Sleep

When the body falls into a deep enough phase of sleep, it paralyzes certain parts of itself so the brain can't force it to physically act out dreams. More than 20% of people will experience a short circuit of this system, resulting in sleep paralysis. This well-known but little-understood phenomenon happens when the brain awakens early and typically results in haunting hallucinations and reports of supernatural terrors.

This article explains that, according to research from Penn State, restricting sleep for just a few days can affect how the human body metabolizes fats and change how satisfied people feel after a meal. The study found that people who don’t get...

Though it is often believed that people need less sleep as they age, the recommended sleep guidelines for all adult age groups are almost identical. However, factors such as medication use, lack of physical activity, and loneliness can lead to sleep problems, and thereby lead older people to believe that they actually need less sleep than they do. Sleep preferences, on the other hand, do tend to change: Older adults often want to go to bed earlier than younger adults due to an earlier release of melatonin in their brains. Watch this five-minute video to learn more about how people's sleeping habits change as they age—as well as how they stay the same.