Health and Safety Science

Will human sneeze while sleeping ?

Sleep is as important to people as breathing and eating. Even though some people sleep during the day and others at night, our instincts have made it pretty clear that at some point everyone has to rest. In fact, sleep is just about the best rest you can come by, which is why it’s so crucial to our survival. Yet even though we sleep every day, people don’t really know that much about sleep. Sleep is a naturally recurring state of mind and body, characterized by altered consciousness, relatively inhibited sensory activity, reduced muscle activity and inhibition of nearly all voluntary muscles during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, and reduced interactions with surroundings.

It is distinguished from wakefulness by a decreased ability to react to stimuli, but more reactive than a coma or disorders of consciousness, with sleep displaying very different and active brain patterns. Sleep occurs in repeating periods, in which the body alternates between two distinct modes: REM sleep and non-REM sleep. Although REM stands for “rapid eye movement”, this mode of sleep has many other aspects, including virtual paralysis of the body. A well-known feature of sleep is the dream, an experience typically recounted in narrative form, which resembles waking life while in progress, but which usually can later be distinguished as fantasy.

The science of sleep is one of the biggest mysteries in the world. If you think about it, sleep is kind of like a preview of death – no one can fully describe the experience. Although sleep research is a fairly new field, its findings have helped us understand this phenomenon more. Take a closer look at what happens to your body through these sleep facts.

So here we can discuss some amazing facts about sleep, that we bet you didn’t know

•  Humans are the only mammal that can delay sleep. Dogs, cows and even sheep must go to sleep when their body tells them to. We have the ability to tell our body no to exhaustion (to an extent), and finish watching Stranger Things on Netflix.

•    11 days is the record for the longest period without sleep. In 1964, Randy Gardner fought exhaustion and suffered extreme sleep deprivation after his feat. We definitely don’t recommend trying this, like a Chinese man who dies in 2012 from staying awake 11 days to watch soccer. (No thanks!)

•  It’s common for the deaf to sign in their sleep. Just like talking in your sleep, the hearing impaired communicate via sign language while sleeping. There are many recorded instances of people who have reported seeing their deaf partner or child signing while snoozing.      

•  The higher the altitude, the greater the sleep disruption. Generally, sleep disturbance becomes greater at altitudes of 13,200 feet or more. The disturbance is thought to be caused by diminished oxygen levels and accompanying changes in respiration. Most people adjust to new altitudes in approximately two to three weeks.

• Divorced, widowed and separated people report more insomnia.

•Six in ten healthcare professionals do not feel that they have enough time to have a discussion with their patients about insomnia during regular office visits.

•  More than eight in ten survey respondents think that people often or sometimes misuse prescription sleep aids.

•  Caffeine has been called the most popular drug in the world. All over the world people consume caffeine on a daily basis in coffee, tea, cocoa, chocolate, some soft drinks, and some drugs.

• In general, most healthy adults need seven to nine hours of sleep a night. However, some individuals are able to function without sleepiness or drowsiness after as little as six hours of sleep. Others can’t perform at their peak unless they’ve slept ten hours.

•  We naturally feel tired at two different times of the day: about 2:00 AM and 2:00 PM. It is this natural dip in alertness that is primarily responsible for the post-lunch dip.

•  Sleep is just as important as diet and exercise.

•According to the International Classifications of Sleep Disorders, shift workers are at increased risk for a variety of chronic illnesses such as cardiovascular and gastrointestinal diseases.

• Newborns sleep a total of 14 to 17 hours a day on an irregular schedule with periods of one to three hours spent awake.

•When infants are put to bed drowsy but not asleep, they are more likely to become “self- soothers,” which enables them to fall asleep independently at bedtime and put themselves back to sleep during the night.

•Eighty-two percent of healthcare professionals believe that it is the responsibility of both the patient and the healthcare professional to bring up symptoms of insomnia during an appointment.

•The body never adjusts to shift work!

•There are individual differences in the need to nap. Some adults and children need to nap. However, the majority of teenagers probably nap in the afternoon because they are not sleeping enough at night.

• The Ideal Sleeping Position When Pregnant is On Your Side: It can be tough to fall asleep when pregnant. But, the perfect position is on your side, which is safest for both mother and baby. It’s also important to avoid sleeping on your back in your second trimester – if you can.

•Snoring is the primary cause of sleep disruption for approximately 90 million American adults; 37 million on a regular basis.

•Scientists still don’t know — and probably never will — if animals dream during REM sleep, as humans do.

• Some studies show promise for the use of melatonin in shortening the time it takes to fall asleep and reducing the number of awakenings, but not necessarily total sleep time. Other studies show no benefit at all with melatonin.

•One of the primary causes of excessive sleepiness among Americans is self-imposed sleep deprivation.

• Babies steal 1,055 hours from their parents. According to data from Medical Daily, new parents lose an average of 44 days of sleep per year from their beautiful, sleepless newborn.

•Humans can sleep with their eyes open. Yes, you can sleep with your eyes open, which makes it truly impossible to tell whether someone is really sleeping or not.

• Altitude disrupts sleep. Due to lower amounts of oxygen at altitudes of 13,200 feet or higher, it’s much harder to get your snooze on. Be careful next time you’re visiting the Rocky Mountains.

•Some people dream in black and white. Studies show 12% of people dream in black and white. Surprisingly, this number was 75% before color televisions came into the home.

• You can’t sneeze while sleeping. Humans are more prone to sneezing while asleep, but since we aren’t moving to stir up dust particles, the reaction doesn’t occur.

• The strangers in your dreams aren’t strangers. You might know them personally, but you’ve seen everyone in your dreams before. Crazy, right? The brain can’t create people, so it uses registered faces.

•  You grow .3 inches while sleeping. But the growth is temporary as you shrink back down to normal after you’re awake for a few hours. When you sit or stand, your cartilage discs are squeezed by gravity, like sponges.

• According to the results of NSF’s 2008 Sleep in America poll, 36 percent of American drive drowsy or fall asleep while driving.

• According to the results of NSF’s 2008 Sleep in America poll, a surprising 34 percent of respondents reported their employer allows them to nap during breaks and 16 percent provide a place to do so.

• People who don’t get enough sleep are more likely to have bigger appetites due to the fact that their leptin levels (leptin is an appetite-regulating hormone) fall, promoting appetite increase.

•Sleep sex is real: Sleep sex, also called sexsomnia, is a sleep disorder much like sleep walking, except instead of walking, a person engages in sexual behavior like masturbation or intercourse while asleep.

•  According to neuroscientist Matthew Walker, every serious disease that can kill us is linked to a lack of sleep.

• Cats sleep for up to 16 hours a day and spend two-thirds of their life asleep.

• It should take you around 10 to 20 minutes to fall asleep, any longer and you could be sleep deprived.

• You feel the most tired at 2 a.m. and 2 p.m.

• According to a sleep study, “Inadequate sleep exerts a similar influence on our brain as drinking too much.”

• The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that schools delay the start of classes until 8:30 A.M. or later, better aligning school schedules with the biological sleep rhythms of adolescents during puberty.

Related Posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Share via
Copy link
Powered by Social Snap