1 00:00:10,520 --> 00:00:14,320 Speaker 1: Hey, everyone, welcome to another edition of Wisdom Wednesdays. Today 2 00:00:14,680 --> 00:00:18,400 Speaker 1: we are going to talk about sleep and a particularly 3 00:00:18,600 --> 00:00:23,439 Speaker 1: interesting study that's come out of the Massachusetts Institute of 4 00:00:23,480 --> 00:00:26,600 Speaker 1: Technology MIT, one of the top universities in the world, 5 00:00:27,320 --> 00:00:31,040 Speaker 1: and it sheds a light on exactly what happens in 6 00:00:31,080 --> 00:00:34,720 Speaker 1: our brains when we skip sleep and why. 7 00:00:34,520 --> 00:00:38,959 Speaker 2: Our attention feels when we're exhausted. So let's start off 8 00:00:39,000 --> 00:00:42,080 Speaker 2: by talking about what the researchers did. They got twenty 9 00:00:42,120 --> 00:00:46,800 Speaker 2: six healthy adult volunteers. Each spread was between nineteen and 10 00:00:46,920 --> 00:00:50,600 Speaker 2: forty and what they did is they got these guys 11 00:00:51,479 --> 00:00:54,760 Speaker 2: to participate in one of two conditions. One was they 12 00:00:54,760 --> 00:00:58,200 Speaker 2: had a normal night's sleep, and then another time after 13 00:00:58,520 --> 00:01:02,240 Speaker 2: staying awake all night pulling an all night. And then 14 00:01:02,600 --> 00:01:06,880 Speaker 2: after both sessions sleep or non sleep, participants performed simple 15 00:01:06,920 --> 00:01:10,880 Speaker 2: attention tasks, for example watching a cross on the screen 16 00:01:10,959 --> 00:01:13,679 Speaker 2: that changes in their square or hearing a beep and 17 00:01:13,760 --> 00:01:15,800 Speaker 2: impressing a button when you hear the beat. These are 18 00:01:15,880 --> 00:01:22,400 Speaker 2: classic tests of cognitive function, particularly attention, and they recorded 19 00:01:22,440 --> 00:01:26,559 Speaker 2: at the same time their eg they're brain waves and 20 00:01:27,040 --> 00:01:31,480 Speaker 2: they had fast MRI so blood flow and fluid measurements, 21 00:01:31,640 --> 00:01:36,039 Speaker 2: as well as eye tracking, including their pupil size. They 22 00:01:36,080 --> 00:01:38,640 Speaker 2: looked at their heart rate and their breathing, so they 23 00:01:38,720 --> 00:01:44,480 Speaker 2: got this really comprehensive, full body brand picture of what 24 00:01:44,600 --> 00:01:49,080 Speaker 2: is happening versus with rested versus when you're sleep deprived. 25 00:01:49,120 --> 00:01:52,120 Speaker 2: And nobody's ever done something like this before, and what 26 00:01:52,200 --> 00:01:56,800 Speaker 2: they found was pretty bloody striking. When people were sleep deprived, 27 00:01:57,120 --> 00:01:59,840 Speaker 2: the reaction time slowed. You won't be surprised at that, 28 00:02:00,240 --> 00:02:04,760 Speaker 2: they missed more signals, but crucially, their brain and their 29 00:02:04,840 --> 00:02:09,120 Speaker 2: body began to behave as though they were partially sleeping 30 00:02:09,760 --> 00:02:13,440 Speaker 2: even though they were technically awake. And one of the 31 00:02:13,480 --> 00:02:18,200 Speaker 2: big discoveries was about cerebral spinal fluid. 32 00:02:18,600 --> 00:02:21,880 Speaker 3: So that's the fluid that flows. 33 00:02:21,520 --> 00:02:24,720 Speaker 2: Around in your brain and in your obviously your spinal 34 00:02:24,760 --> 00:02:28,760 Speaker 2: column and normally during sleep, particularly in deep sleep. And 35 00:02:28,800 --> 00:02:32,840 Speaker 2: I've talked about this before, this CSF, cerebral spinal fluid. 