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I’m struggling today, you guys. I can barely keep my eyes open. All I can think about is getting home and closing my eyes for a few minutes. Which actually isn’t going to happen, but hey, a girl can dream.
Anyway, since I can’t think of anything else, I thought we would go for a sleep-related Quick 10 today – just some random facts about sleep. Hopefully I make it through all 10 before my head hits the keyboard.
1. Thai Ngoc is a Vietnamese man who has supposedly not slept a wink since 1973. The story is that he came down with some sort of a fever and, for whatever reason, hasn’t been physically able to get any shut-eye since. Tests are out of the question; Thai hasn’t left his village in 60 years and doesn’t intend to. Amazingly, he appears to be pretty healthy otherwise, except he did say a couple of years ago that he is starting to feel like “a plant without water”.
2. No doubt we have all experienced the microsleep. It’s a brief episode of sleep that only from a portion of a second all of the way up a few seconds. It’s probably most familiar to people who have been driving and feel like they spaced out for a minute, or perhaps during a particularly boring class when you do the sudden head-jerk move and wake yourself up almost immediately.
3. Exploding head syndrome sounds like it involves spontaneous combustion, but it doesn’t. It’s when you’ve been asleep for a couple of hours (usually, anyway), and then experience a really loud noise within your own head. It can sound like an explosion, a roar, loud voices – anything of that nature, really. There’s no pain, but people who have experienced exploding head syndrome can be fearful and anxious after the attack. Doctors don’t really know why this happens, but some think it might have something to do with stress and fatigue. Women are more likely to experience it than men. Any _flossers experience this? I’d be interested to hear about your episode(s).
4. Ever wonder what a good thread count for your sheets is? Standard is 150, good-quality starts at 180 and 200 or higher is considered percale. Anything over 500 thread count may not be as wonderful as you think – the Federal Trade Commission warns that these types of cloths are often made of plied yarns. This means one yarn is made by twisting together multiple finer threads. It warns that consumers could be “deceived or misled” by these thread counts. Lots of insiders say anything over 500 thread count is pretty much a waste of money.
5. The official medical term for getting up in the middle of the night to pee is “Nocturia”.
6. And, the technical term for what we call “sleep”, AKA that crap in your eye when you wake up sometimes, is “rheum”. It’s a mixture of tears, mucus, dust and dead skin cells. Gross.
7. During the Industrial Revolution, people used to put their babies to sleep using opium. Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup and Godfrey’s Cordial were two popular remedies. I found out this fascinating fact in the upcoming mental_floss book, History of the World: An Irreverent Romp through Civilization’s Best Bits, coming soon to a bookstore near you!
8. In 2004, Jonathan Husni inventeed PowerNap, an audio recording that says it can induce a three-hour sleep cycle in just 20 minutes.
9. People who suffer from night-eating syndrome are likely to be people who skip breakfast, consume at least half of their calories post-dinner, suffer from depression or anxiety, and have trouble sleeping in general.
10. Finally, one more definition for you. You know when you’re falling asleep and you’re ALMOST there and all of a sudden your leg jerks all by itself? Or sometimes you’re dreaming you’re falling and your body jerks when you hit the ground? That’s a Hypnic or Hypnagogic jerk. No one knows for sure why this happens. It happens to me a lot.
I made it! Yay! Time for a nap. OK, at the VERY LEAST, I’m sleeping in tomorrow.
Comments (34)
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stacy i’m right there with you today! i can’t keep my eyes open, and i swear reading all about sleep just made me sleepier. i’m looking into getting an IV of diet coke.
posted by WarTiger on 9-26-2008 at 2:40 pm
I’ve experience the “exploding head syndrome” before. It’s very loud and quick, sometimes like a cut-off scream or a crashing ocean wave, and it instantly wakes me up. I’m usually a little shaky and nervous afterward, and it always takes me about 20 minutes to fall back asleep. I usually experience it when I’ve had a hard time falling asleep to begin with, because of noise, light, etc. around me.
posted by bryn on 9-26-2008 at 2:47 pm
I’ve had the exploding head syndrome before as well. Usually when it happens to me, it’s when I’m in that limbo state between wakefulness and sleep, and I’m jerked awake by a sudden loud voice in my head. Strangely enough, most of the time it happens, the voice is calling my name, and even sometimes sounds like a family member. It’s really disorienting.
