Researchers at NYU scoured the web to find the most commonly held myths about sleep. After combing through about 8,000 websites, they found out a lot about what people THINK they know. So, let's set the record straight.
Myth 1: Five hours of sleep a night is fine. Actually they say this is actually the most dangerous misconception about sleep. The study shows that regularly getting less than five hours increases your risk of heart disease and early death!!
Myth 2. It's great to be able to sleep anywhere. I've always been jealous of those people. I can never shut my mind off and any noise at all disturbs me. BUT, if you can fall asleep anywhere it probably means you're not sleeping enough when you should be and you're basically exhausted.
Myth 3. Your brain and body can adapt to less sleep. Also not true. if you're not getting 7 or 8 hours of sleep a night, your mind and body are suffering. This one hurts because there's no way I'm averaging any more than 5 hours a night. I don't know about you, but perhaps we should plan on making some changes?
Myth 4. Snoring is annoying but harmless. Actually, loud snoring can be a sign of sleep apnea, especially if you hear pauses in the breathing. And sleep apnea can lead to all sorts of things like heart attacks and cancer.