We spend a third of our lives asleep, but despite spending so much time sleeping, it’s something most people know very little about. Even the best sleep experts know relatively little about sleep compared to other areas of science because it’s such a young field of study.

Despite sleep being a relatively new area of research, our understanding of this mysterious state of consciousnesses has come in leaps and bounds over the past few decades, and to this day sleep remains a hot topic of research.

Here’s a quick rundown of 16 little known facts about sleep, and if you’re interested in finding out more about sleep gathered from the latest sleep research, take a look at the article Top 10 Surprising Benefits of Sleep.