posted by Allison on 9-26-2008 at 2:51 pm
This is one of my favorite topics as I often have EXTREMELY intense and bizarre dreams (which I blog about frequently). I never knew that “exploding head syndrome” existed, but it definitely happened to me once and it was certainly one of the most fearful experiences of my life. I woke up because I thought my apartment exploded. I heard a very loud noise in my head and I woke up literally screaming. My husband FREAKED out and it took me a few seconds to come to terms with the fact that we were both fine. Unfortunately for me, the anxiety and terror lasted hours. While I could rationalize that what had occured was in my head, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was trying to destroy me. I refused to let my husband touch me because I honestly believed he was trying to kill me; like his fingers were going to bore into my flesh and rip my organs out. I also kept looking over my shoulder and could not sit still, like there was a “bad guy” lurking around every corner waiting for me to let my guard down. My husband said I looked like a deer in headlights. It was an absolutely horrible night and neither of us got over it for quite some time. It still gives me the creeps just remembering the details. For a while I assumed it was a night terror, but since those only happened to children (or so I thought) I never really had much of a diagnosis. I’ll be doing more research on this exploding head thing now. See, another reason why I’m glad I read Mental Floss! Thanks, Stacy!
As far as the Hypnagogic Jerk thing goes, that happens to me just about every night. I heard once, most likely from an unreliable source, that it’s a result of your soul or subconscious mind trying to “go out and enter the dreamworld”, metaphysically speaking. Sort of like an old woman trying to get up from an easy chair… it can take a few tries.
posted by Jill on 9-26-2008 at 3:09 pm
I quite often wake up in the middle of the night thinking I hear a family member calling my name. It only gets creepy when said family member says the had a dream about calling me at the same time.
posted by Jadashay on 9-26-2008 at 3:11 pm
I’ve also experienced the exploding-head thing. To me, it sounds like a bone snapping somewhere in my body, very loudly. It startles me, but I don’t get particularly anxious about it. I’m bipolar, and due to that and my meds I experience lots of sleep weirdness. Alice in Wonderland Syndrome, hypnagogic and hypnopompic visions, sleep eating, etc. Good times! :-)
posted by Calamity Kate on 9-26-2008 at 3:12 pm
Ditto on the exploding head thing. Except for me it typically sounds like something fell — sort of a loud bang. Not particularly scary, but I always think ‘crap, what just broke’. Only happens a few times per year.
posted by EV on 9-26-2008 at 3:34 pm
If you are in my house in the middle of the night and you hear “BANG! Ow!” it’s me smacking my head against the wall in my sleep. If my bed is along the wall I smack my head against in my sleep for some reason- I’ve done it since I was a kid and I can’t figure out why!
posted by Zach on 9-26-2008 at 3:41 pm
I’ve read that if you don’t sleep for ten days, you’ll die. I’m not about to test that!
posted by Sara on 9-26-2008 at 3:53 pm
My exploding head noise is always a bang, like the sound of a large book being dropped … maybe because I’m a librarian?
posted by Melissa on 9-26-2008 at 3:58 pm
the head-exploding syndrome sounds scary! the worst thing i’ve ever experienced during sleep is sleep paralysis…
do they have a name for when you go to sleep at night, and you wake up and it’s morning, but it feels like only ten seconds have passed? (maybe it’s just me)
posted by sb22 on 9-26-2008 at 4:13 pm
I experience Hypnagogic jerks often, usually I’m dreaming about something and I end up taking a step down like off of a bottom step or something and I stumble and the jerk is like my body trying to keep from falling down. It’s weird but even more weird that it always happens like that.
posted by Mike Jenkins on 9-26-2008 at 4:18 pm
I was a kid when the hypnagogic/exploding head dreams first started happening, so I was terrified to go to bed.
Once, I was trying to fall asleep and I felt like I was still awake. I could see my hands holding onto the blanket, curled into my chest. Then I felt a heavy presence sitting on my body and I could not move. I tried to yell out for help, but no matter how hard I tried, I could not move a finger or toe. Then as quickly as the paralysis set in, I suddenly heard a super loud witch-like screeching and I saw a blue light and then a mega loud POP. And then it was over and I was awake. I’m surprised I didn’t crap in my pants. It was just that scary.
I’ve had several since then: variations of the sleep paralysis while I think I’m awake. Like, sometimes during those episodes I feel strangers enter my home and walk into our closet or some door that doesn’t exist. Not a good feeling.
