Some Unexpected Facts and Discoveries About the Nature of Sleep

Claire Small
Authored by Claire Small
Posted Wednesday, September 18, 2019 - 8:34am

The nature of dreams and sleep itself is still not fully understood, although they have been intriguing and perplexing scientists since the advent of science as such. In this article, we decided to collect some interesting, and sometimes even unexpected discoveries about the nature of sleep and dreams, which scientists have been able to verify at the moment. So, choose the best wedge pillow, sit back, and let's find out a few scientifically proven secrets.

When a Night of Sleep Is Not Really Needed

There are many studies proving the importance of sleep. Even jellyfish need to sleep from time to time so as not to lose their sense of orientation in space. However, some types of fruit flies almost never sleep - this indicates that sleep is far from always a necessity.

The authors of the study say that the results of their work undermine the established theories about the total need for sleep for living organisms. Instead, they propose adopting a point of view in which sleep simply serves as one of the still unknown goals of evolution.

What Do Those Who Are Blind in Reality See in a Dream?

Those who are blind after birth see the images that they saw before they lost their vision. People who were born blind also have dreams - like a set of sounds, smells, and sensations.

Sleep as the Best Detoxifier

According to a recent study, the main function of sleep is to free brain neurons from daytime toxins. The fact is that in a wakeful state the concentration of substances harmful to the brain is much higher than in a dream. The accumulation of some of them is the cause of Alzheimer's disease.

The American neuroscientist Miken Nedergaard conducted a series of experiments on mice and discovered the mechanism that nature created for such "cleaning." It turned out that during sleep, toxins are washed away by cerebrospinal fluid, which circulates through the brain. It resembles a kind of washing machine. Moreover, it works at full power at night, and after waking up, the fluid flow decreases by 95 percent. Therefore, toxins during sleep are eliminated much faster than during wakefulness.

Lack of Dreams Can Change Your Personality

There are several cases known to medicine when a person was prescribed antidepressants that suppress dreams, and for many years his fast sleep (guarantor of dreams) was completely reduced (disappeared). These people have a number of problems, but not with impaired cognitive abilities: there is no impaired memory or problems with doing work.

There was a famous patient  in Israel who at the age of 19 received a shrapnel wound to the head. The shard stuck in that part of the brain, which just triggers the state in which we see dreams. It was impossible to extract the fragment, and he lived with it under the supervision of Israeli somnologist Perez Levy. Despite the fact that the young man did not see dreams, he managed to graduate and worked in two places: in a legal agency and in a newspaper. He later did not resort to the help of neurologists.

Thus, it is possible to live without dreams, but lately, doctors have made very cautious assumptions that the lack of dreams may be associated with very slow, profound changes in personality characteristics.

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