We decided to investigate this fascinating topic further. Here are the nine most curious things that happen to your body when you fall into the arms of Morpheus and let your conscious mind turn off for a few hours.
1. Your muscles are paralyzed
When you enter REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep, which is the deepest sleep of all, the muscles of your limbs are paralyzed completely and it’s temporarily impossible to move.
There is a sleep disorder in which this paralysis is maintained for a few seconds or minutes after waking. This frightening sense of paralysis is experienced by people with narcolepsy when they open their eyes after waking up.
2. Your eyes move at full speed
All phases of sleep serve a specific purpose in keeping your body and brain healthy and relaxed. There are five stages of sleep; each is deeper than the previous one, and when we pass through all five phases, the cycle starts over again. The last one (REM) is the most active and it starts about 60 or 90 minutes after you fall asleep. At this stage your eyes move at full speed back and forward, without you being aware of it, because your mind is focused on what you’re dreaming.
3. A growth hormone is released
HGH hormone, known as human growth hormone, is responsible for allowing your bones, muscles and tissue to regenerate. When you sleep, the production of this substance is activated all over your body. It contributes to the healing of wounds and cell renewal. When we’re young, this hormone promotes growth and has many other effects on the body. For this reason, one can say that we grow taller when we sleep.
4. Your throat narrows
When you sleep, the muscles that hold your throat open when you’re awake relax, and the size of your throat decreases. This is one of the causes of deep snoring. Although there are other contributing factors, such as nasal obstruction, the tightening of the throat has a lot to do with the annoying noises that some people make when they sleep. CONTINUE READING HERE
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