I’ve noticed those dreams happen a lot when I’m under a bunch of stress or haven’t deposited zzz’s into the sleep bank.
posted by CatWithASea on 9-26-2008 at 5:02 pm
sb22: that is a good ? as i have experiance that before…
i also have the exploding head thing happen to me as well, it feels good to know that i am not the only one…..to me it usually sounds like something snapping in half or bing dropped on the floor…it ususally takes me several minutes to calm down….my heart rate is through the roof and i get short of breath……it may happen to me once every few months…..
posted by Jennifer on 9-26-2008 at 5:05 pm
I’ve experienced sleep paralysis more than I care for. It’s really scary! Your brain is awake, but you can’t move. I usually can’t even open my eyes. I just lay there willing my body to wake up until i can blink or something. Not fun.
posted by b on 9-26-2008 at 5:08 pm
Wow! I didn’t know there was a name for the roaring noise that I hear when I’m asleep. My dreams are soundless except for the roar (which often sounds like a garbage truck compacting trash – and no, there is no truck outside by house when I hear the noise).
posted by rama on 9-26-2008 at 6:30 pm
I get the exploding head syndrome once in a while too. For me it’s a loud quick buzzing noise that happens when I’m almost asleep. It’s a really freaky experience. I’m glad I know what it’s called now.
posted by Kurt S on 9-26-2008 at 6:48 pm
I have the Hypnagogic jerk dreams when I am very tired or very stressed. It’s always one of 2 dreams. Either I’m walking down or up steps and one collapses, or walking on a sidewalk and trip on a crack. I jerk awake as I start to fall.
Zach – you’ve got to move your bed to the middle of the room!!
posted by Lynne on 9-26-2008 at 6:55 pm
I think most people have probably experienced exploding head syndrome. I mean I’ve woken up plenty of times not sure if that bam I heard was real or not.
posted by Chelsea on 9-26-2008 at 7:58 pm
Ditto on the the sleep paralysis and exploding head syndrome – luckily not very often. The sleep paralysis, to me, is much, much scarier!!
posted by Lissa on 9-26-2008 at 8:27 pm
I’ve had a few exploding head moments, but only since I started menopause. I’ve had multiple sleep issues since then but the explosions were unsettling. I live very rural and alone. I had to get up and make sure that nothing really happened. Now when it happens, if the dogs aren’t barking, I figure it’s in my head and can go back to sleep fairly easily.
posted by Mary Ann on 9-26-2008 at 8:46 pm
I experience the hypnic jerk just about every night, but it’s just as I’m dozing off. It’s that feeling you get when you miss a step, and then my whole body jerks. It’s so weird, but I just go with it.
Does anyone else get cramps in their calves at night? I get them all the time!
posted by Kieran on 9-26-2008 at 10:48 pm
I never knew about exploding head syndrome before, but have experienced it. I wake up and think someone has slammed a door and check to see if someone is in the house. I generally calm down though once I realize my dogs are quiet and would be barking if we had an intruder.
Kieran – have you tried upping your potassium?
posted by bzzyb on 9-27-2008 at 9:00 am
I experience exploding head quite often – probably twice a month or so. Usually it sounds like someone is yelling “HEY” into my ear. Sometimes I hear my name. Sometimes it’s a bang. This past Spring was particularly bad regarding these episodes. I would wake up sweating, with my heart beating crazy fast. It scared me so much that I went to the doctor and ended up having to wear a 24 hour heart monitor. I was super stressed at work during that time and things have calmed down some. So, luckily, have those episodes.
posted by Brandy on 9-27-2008 at 9:13 am
Huh. I wonder if the buzzing I hear/feel behind my top right molar every night is Exploding head. I’ve never had sleep paralysis, but I do have vivid dreams and sometimes wake up yelling.
posted by Leggy on 9-27-2008 at 7:32 pm
I read somewhere (or dreamed it?) that the jerk happens because your body is relaxing, but your brain hasn’t caught up. It’s probably a leftover reaction to when we lived in trees — your mind is signalling for you to wake up QUICK before you fall off the limb.
posted by buddz on 9-27-2008 at 8:44 pm
the other night my boyfriend fell asleep on the couch. i was in the bed room having a nightmare. i dreamt that a car blew up and and that very moment my boyfirend thought he heard a loud explosion which woke him up and he came running into the bedroom waking me up. nothing had exploded.
posted by kat on 9-28-2008 at 12:42 pm
Oh wow, I experienced Exploding Head Syndrome for the first time two weeks ago!