36 00:02:33,200 --> 00:02:37,480 Speaker 2: It flows in these large slow waves around the brain 37 00:02:37,600 --> 00:02:40,520 Speaker 2: and spinal cord, and that's actually driven by our glial 38 00:02:40,720 --> 00:02:44,880 Speaker 2: cells vibrating at a certain frequency. And what those waves 39 00:02:44,960 --> 00:02:48,440 Speaker 2: do is they helped to clear out the metabolic waste 40 00:02:48,520 --> 00:02:53,400 Speaker 2: products and toxins and other byproducts of our neural activity, 41 00:02:54,480 --> 00:02:59,280 Speaker 2: and this is our glymphatic system with the g it's 42 00:02:59,320 --> 00:03:02,359 Speaker 2: the brains equivalent of the lymphatic system in the body 43 00:03:02,400 --> 00:03:05,480 Speaker 2: that gets rid of all of our waste products. But 44 00:03:05,639 --> 00:03:10,040 Speaker 2: in a sleep deprived brain. The researcher saw that when 45 00:03:10,080 --> 00:03:14,799 Speaker 2: people were awake and these CSF waves start to appear. 46 00:03:15,400 --> 00:03:19,640 Speaker 2: In other words, the brain appears to initiate its cleaning 47 00:03:19,720 --> 00:03:24,040 Speaker 2: or housekeeping process, which usually occurs in deep sleep, even 48 00:03:24,120 --> 00:03:25,840 Speaker 2: though the person is still supposed to be. 49 00:03:25,800 --> 00:03:28,079 Speaker 3: Alert and awake. And here's the kicker. 50 00:03:28,560 --> 00:03:33,120 Speaker 2: Those moments when the CSF waves surged were exactly the 51 00:03:33,200 --> 00:03:38,480 Speaker 2: same moments when at tension feeled reaction time, slow errors happened, 52 00:03:38,520 --> 00:03:42,760 Speaker 2: and at the same moment the CFS pulse outward occurred. 53 00:03:43,240 --> 00:03:47,160 Speaker 2: And this suggests that the brain may be trading off 54 00:03:47,360 --> 00:03:53,680 Speaker 2: its external attention so it can perform critical cleaning tasks 55 00:03:53,720 --> 00:03:57,600 Speaker 2: that missed when you didn't sleep or you lost some sleep. 56 00:03:58,080 --> 00:04:01,160 Speaker 2: Think of it like driving along the road and your 57 00:04:01,240 --> 00:04:05,720 Speaker 2: car going into maintenance mode temporarily while you're still trying 58 00:04:05,760 --> 00:04:06,320 Speaker 2: to drive. 59 00:04:06,480 --> 00:04:07,760 Speaker 3: This is what's going on. 60 00:04:08,600 --> 00:04:12,800 Speaker 2: And the researchers were able to time things very precisely, 61 00:04:13,160 --> 00:04:16,279 Speaker 2: and here's what they found. It happened about ten to 62 00:04:16,320 --> 00:04:20,680 Speaker 2: twelve seconds before the attention lapse and the CSF wave, 63 00:04:21,400 --> 00:04:26,440 Speaker 2: people's pupils began to constrict. This is a signal of 64 00:04:26,640 --> 00:04:31,040 Speaker 2: lowered arousal. And around the same time heart rate and 65 00:04:31,160 --> 00:04:35,520 Speaker 2: breathing slowed slightly, indicating that the body was entering a 66 00:04:35,600 --> 00:04:40,479 Speaker 2: lower arousal or a more RESTful state. And then the 67 00:04:40,720 --> 00:04:45,840 Speaker 2: eg slow wave of activity that actually increased, so there 68 00:04:45,880 --> 00:04:47,760 Speaker 2: was an increase in the slow way of activity during 69 00:04:47,839 --> 00:04:51,440 Speaker 2: wakefulness when people were sleep deprived. These are patterns more 70 00:04:51,480 --> 00:04:57,600 Speaker 2: typically seen in light sleep. And then lastly, the brains hemodynamics, 71 00:04:57,600 --> 00:05:02,359 Speaker 2: the blood flow and CFAF flow OH showed larger low 72 00:05:02,480 --> 00:05:07,800 Speaker 2: frequency waves during wakefulness after sleep deprivation. Again this is 73 00:05:07,880 --> 00:05:12,159 Speaker 2: resembling sleep states, and I think this is why when 74 00:05:12,440 --> 00:05:15,880 Speaker 2: other research are shown that when people are sleep deprived 75 00:05:16,839 --> 00:05:23,919 Speaker 2: they perform really badly on tests of attention and cognitive 76 00:05:23,960 --> 00:05:28,080 Speaker 2: function and even driving motor skills. And I remember the 77 00:05:28,120 --> 00:05:31,360 Speaker 2: research showing that people who had six are sleep performed 78 00:05:31,360 --> 00:05:33,520 Speaker 2: about the same as people who had seven are sleep 79 00:05:33,839 --> 00:05:35,720 Speaker 2: but were given enough alcohol to blow. 80 