Everybody does it, everyone needs it, but what do we know about it? Sleep is a necessary evil, we require it to function properly and survive. The amount of sleep we get impacts everything including our moods, weight loss, brain function, cognitive development, memory, 

• If you fall asleep at night in under five minutes you're sleep deprived. It should take you between 10-15 minutes to fall asleep. 
• People can take cat naps with their eyes open without even being aware of it, which makes it impossible to know if someone’s asleep without using medical equipment to monitor their body
• On average babies cause parents to lose 400-750 hours of sleep in the first year. Although, it may seem like a lot more when you’re the parent experiencing the loss of sleep!
• Humans average three hours less sleep than other primates like chimps, rhesus monkeys, squirrel monkeys and baboons, those animals sleep around 10.
• You can only dream about faces you have already seen.
• In the first 5 minutes after you wake, you forget 10% of your dreams. After 10 minutes, you've forgotten 90% of your dreams.
• When an elephant is standing it's in non-REM sleep, but it lies down during REM sleep.
• Sleep deprivation has been linked to: The Challenger space shuttle disaster, the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown, and the 1989 Exxon oil spill
• The record for the longest period without sleep was set during a rocking chair marathon and is 18 days, 21 hours, 40. The record holder reported experiencing hallucinations, blurred vision, paranoia, slurred speech and issues with memory and concentration.
• Seventeen hours of sleep deprivation can result in a decrease in performance equal to a blood alcohol-level of 0.05%.
• Estimates by the NRMA say fatigue is a factor in one in 6 fatal road accidents.
• Snoring occurs only in non-REM sleep
• It takes 2 weeks to die of starvation, but only 10 days from sleep deprivation.
• Some research indicates women need 20 minutes to an hour of extra sleep per night more than men.
• Sleep research is relatively new, most of what we know about sleep we've learned in the past 25 years.

Which of these facts surprises you the most?