WTF Fun Fact 13698 – Dream Recall

When sleep is fragmented or of poor quality, people often have better dream recall. In other words, they have a higher frequency of remembering their dreams.

The Link Between Sleep Quality and Dream Recall

Sleep comprises multiple cycles, each consisting of stages including REM (Rapid Eye Movement) and non-REM sleep. REM sleep is most closely associated with vivid dreaming. Typically, a night of uninterrupted sleep allows for several cycles of REM, with the longest and most intense periods of REM sleep occurring in the latter part of the night.

Poor sleep quality, characterized by frequent awakenings or prolonged periods of wakefulness, disrupts this cycle. When sleep is interrupted, especially during or right after REM phases, individuals are more likely to remember their dreams. This is because waking up during REM sleep provides a direct bridge from the dream state to wakefulness. This makes it easier to recall dreams.

Factors Contributing to Dream Recall

Several factors can contribute to poor sleep quality and, consequently, increased dream recall:

  • Stress and anxiety can lead to restless nights and more frequent awakenings. This increases the chances of waking during REM sleep.
  • Lifestyle choices, such as consumption of caffeine or alcohol before bedtime, can disrupt sleep patterns. This leads to more fragmented sleep.
  • Sleep disorders, such as insomnia or sleep apnea, inherently lead to poor-quality sleep and can thus enhance recall.

Psychological and Cognitive Implications

Increased dream recall due to poor sleep quality is not merely a curiosity but has implications for psychological and cognitive well-being. High recall can sometimes reflect the presence of stress or anxiety, as the mind processes emotional experiences during sleep.

Moreover, consistently poor sleep quality, and the consequent frequent dream recall, may impact daytime functioning by affecting mood, concentration, and overall cognitive performance.

Managing Dream Recall and Sleep Quality

For those interested in managing their dreams—whether to remember more dreams or to reduce the impact of disturbing dreams—addressing sleep quality is key.

Establishing a regular sleep schedule, creating a relaxing bedtime routine, and minimizing sleep disturbances can help promote more restful, uninterrupted sleep. For individuals dealing with stress or anxiety, relaxation techniques or professional support may improve sleep quality and reduce the intensity and frequency of remembering one’s dreams.

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Source: “Vivid Dreams Explained” — Sleep Foundation

WTF Fun Fact 13257 – Snoring and Relationships

Snoring is bad for relationships. The damage is hard to quantify since there are many reasons for poor sleep, and a lack of sleep can lead to everything from health issues to resentment. But it seems clear that if one person snores and keeps the other awake, it frequently leads to trouble. Snoring and relationships are a terrible combination.

Why snoring is bad for relationships

There are many incorrect statistics out there (like snoring is the third leading cause of divorce – it’s not) due to people misreading scientific research. But plenty of work has been done on the damage one partner’s snoring can do to the other and the relationship overall.

For example, the Sleep Disorders Center at Rush University Medical Center conducted a study on couples in which the husband had sleep apnea that affected the wife’s ability to sleep due to snoring. They found cases in which the wife’s sleep efficiency scores decreased significantly because they were woken up by snoring up to 8 times per hour!

Rosalind Cartwright, Ph.D., founder of the Sleep Disorders Center at Rush, noted:

“Couples who struggle with sleep apnea have a high divorce rate. Our early results are showing that the wife’s sleep is indeed deprived due to the husband’s noisy nights. This is not a mild problem. The lack of sleep for both partners puts a strain on the marriage and creates a hostile and tense situation.”

The good news is that when the sleep apnea was treated, and the snoring ceased to disturb the wife’s sleep, her quality of life went up, her sleepiness went down, and the marital satisfaction score improved.

It’s important to note that while studies suggest a link between snoring and marital conflict, they do not necessarily imply causation. Snoring may be a symptom of an underlying health condition (such as sleep apnea). It’s possible that these factors, rather than the snoring itself, may be contributing to conflict. And, of course, studies may not apply to all couples.

More research is needed to fully understand the relationship between snoring and marital conflict.

The “sleep divorce”

A sleep divorce is a term that refers to the practice of couples sleeping separately to get a better night’s sleep. It can mean sleeping in different beds or different rooms.

This practice is becoming increasingly popular among couples. Some find that snoring, tossing and turning, or different sleep schedules destroy a partner’s sleep. This can lead to a variety of health problems.

There are many reasons why couples may choose to sleep separately. Snoring is among the most common since it can happen frequently and lead to daytime fatigue and irritability.

While the idea of sleeping separately may seem unromantic to some, it can actually have several benefits. Sleeping separately can lead to better sleep quality, improving mood, productivity, and overall health. It can also reduce arguments and conflicts that may arise from sleep disturbances. This can improve the overall quality of the relationship.

