

1. Many people move in their sleep

Many people actively move in their sleep, it is good that they are in a “lying position”. But there are those who really wave their arms and legs. If you sleep next to such a person, he may even kick you out of bed. This phenomenon is called parasomnia.

Questions about sleep and dreams?

How is dream learning done?

The study of dreams includes the following sections:

  • Study of feelings, images and situations that arise and occur directly inside the dream by themselves;
  • Monitoring the activity of the brain and body during sleep.

These sections are highly intertwined, so the study of dreams is a very difficult task.

What is the role of dreams in human life?

Some people predict the future from dreams. There is also a more practical approach to the benefits of dreams. For example, if a person sleeps well after a hard day or some traumatic event, then he will protect himself from the possibility of stress disorders.

What is the nature of dreams?

Dreaming is an extremely important part of a person’s inner world. Sigmund Freud said that sleep, like the moon, shines with reflected light. That is, a dream is a reflection of the feelings, problems and desires of a person in a figurative form.

Frequent dreams with a repetitive plot are a figurative fulfillment of unconscious desires and impulses that are suppressed by consciousness during life.

The logic of dreams is different from the usual one: dream situations are not connected by a causal relationship. Everything that a person sees in a dream is different personifications of some mental image peculiar to him.

What is the meaning of dreams?

Even if we do not take into account esotericism (predictions of the future, connection with the otherworldly, immersion in the depths of the subconscious), dreams can tell us a lot about our emotions.

Given that many of us do not understand our emotional state, this feature is very useful.

How dangerous are dream disorders?

There are many dream disorders, ranging from insomnia to somnambulism (sleepwalking).

Sleep disturbances are most often curable. Only chronic sleep disorders are difficult to treat. Also, serious disorders of dreams can be observed in older people.

In general, if you keep your sleep and wakefulness regimen, use physical activity, and maintain a healthy lifestyle, sleep problems can be easily eliminated.

What is the power of dreams?

In dreams, we directly contact our subconscious, it reveals to us the hidden images that we left in it, and indicates the direction of the flow of our life.

What are the features of dreams?

Psychologists claim that dreams reflect subconscious desires and fears that are suppressed while awake. According to neurophysiologists, with the help of REM sleep, the nerve cells memorize knowledge, information, skills acquired during the day.

What role did dreams play in mythology?

People have long taken dreams and dreams seriously. Archaeologists from time to time find clay products that are very similar to modern dream books.

The attitude to dreams in the myths of different peoples shows that our ancestors considered important what they saw in a dream. Everybody believed in dreams, from the common people to kings and emperors, who often made important government decisions based on their dreams and astrological predictions.

Interpretations of dreams are found on Egyptian papyri, on records in India, dating from about the 1st century BC. Prophetic dreams are also mentioned in the New Testament, which describes how Joseph saw the birth of Jesus in a dream.

“I have dreams. Sometimes it seems to me that this is the only correct occupation in the world” Haruki Murkami

Conclusion

So, we looked at some fascinating, surprising, and interesting facts about sleep and dreams. In fact, there are, of course, much more of them than 39, because human dreams are among the most poorly studied areas of nature.

We hope you found the article useful, thank you for reading it to the end 🙂 If you like it then please share it with your friends and family.

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