4 things you need to know about sleep

The beautiful view that kept me awake at 11pm, just mildly pondering my life away

I treasure sleep as much as I despise it. The sheer fact that it greedily demands 9 hours of my day - 3285 hours a year - is borderline intrusive. I’m also grateful, though, because without it I’d be a significantly moodier, highly distracted individual who never knew what day it was. But sleep isn’t the princess that I always knew it to be, it’s been hiding things, and taking advantage of my horizontal state.

1. The first shock was finding out that my brain waves are slowing down. Does this mean I’m getting dumber? No, it doesn’t mean that, it’s a natural process and it happens every night during stage 2 of sleep. My brain waves slow down. And then they disappear completely in stage 3 and get replaced with something called delta waves (sounds way too greek).

2. The second thing I find out, is that I’ve been experiencing AMNESIA every night of my life. This sleep-related form of not remembering happens when we wake up after a few minutes of sleep, and can’t remember the phone call we just had. It explains why we don’t remember the alarm ringing, after hitting snooze and nozzling back into our pillows (sweet, sweet pillow).

3. The third surprise? I could be experiencing a microsleep right now. Microsleeps are “very brief episodes of sleep in an otherwise awake person” and most people are not aware when they are experiencing them. It is a sign of intense sleep deprivation. Does this mean that my uber driver could have been sleeping? Or that my friend wasn’t actually listening when I told her about my chinese food preferences? They sound like a tasty nap, but it opens a realm of unsolicited circumstances.

4. You think the nighttime wouldn’t hold anymore shenanigans. But we both have been experiencing temporary paralysis, every night of our ignorant lives. A signal goes from the pons (the base of the brain) to shut off the neurons in our spinal cord, causing paralysis of the limb muscles. Without this freaky action we’d all wander round in our pjs throwing imaginary baseballs and having singoffs with Mariah (or whatever you dream about – karaoke happens to be my thing).

And basically, what’s the point of all that? Just ignore that informaton and keep sleeping. That’s all you can do, actually. Cheeky thing.


Madison xx

10 comments:

  1. Whoah. I had no idea. Plus 3285 hours of sleep a year, that's insane. But it doesn't matter to me because sleep is beautiful. (hahaha)
    -Maddie
    blog: Sundaysaresunny.com
    p.s. purple octopus

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  2. Thanks for sharing this. Very useful!
    Good vibes, FOX
    check out my latest VLOG and my blog
    www.rochellefox.com.au

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  3. Just went through all your posts and I REALLY enjoy how genuine you are in all of them! When I started my blog the other day I was a bit worried that it had no purpose like there wasn't really a point to posting about my opinions on everyday life and my thoughts and my babble, but when I read some of your stuff I felt genuinely connected. I know this is quite a long comment haha, but I want you to know that I enjoy the idea of this blog so much. I guess me enjoying this makes me feel a lot better about my blog as well, that maybe others might enjoy it too :)
    It's SO therapeutic isn't it? To have a public space feel almost like a diary! purple octopus ;)

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    Replies
    1. Thank you so much!! Being genuine is something I value because it's incredible how quickly a person can tell if you are being fake. You have to be real! Because life is life, it's not a soup made of unicorns and gummy bears. It's life.

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  4. Thank u a lot :)
    Nice post really like the poses shown takes time practicing and thank you for the information.

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  5. thanks for valuable info

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  6. Getting a great night of sleep is super important. thanks for revealing some unknown facts about sleep. With daily distractions and technological over stimulation, our need for sleep and personal well-being is more necessary than ever.

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  7. If I do not read your blog, I think I will be miss a lot info about sleep. It is not too late for me. Hoping in tomorrow, I can wake up with a fresh feeling after having a good sleep. Thank you

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  8. How to sleep and how to wake up.
    Melatonin cycle is important I believe.
    Blessings
    Jen

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