00:05:35,480 --> 00:05:36,440 Speaker 3: Point zero five. 81 00:05:37,040 --> 00:05:39,680 Speaker 2: But the people who had five are sleep performed about 82 00:05:39,720 --> 00:05:44,080 Speaker 2: the same as people who were leally drunk. They blew 83 00:05:44,120 --> 00:05:47,520 Speaker 2: point one and when they asked them how they think 84 00:05:47,560 --> 00:05:51,080 Speaker 2: they went, the pissed people actually had the self awareness 85 00:05:51,080 --> 00:05:54,279 Speaker 2: to realize they probably screwed up, but the sleep deprived 86 00:05:54,320 --> 00:05:57,719 Speaker 2: people thought they did really well. And maybe it's because 87 00:05:57,760 --> 00:06:00,599 Speaker 2: the brain is just going into this little lapse of 88 00:06:00,640 --> 00:06:04,279 Speaker 2: attention that you're actually not aware of. This is what 89 00:06:04,440 --> 00:06:08,920 Speaker 2: this research is potentially suggesting. So when you're sleep deprived, 90 00:06:09,520 --> 00:06:13,720 Speaker 2: your brain and your body start slipping into these micro 91 00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:17,520 Speaker 2: sleep like states, the fluid, the flow waves, the reduced 92 00:06:17,560 --> 00:06:21,200 Speaker 2: to arousal, the slower brain waves while you're trying to 93 00:06:21,279 --> 00:06:25,840 Speaker 2: remain a week and those micro states coincide with moments 94 00:06:25,839 --> 00:06:28,520 Speaker 2: when you lose focus, you drop the ball, or you 95 00:06:28,560 --> 00:06:31,280 Speaker 2: miss something important and you may not be a word 96 00:06:31,360 --> 00:06:35,160 Speaker 2: that you've done it. Now there's a pretty big player 97 00:06:35,200 --> 00:06:39,080 Speaker 2: in this, and it's nora adrenaline. This is one of 98 00:06:39,080 --> 00:06:42,200 Speaker 2: our stress hormones. We have adrenaline. We have nora adrenaline. 99 00:06:42,279 --> 00:06:46,000 Speaker 2: I think of nora adrenaline simplistically like the sister chemical 100 00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:49,159 Speaker 2: of adrenaline in the brain. It's released from the look 101 00:06:49,200 --> 00:06:52,839 Speaker 2: of surelius. But it's also called no epinefron in the 102 00:06:52,920 --> 00:06:55,760 Speaker 2: United States, and it's a key, and not only is 103 00:06:55,839 --> 00:06:58,120 Speaker 2: it as a hormone, but it's a chemical messenger in 104 00:06:58,160 --> 00:07:02,320 Speaker 2: the brain, and it regulates arousal, alertness and attention. 105 00:07:02,720 --> 00:07:02,960 Speaker 3: Right. 106 00:07:03,520 --> 00:07:06,839 Speaker 2: And the brain's principal source of the no adrenaline is 107 00:07:06,839 --> 00:07:09,119 Speaker 2: the locus corellius as I said, that's in the brain 108 00:07:09,200 --> 00:07:14,160 Speaker 2: stem and in normal wakefulness, this locus corellius no adrenaline 109 00:07:14,200 --> 00:07:16,960 Speaker 2: system helps to keep us alert, responsive, and ready to 110 00:07:17,080 --> 00:07:21,120 Speaker 2: engage in the world. It also helps to modulate our 111 00:07:21,160 --> 00:07:25,160 Speaker 2: blood flow, our vascular tone, and other global brain states. 112 00:07:25,520 --> 00:07:29,440 Speaker 2: And when you're sleep deprived, this system is weakened or disruptive. 113 00:07:29,800 --> 00:07:33,560 Speaker 2: And in the current study, the investigators link the timing 114 00:07:34,080 --> 00:07:40,160 Speaker 2: of the CSF and these other waves to a neuromodulatory shift. 115 00:07:40,240 --> 00:07:41,280 Speaker 3: What that hell does that mean? 116 00:07:41,320 --> 00:07:45,160 Speaker 2: That means changes in the no adrenaline arousal system appear 117 00:07:45,280 --> 00:07:49,840 Speaker 2: to set the stage for these micro sleep state intrusions. 118 00:07:49,880 --> 00:07:53,520 Speaker 2: So it seems to be that the body activating these 119 00:07:53,560 --> 00:07:57,360 Speaker 2: things triggers the brain to fall or lose focus. 