I'm not a fan of the spring time change. If, like me, you find yourself cranky and yawning for weeks after this pointless ritual, you'll be interested in the following fun facts I uncovered about sleep.
1. You can learn while you sleep! New research suggests that information is transferred between the hippocampus (the area for short term memory) and the cerebral cortex while in deep sleep. Now if I could just get it to transfer from the actual university campus to my cerebral cortex, I'd be in business.
2. There's a reason men feel sleepy after sex. Men release a multitude of hormones, including prolactin. Prolactin makes you tired. 'Nuff said.
3. Sleeping can solve your problems. Sleeping on it really does makes a difference. Sleep strengthens memory and extracts information from the day. This is why, when my children call me with their troubles, I pray they'll have a good night's sleep.
4. Naps improve memory. Studies show that daytime naps not only improve memory, but decrease your risk of heart disease! At least I think that's what they show, I can't remember.
5. There is such a thing as too much of a good thing. Apparently, people who sleep more than nine hours a day are more likely to develop Parkinson's Disease. For an adult, sleeping more than nine hours per night is just as bad as sleeping less than six. Where can I sign up to be in the too-much-sleep test group?
6. Sleepiness can be cured with blue light. Sometimes your internal clock does not match the one on the wall, but you can fast forward your internal clock by exposing yourself to blue light (blue LED lights work) during the day. When I strung some over my desk at work, co-workers mistook it for a holiday and a party accidentally broke out. Which leads to the next point...
7. Sleepy is just like drunk! If you lose two hours of sleep, you can impair your performance equal to a .05 blood-alcohol level. Soon, police cars will be outfitted with sleepalyzer equipment.
8. Teens need more. Teenagers should sleep nine hours and young children require ten hours of sleep. My kids could have told you that by age twelve.
2. There's a reason men feel sleepy after sex. Men release a multitude of hormones, including prolactin. Prolactin makes you tired. 'Nuff said.
3. Sleeping can solve your problems. Sleeping on it really does makes a difference. Sleep strengthens memory and extracts information from the day. This is why, when my children call me with their troubles, I pray they'll have a good night's sleep.
4. Naps improve memory. Studies show that daytime naps not only improve memory, but decrease your risk of heart disease! At least I think that's what they show, I can't remember.
5. There is such a thing as too much of a good thing. Apparently, people who sleep more than nine hours a day are more likely to develop Parkinson's Disease. For an adult, sleeping more than nine hours per night is just as bad as sleeping less than six. Where can I sign up to be in the too-much-sleep test group?
6. Sleepiness can be cured with blue light. Sometimes your internal clock does not match the one on the wall, but you can fast forward your internal clock by exposing yourself to blue light (blue LED lights work) during the day. When I strung some over my desk at work, co-workers mistook it for a holiday and a party accidentally broke out. Which leads to the next point...
7. Sleepy is just like drunk! If you lose two hours of sleep, you can impair your performance equal to a .05 blood-alcohol level. Soon, police cars will be outfitted with sleepalyzer equipment.
8. Teens need more. Teenagers should sleep nine hours and young children require ten hours of sleep. My kids could have told you that by age twelve.
I got all this information off the internet, so it must be true. Except the parts I may have made up. Take it or leave it. As for me, I'm going down for a nap.
I like the quote at the top, isnt it so true.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Candice. I goofed up on the original version (which, unfortunately, is in this weekend's Herald Leader). My fault, not theirs.
ReplyDelete