30 Lesser Known Facts about Sleep (Infographic)

Are you one of those people that has always believed sleep to be “overrated?” Don’t worry. You are not alone. Studies show that in today’s fast paced world, sleep is becoming less and less of a priority. What many people fail to realize when they are faced with the choice of going to sleep on time or staying up and finishing that thing that they “absolutely need to get done tonight,” is that skimping on a few hours of sleep at night can greatly affect their physical and mental health. The following infographic presents a few of the lesser known facts about sleep, including how it affects are body when we go without it. A few of my favorite facts include:

The average person spends 6 years of their life dreaming.
Humans can survive longer without food than they can without sleep.
The average person spends 649,601 hours of their life asleep.
Upon 5 minutes of waking 50% of a dream is forgotten. Within 10 minutes, 90% of a dream is forgotten.
There are at least 84 identified sleep/wake disorders.

An estimated 50-70 million American’s suffer from some type of sleep or wakefulness disorder. Sacrificing sleep can have lasting health issues including weight gain and heart problems. There are a few simple ways to fix the issue. Perhaps you are in need of a new mattress? Or you just need to work on your sleep hygiene. It could be as simple as going to bed slightly earlier each night. Whatever the issue, taking steps towards fixing issues with sleep will help promote better health and wellness. So, get sleeping!