Medical

7 min read

FACT OR FICTION?

Surprising statistics and common misconceptions about the human body

WORDS SCOTT DUTFIELD

WAKING A SLEEPWALKER IS BAD FOR THEIR HEALTH

MYTH While the act of sleepwalking isn’t bad for your health, it can lead to some hazardous situations. Somnambulism is the name for walking or performing activities during sleep. It typically occurs during the non-rapid eye movement stage of sleep. Several factors can lead to walking while sleeping, including alcohol use, stress and even brain injury. However, there is a genetic explanation for sleepwalking. Studies have shown that children with one or both sleepwalking parents are 40 to 60 per cent more likely to sleepwalk themselves. As for the consequences of waking a sleepwalker, there is no evidence that it will necessarily hurt or harm them, but will likely cause disorientation and confusion.

Sleepwalking can start at any age, but is most common in children

LYING ON YOUR BACK MAKES YOU SNORE MORE

The record for the loudest snore is 111.6 decibels, equivalent to the sound of a jet flying over your house

FACT The thunderous roar of a snorer can be made worse when they sleep on their back. Known as the supine position, lying this way might feel comfortable, but switching to a lateral position, or lying on your side, can reduce the volume of your snores. Snoring is caused by airflow being restricted through the body’s airways during sleep. When you lie on your back, gravity pulls tissues that surround your airways downwards, narrowing them. As air passes through the nasal passage, it causes tissue to vibrate with every breath and can create a snoring sound. When you sleep on your side this tissue doesn’t move downwards, opening up the airways and reducing the volume of snoring.

SNORING SCIENCE

What causes this roaring sound while we sleep?

When the various soft tissues in the mouth fall back towards the throat, it narrows the airways, causing them to vibrate and produce sound while breathing.

A fleshy section found at the back of the roof of the mouth that is made up of muscle fibres and connective tissue.

This muscular organ extends into the floor of the mouth from the flap of tissue at the back of the throat, called the epiglottis.

A soft teardrop-shaped flap of tissue that hangs down at the back of the mouth.

Two round, fleshy lymph nodes at the back of the throat.

THE FIVE-SECOND RULE

Dry foods gather less bacteria than foods with a wet surface, such as an apple slice

MYTH It doesn’t matter if it’s five or 500 seconds – harmful bacteria can contaminate food within milliseconds of making contact with it. This fictitious time allowance is thought to date back to 13th-century Mong

This article is from...

How It Works Magazine

11 April 2024

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