I was sound asleep and dreaming about talking with a friend when suddenly they leaned forward and shouted/screamed right in my ear. I woke up with a start and lay there with my heart pounding, trying to figure out what had happened. It was like nothing I’ve ever experienced. It’s interesting to know I’m not the only one, but I hope it never happens again!
posted by Anzi on 9-28-2008 at 6:39 pm
I have head ’splody regularly. I’m jerked awake for no good external reason. Blah.
posted by DCM on 9-28-2008 at 9:33 pm
@kieran – I used to get bad leg cramps/charlie horses when I was asleep too, I have been told it is either an iron or a sodium (salt) deficiency, so you could try getting a suppliment to see if that helps.
posted by sarah on 9-28-2008 at 9:42 pm
I´m so glad I´m not the only sleep-freak out there! I´ve had them all… Head explosions at least once a month… Usually sound like a loud BANG that wakes me up all freaked out until I realize it´s just me being crazy again… The leg twitch (hypnagogic jerk??) is a nightly occurence as I try to fall asleep. It always happens in that tween time where I´m half asleep and half awake. It´s so common that it doesnt even wake me anymore!
But by far, the most frightening experience is the sleep paralysis. I´ve (thankfully) only experienced this a couple of times but each time left me shaken for a very long time (last one was like 5 years ago and I still shudder every time I think about it). I was in a hotel room with my mom and I woke up in the middle of the night comepletely unable to move. I remember looking around and registered every single detail of the room as I desperately tried to scream to my mom for help. I dont know how long it took but the scream finally came and with it the ability to move. I spent the rest of that night crying and willing myself not to fall asleep.
Good times…
recaptcha: time shaken
posted by GTT on 9-29-2008 at 10:41 am
I get the head bangs almost every night, alot of paralysis almost every night as well. They seem to switch off every few nights. I only seem to get the bangs like a alluminum(spelling?) bat hitting me in the right side of my head and it just pounds at my head it seems to the point i wake up with a bad headache but only on the right side.
And on nights where I dont have the bangs i get that paralysis feeling, and i hear a quiet whispering in my ear for the first few months of these whispers it made me kinda nervous since the guy who lived in my house before we moved in hung himself. But after awhile i tried desperatly not to be affraid of it since nothing bad actualy happened. Still unsettling, but now i try to listen to the whispers but can ususaly only make out a few words. Thing is the words i do manage to actualy make-out and rememeber are sometimes just freaky. I feel like something is standing above me watching me sleep, one night when i slowly peeped my eyes open i saw a shadowy man with a old fashioned hat standing there leaned over me. When i was younger i started to freak me out to the point i started sleeping on the living room couch since i didnt get these just odd feelings. But now it seems kind of comforting, now that ive been up for about 48 hours i started looking to see if I was alone with these sleeping ‘disorders’ and stumbled on to this, good to see im not purly crazy or something. Creepiest thing of it all is when i hear the whispers i always die in my dreams but dont wake up just stare at my dead body until i wake up. and just jerk out of sleep when i do wake up for no reason.
Sorry for the long comment but its kinda complex for me to even describe, i still dont think i got it down right. The one thing i remember really profound from these whispers is ‘when will it end?’ is what is whispered into my ears, but now i almost dont want it to end. Seems better then my average dream before these of sitting in a black blank room staring at a grandfather clock until i hear the tone to wake up, after 4 years of the exact same dream anything is kinda releaving. Doctors found nothing after tons of very strange tests after the MRI’s and such. it just seems to strange for my liking. I got like 30 pages of lines i remember from these odd whisper dreams. Also my temples are getting really big to the point i can fit my entire fist in the soft spot now. Again sorry for the long comment but any ideas on just what the hell is going on? its starting to creep me out
posted by chezzo on 4-1-2009 at 4:41 pm
Just woke up…and after this happening a few times this week I decided to look up and see what’s going on with me.
I see white flashing and the noise is so loud…it sounds like a chirping cicada bug living inside my head instead of a tree.
I can hear the TV and everything going on around me almost like a heighten sense…word for word conversations that I’m not part of. My body feels so heavy I can’t move to snap out of it.
I can feel my face twitching and I start to breath very hard.
I’ve been under a great deal of stress the last few weeks. So I’m thinking this is causing it…Any thoughts out there?
posted by Jenny on 6-18-2009 at 6:40 pm
I hear a short digital ring tone just before I wake-up. Happnes just when I am coming out of sleep. I think it is from listening to AM radio at night and falling asleep with it still on. AM has a lot of digital sounds that are mixed into there transmition. The brain picks it up. I have head the bang in the head also. going to stop falling asleep with the radio on. Cound be the Am advertisers do this to keep us awake to hear the commercials! LOL
posted by Michael on 10-23-2009 at 9:52 am