Top 5 Fascinating Facts about Sleep
The cure for jet lag!
The dangers of not sleeping!
The myths about the dangers of not sleeping!
PLUS: Turkey!
All this and maybe some other things in this edition of Top 5 Factzzzzzz
#5: Light Behind Your Knees Cures Jet Lag, Somehow
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The journal Science published a study that showed light applied directly to the skin behind the knees could advance or delay the body’s internal clock by up to three hours, enough to overcome jet lag. It’s already been proven that light through the eyes can affect brain function, but in this study,the participants couldn’t actually see the light behind their knees.In the 17-plus years since these experiments took place, no one has disproved their findings, but science is still stumped as to how this effect works. Doctors theorize that some kind of cells, or possibly hemoglobin molecules, are light sensitive, and help regulate our internal clock.
#4: Turkey Doesn’t Make You Sleepy
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"Yes it does, because tryptophan," says every wise-ass uncle at Thanksgiving dinner.Sure, the amino acid tryptophan is involved in the chemical process of sleep, and there is tryptophan in turkey (and all meats) but there's not enough to make you fall asleep on its own.Cheese and chicken have more tryptophan than turkey, in fact. “Then how come I get so sleepy after a big-ass turkey dinner?” asks every smart-ass YouTube commenter. No mystery there, it’s because you just ate a day’s worth of calories in one sitting. “Pff! I already knew #4,” says every other smart-ass YouTube commenter. Well, I can’t please everyone, people. Here, try to get this out of your head.
#3: Sleeping Poorly is as Bad for You as Smoking
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The World Health Organization recently presented research that suggests that men who generally sleep poorly are twice likely to have a heart attack,and up to 4 times more likely to have a stroke. The authors recommend adding poor sleep to the commonly cited list of heart disease factors: smoking, lack of exercise, and poor diet. If something is keeping you awake at night though, you’re probably better off getting therapy than using sleeping pills; research proves that Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is a much more effective sleep aid than pharmaceuticals.
#2: “Springing Ahead” Causes Accidents and Heart Attacks
Don’t you just love losing an hour of sleep every March? From Sweden, to Croatia, to the U.S., researchers have noticed a spike in heart attacks in the days following the springtime daylight saving shift–anywhere from 10% to 100%. According to data on injuries reported to the Mine Safety and Health Administration from 1983 and 2006, workers are 3.6 times as likely to be injured on the job on the Monday after the switch than on other days. Various studies have confirmed that the number of car accidents and pedestrian fatalities also jumps following that night of diabolic sleep theft.Makes you wanna give Daylight Savings Time what it’s got coming to it.
#1: We Don't Know If Humans Can Die from Sleeplessness
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The 80s were a wondrous time: neon, mullets, scientists keeping rats awake till they died. In the 1980s, scientists at the University of Chicago kept a group of rats awake until they died, which took about 2 weeks, but there’s no consensus on what specifically killed them, or on how humans would do in those same experiments. Teenager Randy Gardner wanted to prove that staying awake a long time wouldn’t hurt him, so in 1964 he set a world record by staying awake for 11 days and 24 minutes.Though he was paranoid and hallucinating by the end of it, he was fine after he put some lights behind his knees. What do you think, can people “awake” themselves to death? What’s the longest you’ve ever slept? For more dreamy Top 10s and nightmarish Top 5s, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com.
