Sleep: we all do it, and we all love it. But there's a lot about sleep that we need to learn.

Sleep is fascinating, from its effects on our health to its role in our dreams.

Here are five surprising facts about sleep that will leave you wondering why you didn't learn this stuff in school.

#1: A Third of Our Lives Goes to Sleep!

Most people know they don't sleep as much as they should.

What they may need to realize, though, is that poor sleep habits can cost them a lot of time, regardless of whether they're over or undersleeping.

Optimizing your sleeping habits is essential for two reasons.

First, it can help you wake up feeling rested and refreshed, meaning doing certain things will take you less time.

Conversely, when you don't get enough sleep, your body feels fatigued, and your mind is foggy.

This can lead to excessive daytime napping, affecting productivity and costing time.

In the best-case scenario, you'd sleep about 6–8 hours, meaning you would spend 25–30% of your life asleep!

#2: Sleep Is Essential for Good Health

When we think of recovery, we often think of massages, good nutrition, and meditation.

However, our bodies recover in many ways, and one of the most important is during sleep.

Sleep is essential for good health because it is during this time that the body is in its most profound recovery.

When we are asleep, our bodies repair damaged cells, replenish energy stores, and release hormones that help promote growth and development.

In addition, sleep helps to improve mood, memory, and cognitive function.

As you can see, there are many reasons why sleep is essential for good health, and the best part is that we don't entirely understand sleep yet!

#3: Sleep Has Different Stages

Getting a good night's sleep is essential for physical and mental health, but many people don't realize that sleep is not a continuous state.

Sleep is made up of different stages that cycle throughout the night. The first stage of sleep is called N1, or non-REM sleep.

This stage is called light sleep, during which a person can be easily awakened.

N2 is the second stage of sleep (also non-rem), characterized by more profound relaxation and occasional bursts of brain activity called sleep spindles.

The third stage of sleep, known as N3 or slow-wave sleep, is thought to be the deepest and most restorative.

During this stage, the brain produces slow Delta waves and is less responsive to external stimuli.

Finally, REM (rapid eye movement) sleep is the dreaming stage during which our eyes rapidly move back and forth.

This stage is critical for learning, memory consolidation, emotional processing, and healthy brain development.

#4: Some People Dream in Black & White

Some people dream in black and white—most of the time.

Dreams are strange things, anyway—a jumble of images, feelings, and memories that seem to make no sense.

But dreaming in black and white is even stranger. It's like watching an old movie or looking at a long-ago photograph.

Everything is in shades of gray, without any color at all. People who dream in black and white say it's just as vivid as dreaming in color.

They can see all the details; it feels as real as any other dream. But there's something about it that feels different, too.

It's like looking at the world through a different lens. Maybe it's because black-and-white dreams are more like memories than regular dreams.

Or maybe it's because they're so rare. Either way, dreaming in black and white is a fascinating phenomenon!

#5: You Can Control Your Dreams

Dreams. Everybody has them. Every night, we journey into the land of slumber, and our mind conjures up all sorts of strange and beautiful things.

But what if you could learn to control your dreams? Lucid dreaming is a technique that allows you to do just that.

With practice, you can learn to become aware that you are dreaming and then take control of the dreamscape.

Want to fly like Superman? No problem. Do you feel like chatting with specific people from your past, present, or future? Easy peasy.

Lucid dreaming takes time to learn, but it is a skill that can be mastered by anyone with patience and practice.

So why not give it a try? Who knows what sort of adventures await you in the land of dreams?

Final Thoughts

Sleep is a crucial part of our lives, yet it remains mysterious.

We’re still learning new things about sleep every day, and we hope you found these five facts as fascinating as we did.

What do you think is the most surprising thing about sleep? Let us know in the comments!