BBC SCIENCE FOCUS MAGAZINE COLLECTION 8510
Female sleep is the key
to a happy marriage
A woman’s ability to fall and stay asleep
has a greater impact on marital satisfaction
than her daily interactions with her
husband. The same effect was not
found for men in relationships.7
Sleeping rhythms can affect
sports performance
Circadian rhythms (the natural cycles that
govern when we’re awake and asleep)
have an ‘out sized effec t ’ on spor t s pros –
athletes at their peak circadian rhythms
have an unseen advantage over opponents.13
Sleep deprivation is
an antidepressant
Sleep deprivation leads to a sort of
semi-euphoric state and has been used to
treat depression since the early 1970s. But
low mood often returns a s soon a s the
patients are allowed to get some sleep.11
Rapid Eye Movement (REM)
sleep boosts creativity
During REM sleep the concentration of
acetylcholine is twice that when awake,
encouraging neural connections and, hence,
creativity. The Beatles classic Yesterday is
said to have been penned after a good kip.8
Some animals only send
half their brain to sleep
Ducks are able to sleep with one eye shut
and one half of their brains asleep. Whales
and dolphins keep half their brain awake,
letting them surface for air and be on the
lookout for danger while still sleeping.14
Our sleep requirements
vary widely
In research carried out at the Univer sit y of
Pennsylvania, eight hours did the trick for
most people. But an estimated five per cent
of us, including Maggie Thatcher, can get
away with f ive hour s or fewer.12
Dreams pervade all
stages of our sleep
The idea that dreams only occur in REM
sleep isn’t true. We have dreams in all stages
of sleep and even when we’re awake, as
daydreams. But dreams are more common
in REM, and more vivid and bizarre.9
Sleep may help us
to learn new skills
After volunteer s played the video game
Tetris before going to sleep, they tended to
dream about the game that night. Those
who dreamed about it showed the most
improvement when playing it the next day.15
There is an excuse
for late nights
Early to bed, early to rise doesn’t suit
everyone. Some people are genetically
predisposed to stay up later at night and get
up later in the morning. This is the optimum
AL AMY, THINK S TOCK , GE T T Y X 5, PRE SS A SSOCIATION IMAGE S, NAT UREPL .COM, SUPERS TOCK pattern for roughly 40 per cent of us.