It's All About the Zzz's
For babies, sleep is a necessary evil. For parents, sleep is an elusive quest. But there is a lot you don’t know about those precious hours of sleep you may (or may not) be getting. May we present the most interesting facts about sleep you probably didn't know.
Disordered Sleeping
Parasomnia is a sleep disorder that causes individuals to do abnormal things while they sleep, from sleep eating, to sleep sex, sleep walking, sleep terrors and teeth grinding. I blame parasomnia when I kick my husband after I’ve been up with the kids at 2 a.m.
Electric Feel
Some researchers believe that before electricity, most humans slept in two cycles — a few hours after dark, a brief wake-up time and another sleep cycle also lasting three to four hours.
Baby Brain
Premature babies have about 10 percent more REM sleep than full-term babies. Doctors believe that REM-stage sleep, or dream-state sleep, can help brains develop.
Snore 911
Tom Cruise’s snoring is apparently so bad he sleeps in a sound-proof snoratorium. Which sounds like a thing my dad needs.
Sleep Like Churchill
Winston Churchill, former prime minister of England, reportedly only slept two and a half hours every night. He would take his short nap at 5 p.m., after quaffing a weak whiskey and soda. So, at least your baby has a sleep habit of a highly successful man.
Eyes Wide Open
Some people can sleep with their eyes open. Which means you are right, your husband is napping, not listening to you.
Sleep Drunk
Drowsiness is like drunkenness. Seventeen hours of wakefulness is the equivalent to a blood alcohol level of .05%. This explains why new moms and drunken college students dress the same way — in their pajamas with puke stains.
One Direction
Charles Dickens reportedly slept facing north. He believed this increased his creativity. If he slept facing south, would he have had fewer run-on sentences in his novels? Just wondering.
Horsin' Around
Horses don’t dream much, because they stand 98% of the time, making it difficult to slip into an REM stage of sleep.
Night Cap
You are also more susceptible to alcohol when you are sleep-deprived. Your early 20s make so much more sense now, don’t they?
Renaissance Sleeper
Leonardo da Vinci had an unconventional sleep cycle of 20-minute naps every four hours. This may be why the Mona Lisa was giving him serious side eye.
Lost Time
Your baby is making you lose between 400-750 hours of sleep in his first year alone.
Sleep Deprived
In 1964, 17-year-old Randy Gardner stayed awake for 264.4 hours. He didn’t use any stimulants and while others have claimed to break his record, the Guinness Book of World Records no longer tracks voluntary sleep deprivation for fear of ill effects on participants.
Novel Idea
The novelist Emily Bronte had extreme insomnia, and she often resorted to walking around her dining room table to fall asleep.
Swim 'n' Sleep
When they are asleep, most marine animals keep one hemisphere of their brain awake. This is how dolphins can swim and sleep at the same time.
Mimi on Sleep
Mariah Carey has admitted to sleeping surrounded by 20 humidifiers, and claims she needs 15 hours of sleep to sing. Me too, Mariah, me too.
Midnight Genius
Many famous novelists like Marilynn Robinson and Knut Hamsun report waking in the middle of the night to write. So the next time the baby cries, pick up a pencil. You could get a Pulitzer or an insanity plea — both work.
Baby Genius
Like Winston Churchill, inventor Nikolai Tesla allegedly never slept more than two hours a day. This confirms your baby is probably going to be a genius.
Perfect 10
Babies and teenagers need the same amount of sleep at night—about 10 hours.