120 00:07:57,480 --> 00:08:00,600 Speaker 3: Right. So, in symbol terms, you're in your noah. 121 00:08:00,400 --> 00:08:03,760 Speaker 2: Adrenaline system drops or shift, you become less alert, your 122 00:08:03,800 --> 00:08:07,240 Speaker 2: pupils constrict the arousal dips, and the brain triggers a 123 00:08:07,720 --> 00:08:11,600 Speaker 2: cleaning wave of CSF and you lose a moment of attention. 124 00:08:11,920 --> 00:08:12,960 Speaker 3: That's the trade off. 125 00:08:13,440 --> 00:08:16,200 Speaker 2: So no adrenaline is a link between your state of 126 00:08:16,240 --> 00:08:21,640 Speaker 2: alertness and the brain's fluid flow maintenance system. So let's 127 00:08:21,680 --> 00:08:25,680 Speaker 2: talk about the real war implications of this. So attention 128 00:08:25,840 --> 00:08:29,880 Speaker 2: lapses aren't just fatigue when you've missed sleep and in 129 00:08:30,320 --> 00:08:31,920 Speaker 2: zoom your focus zooms off. 130 00:08:31,960 --> 00:08:33,679 Speaker 3: It's not just because you're tired. 131 00:08:34,120 --> 00:08:37,600 Speaker 2: Your brain is actively switching into a mode of cleaning 132 00:08:37,640 --> 00:08:41,719 Speaker 2: and maintenance, which comes at the cost of attention. Basically, 133 00:08:41,760 --> 00:08:44,520 Speaker 2: you just have this little lapse where your brain is 134 00:08:44,520 --> 00:08:48,760 Speaker 2: shutting down effectively. Now there's big implications here for safety 135 00:08:48,840 --> 00:08:52,720 Speaker 2: risk and professions are tasked where attention is critical, anything 136 00:08:52,760 --> 00:08:56,120 Speaker 2: to do with driving, medicine, aviation, those sorts of things. 137 00:08:56,520 --> 00:09:01,760 Speaker 2: These micro intrusions could have big, big consequence that single 138 00:09:01,880 --> 00:09:06,320 Speaker 2: moment of distraction might result in a major error, and 139 00:09:06,360 --> 00:09:10,960 Speaker 2: the study authors highlight that these micropauses are structured, they're 140 00:09:11,080 --> 00:09:15,520 Speaker 2: not just random. And then bringing health long term, this 141 00:09:15,760 --> 00:09:20,640 Speaker 2: fluid flow that actually clears our toxins like beta amyloid 142 00:09:20,960 --> 00:09:23,959 Speaker 2: that are linked to Alzheimer's and that happens when we're sleep, 143 00:09:24,160 --> 00:09:27,520 Speaker 2: and if you're depriving yourself as sleep repeatedly, your brain 144 00:09:27,640 --> 00:09:30,680 Speaker 2: may be trying to catch up while awake, but doing 145 00:09:30,720 --> 00:09:33,520 Speaker 2: so less efficiently. And this is where we see that 146 00:09:33,600 --> 00:09:37,560 Speaker 2: people who have regularly bad sleep they accumulate much more 147 00:09:37,640 --> 00:09:41,480 Speaker 2: beta amyloid plaques and toxins, and that contributes to the 148 00:09:41,559 --> 00:09:45,320 Speaker 2: risk of developing Alzheimer's disease in other forms of dementia. 149 00:09:45,400 --> 00:09:48,559 Speaker 3: And another take on with this is sleep is maintenance. 150 00:09:49,200 --> 00:09:53,840 Speaker 2: This research reinforces the idea that sleep is not optional downtime. 151 00:09:54,000 --> 00:09:57,839 Speaker 2: It is essential housekeeping for your brain, and when you 152 00:09:57,920 --> 00:10:03,160 Speaker 2: skip it, it forces the brain to multitask maintenance and 153 00:10:03,160 --> 00:10:06,119 Speaker 2: wakefulness and there is a trade off in terms of performance. 