Of course, for some, sharing a bed may be an important part of the intimacy and connection in their relationship. Additionally, it’s important for couples to communicate openly about their sleeping arrangements and work together to find a solution that works for both partners.

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Source: “Can Snoring Ruin A Marriage?” — ScienceDaily

WTF Fun Fact 13121 – Nightmare Disorder

Chances are you’ve had at least one nightmare before – and perhaps even one bad enough to wake you up from your slumber. While nightmares are common, nightmare disorder is (luckily) not.

What is nightmare disorder?

According to the Mayo Clinic (cited below), “Nightmare disorder is when nightmares happen often, cause distress, disrupt sleep, cause problems with daytime functioning or create fear of going to sleep.”

Sounds stressful!

For those with the disorder, the bad dreams ten to occur in the second half of the sleep cycle. And while they’re brief, they’re bad enough to wake you up and cause enough anxiety to prevent you from getting back to sleep. You may even experience a slowly unfolding nightmare that gets worse as it continues or one that causes you to suffer from palpitations.

This disorder is only diagnosed in people who have frequent enough nightmares that it interferes with their normal days due to distress or lack of sleep. In children, it can lead to a fear of the dark or behavioral problems.

Music for nightmares

According to Smithsonian Magazine, there is new hope for sufferers of nightmare disorder, who may number somewhere between 10 million in the U.S. alone.

A study showed those people might be able to take charge of their dreams and change their tone using music.

“Sounds played during sleep may reduce the frequency of nightmares and promote positive emotions that can help lead to a better slumber. Existing therapies coach sleepers to imagine and rehearse alternate happy endings to their nightmares before bed, a practice known to significantly reduce bad dreams. Now, Swiss scientists aim to supercharge this idea by associating those happy endings with an audio cue that will trigger them during sleep. When nightmare disorder sufferers listened to a piano chord while they practiced imagining a good dream, then heard that same chord while they were in REM sleep, bad dreams were frequently kept at bay.”

This is called imagery rehearsal therapy (IRT), and it’s a cognitive-behavioral technique that only takes about 5 or 10 minutes a day.  WTF fun facts

Source: “Nightmare Disorder” — Mayo Clinic

WTF Fun Fact 12741 – The Force of Teeth Grinding in Humans

Have you ever woken up feeling like someone punched you in the jaw? Or how about with unexplained headaches or even a loose tooth? You might be grinding your teeth.

Well, first, make sure your partner isn’t exhibiting some REM behavior disorder that makes them flail wildly in their sleep. If not, you might want to ask your dentist about bruxism because it can wreak havoc on more than just your teeth.

Bruxism

We all clench our teeth sometimes (like when we’re tense, for example, and it can even be subconscious). While this doesn’t typically do much harm, habitual teeth grinding can affect your jaw and all the muscles around it, leading to neck and head pain and dental issues.

Bruxism, as the teeth grinding condition is called, can also lead to facial changes (it can even change your facial profile) as you lose, chip, or wear down teeth. It can even cause your cheekbones to drop, making your face look droopy and prematurely aged.

Why we grind

According to The Cleveland Clinic, “Men and women get bruxism at roughly the same rate. If you have a family history of teeth grinding, you may face a higher risk. Other risk factors include:

  • Personality type, as people who are very driven may be more prone to teeth grinding.
  • Stress.
  • Cigarette smoking and caffeine use.
  • Certain anti-anxiety medications.”

As you might imagine, bruxism also affects getting a good night’s sleep. So if nothing else, it’s useful to solve the problem so sleep issues don’t cause other problems in your life.

Young children can have bruxism too, and the way they grind teeth it can be caused by anything from allergies to genetics. Often, they outgrow it as their jaws change.

Treatment usually consists of a nightguard, but if you habitually grind your teeth while awake, you may need to train yourself to stop and notice the habit and practice some stress relief techniques.

Two hundred and fifty pounds is a lot of force for a human jaw (most of the time, our molars have about 70 pounds of force, and a strong jaw tops out at about 160 if you’re really trying).

According to the New York Times, “By way of comparison, a well-publicized 1996 study of the tyrannosaurus, done at Stanford, estimated its bite strength ranged from 1,440 to 3,011 pounds, noting that this was fairly close to the power of an alligator’s jaws.”

Now just imagine being a T-rex with bruxism! Ouch. – WTF fun facts

Source: “Bruxism (Teeth Grinding)” — The Cleveland Clinic

WTF Fun Fact 12725 – Ancient Stone Pillows

It’s hard to find a good pillow. And while some of us like our pillow firm, it would take a major adjustment to sleep like ancient Mesopotamians and Egyptians (well, in more ways than one, I suppose).

Here’s one of the most famous pillows in history, brought to you from Egypt King Tut’s tomb:

One of 8 headrests found in Tutankhamun’s tomb. The god of air, Shu, is carved in ivory. The piece resides in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

It’s beautiful, but it lacks the kind of functionality we typically look for today.