154 00:10:06,920 --> 00:10:11,439 Speaker 2: And then there's potential detecting tools that could be used here, 155 00:10:11,720 --> 00:10:15,319 Speaker 2: particularly in things work safety is really really important. Given 156 00:10:15,360 --> 00:10:20,720 Speaker 2: these measurable signals pupil constrictions, subtle heart respiration changes, and 157 00:10:20,800 --> 00:10:25,319 Speaker 2: fluid pulses. Future technologies can detect when your brain is 158 00:10:25,440 --> 00:10:28,880 Speaker 2: entering one of these micro states and actually alert you, 159 00:10:29,000 --> 00:10:31,880 Speaker 2: for instance, where you're driving, flying a plane, whatever it 160 00:10:31,920 --> 00:10:37,240 Speaker 2: may be. And the authors actually mention diagnostics for neurodegenerative 161 00:10:37,360 --> 00:10:41,800 Speaker 2: risk or scheduling in high risk jobs. Now the other 162 00:10:41,840 --> 00:10:45,000 Speaker 2: thing I was thinking about so clearly it's important that 163 00:10:45,040 --> 00:10:49,520 Speaker 2: we sleep well, that we have good sleep hygiene, but 164 00:10:50,120 --> 00:10:52,720 Speaker 2: for me this becomes really important that when you know 165 00:10:52,880 --> 00:10:55,280 Speaker 2: you have been sleep deprived, you haven't slept well. 166 00:10:55,760 --> 00:10:56,440 Speaker 3: A couple of things. 167 00:10:56,520 --> 00:11:00,520 Speaker 2: Number one is taken creating, because we know that retain 168 00:11:01,200 --> 00:11:06,720 Speaker 2: can minimize the declining cognitive function because it's giving energy 169 00:11:06,760 --> 00:11:09,520 Speaker 2: for the brain. It's not a long term strategy that 170 00:11:09,640 --> 00:11:11,800 Speaker 2: means you can sacrifice your sleep, but it can certainly 171 00:11:11,840 --> 00:11:13,200 Speaker 2: help if you need to focus. 172 00:11:13,559 --> 00:11:16,360 Speaker 3: And then the other thing I was thinking is nora adrenaline. 173 00:11:16,400 --> 00:11:19,880 Speaker 2: You want a no adrenaline boost whenever you've been sleep deprived, 174 00:11:20,040 --> 00:11:23,960 Speaker 2: and that's where number one, cold water immersion or getting 175 00:11:23,960 --> 00:11:27,240 Speaker 2: in a cold shower that gives you a massive spike 176 00:11:27,320 --> 00:11:29,920 Speaker 2: of nora adrenaline that will wake your ass right up. 177 00:11:30,520 --> 00:11:32,760 Speaker 2: Or the other thing that gives you a massive spike 178 00:11:32,800 --> 00:11:37,920 Speaker 2: of nora adrenaline is TUMO breathing. Anybody who's familiar with 179 00:11:38,040 --> 00:11:43,679 Speaker 2: vim Hoff, it's that controlled hyperventilation, and I often talk 180 00:11:43,679 --> 00:11:47,400 Speaker 2: about workshops that if you get that afternoon slump doing 181 00:11:47,480 --> 00:11:51,760 Speaker 2: thirty to fifty controlled hyperventilations where you basically breathe fully 182 00:11:51,800 --> 00:11:52,760 Speaker 2: in and then you just let go. 183 00:11:52,920 --> 00:11:58,679 Speaker 3: So it's like, just try doing fifty of those well, 184 00:11:58,720 --> 00:11:59,120 Speaker 3: and you're. 185 00:11:59,000 --> 00:12:01,960 Speaker 2: Seated by the way, and you'll wake your ass right up, 186 00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:04,760 Speaker 2: So you'll give yourself a spike and no adrenaline that 187 00:12:04,920 --> 00:12:09,120 Speaker 2: could offset temporarily a bit of that sleep deprivation and 188 00:12:09,200 --> 00:12:12,200 Speaker 2: just wake you up if you're doing an important task 189 00:12:12,280 --> 00:12:14,880 Speaker 2: or you're driving of these sorts of things actually you 190 00:12:14,880 --> 00:12:15,520 Speaker 2: probably shouldn't do. 191 00:12:15,640 --> 00:12:18,760 Speaker 3: When you're driving, pull over, do fifty fifty. 192 00:12:18,440 --> 00:12:21,200 Speaker 2: Breaths and then start driving again, and you will find 193 00:12:21,240 --> 00:12:21,680 Speaker 2: it you're. 194 00:12:21,520 --> 00:12:24,520 Speaker 3: A bit more awake. So that's it for this week, folks. 195 00:12:24,600 --> 00:12:28,520 Speaker 2: I think that's just another bit of research that shows 196 00:12:28,559 --> 00:12:32,320 Speaker 2: how critical sleep is and that we really need to 197 00:12:32,320 --> 00:12:33,920 Speaker 2: get serious around our sleep hyging. 198 00:12:34,400 --> 00:12:35,120 Speaker 3: Catch you next time.