Until the Industrial Revolution, pillows weren’t even a household object. Yes, some ancient Greeks and Romans did stuff straw in cloth to lay their heads on, but a pillow is also a symbol of having excess lying around to use for more practical purposes. However, we can credit the Greeks with bringing us closer to the era of the soft pillow.

However, in ancient Mesopotamia, China, and Egypt, wealthy people would elevate their heads on “pillow” made of stone (or ivory – or another luxury material). They were designed to keep insects out of their ears, noses, and mouths – and probably to maintain a good hairstyle every now and then.

We’ve also found some pillows that are beautifully engraved with messages about keeping away bad spirits as well, but it’s unclear how those would be fooled by an elevated head. Still, it gives us a good idea of what ancient people were concerned about when they laid down their heads at night.  WTF fun facts

Source: “HEADRESTS IN GLENCAIRN’S EGYPTIAN COLLECTION: PRACTICALITY AND PROTECTION” — Glencairn Museum

WTF Fun Fact 12454 – Insomnia is Universal

Sometimes pets and bugs are the reason WE can’t sleep, but did you know animals and other critters can suffer from insomnia as well?

Our knowledge on the topic started when National Geographic replied to a Facebook question from a fan: Do Bugs Sleep?

“Yes—with an asterisk,” replied biologist Barrett Klein from the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse. He studies sleep in honeybees.

He continued:

“Paper wasps, cockroaches, praying mantises, and fruit flies are among insects that doze. Fruit fly sleep is even similar to mammal sleep, since the flies respond to sleep-inducing chemicals and caffeine, just like people.

Still, measuring sleep in insects is tricky—it’s not always easy, for instance, to differentiate between sleep and sleep-like states.”

According to Klein: Signs of true bug sleep are not moving, “drooping in the direction of gravity,” and more relaxed muscles.

Bugs are in charge of putting themselves to bed, but sometimes they experience a state of arousal (awakeness, not the sexy kind) that prevents them from getting quality sleep, it seems. And we can relate!

Experiments in fruit flies also show that they experience ‘sleep rebound.’ That means that a fruit fly deprived of sleep will subsequently need it more—something most of us busy people can understand,” Klein told National Geographic.

As for honeybees, Klein’s specialty, when they get sleepy they get sloppy with their work.

Now, when it comes to more pet-like animals (and we know plenty of people keep bees!), the issue is pretty much the same as it is in older humans. Cats and dogs can have trouble regulating sleep as they age or when they have medical issues. The result can be lethargy during the day.

Since cats sleep so much – and hardly ever at night – it can be a bit hard to tell when they change their schedule. But as their hearing and sight grow weaker with age, they wake up at different times feeling more confused and even yowling to express it.  – WTF fun facts

Source: “Do Bugs Sleep? Why They’re Surprisingly Similar to People” — National Geographic

WTF Fun Fact 12440 – Professional Mattress Jumping

There are hundreds of mattress companies flooding the market today, and many can even be delivered by mail. However, there are still some artisan mattress makers out there and McRoskey Mattress Works in San Fransicso is one of them. Their classic mattress may run you anywhere from $1,600 to $4,500, but you can be sure it’s been tested well – by a pair of human feet, in fact.

The world took an interest in the factory back in 2012 when SFGATE published a story about them and one of their employees, Reuben Reynoso. Reynoso is the man who jumps on the mattresses to ensure they can stand up to everything from child’s play to…well, whatever else it is you do on your mattress.

While a grown man being paid to jump on mattresses for a living might elicit a chuckle, Reynoso wanted people to understand that his job was an important one. “It’s work,” he told SFGATE in 2012. “It’s not for everybody. There is a right way and a wrong way to do it.”

While we didn’t know there was a “right” way to jump on the bed, Reynoso isn’t doing this for fun and games. It’s his job. “This is not a game. Not to me,” he insisted. And we believe him. After all, even if you were living your dream at your job, after a while it all becomes a serious task. But that doesn’t mean we’re not a little jealous of the free and knee-friendly cardio he gets at work.

To be fair, the task does sound like it can get tedious. As SFGATE noted in their article:

“Jumping on a mattress is one of the final steps in making a handmade mattress…a machine cannot do what Reynoso and his toes can do, which is to expertly compress no fewer than 28 layers of fluffy cotton batting while seeking to detect pea-size mattress lumps or other imperfections…”

While it’s unclear if Reynoso is still with McRoskey or if they still employ a person to test their mattresses “by foot,” we’d like to think it’s all still going strong. The mattress company sure is. They’ve been in business since 1899, surviving the Great San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of 1906 and everything that’s come after. – WTF fun facts 

Source: “McRoskey mattress jumping is serious work” — SFGATE