1 00:00:03,120 --> 00:00:06,000 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind from how Stuff 2 00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:13,880 Speaker 1: Works dot com. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. 3 00:00:13,880 --> 00:00:16,560 Speaker 1: My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Julie Douglas. And 4 00:00:16,640 --> 00:00:19,760 Speaker 1: if I may, I'm gonna I'm gonna ask our producer 5 00:00:19,800 --> 00:00:22,840 Speaker 1: knowl to uh down a little spooky music, and I'm 6 00:00:22,880 --> 00:00:26,279 Speaker 1: going to read a quote from HP Lovecraft. Wait, hold on, 7 00:00:26,360 --> 00:00:28,840 Speaker 1: let me turn on the white We are submerged in 8 00:00:28,880 --> 00:00:31,760 Speaker 1: complete darkness right now. It's a little weird. Wait, holding 9 00:00:31,800 --> 00:00:34,920 Speaker 1: this really difficult, but okay, there, all right? This is 10 00:00:34,960 --> 00:00:42,479 Speaker 1: from Lovecraft supernatural horror. In literature, children will always be 11 00:00:42,520 --> 00:00:46,080 Speaker 1: afraid of the dark, and men with mind sensitive to 12 00:00:46,200 --> 00:00:50,120 Speaker 1: hereditary impulse will always tremble at the thought of the 13 00:00:50,200 --> 00:00:54,760 Speaker 1: hidden and fathomless worlds of strange life, which made poll 14 00:00:54,800 --> 00:00:58,480 Speaker 1: sat in the gulfs beyond the stars, or press hideously 15 00:00:58,600 --> 00:01:03,320 Speaker 1: upon our own lobe in unholy dimensions which only the 16 00:01:03,440 --> 00:01:09,720 Speaker 1: dead and the moon struck can limps. That was beautiful. 17 00:01:10,480 --> 00:01:12,200 Speaker 1: And if you guys haven't guessed out there, we are 18 00:01:12,360 --> 00:01:16,920 Speaker 1: diving way into the deep dark in this episode. And 19 00:01:17,080 --> 00:01:21,560 Speaker 1: I love that because it really does evoke the sort 20 00:01:21,560 --> 00:01:26,040 Speaker 1: of primal fear that darkness has particularly for children. Yeah, 21 00:01:26,080 --> 00:01:27,880 Speaker 1: I mean the great thing about this topic is that 22 00:01:28,640 --> 00:01:32,160 Speaker 1: light and dark, those are the cycles that have defined 23 00:01:32,360 --> 00:01:35,520 Speaker 1: our lives, that have defined life for the most part 24 00:01:35,600 --> 00:01:38,200 Speaker 1: for so long. I mean, life here on Earth exists 25 00:01:38,200 --> 00:01:40,560 Speaker 1: within these cycles of light and dark, and that has 26 00:01:40,640 --> 00:01:45,400 Speaker 1: played into uh the evolutionary ascent of of almost all organists. 27 00:01:45,440 --> 00:01:48,440 Speaker 1: And it's so important to us that we have woven 28 00:01:48,480 --> 00:01:51,120 Speaker 1: it into this symbolic level, right, I mean the ying 29 00:01:51,200 --> 00:01:55,080 Speaker 1: and yang of dark and light, these opposites which really 30 00:01:55,560 --> 00:01:59,840 Speaker 1: represent these ideas of not just values, but of the 31 00:02:00,280 --> 00:02:04,480 Speaker 1: spheares that we inhabit. Because on one level of the 32 00:02:04,520 --> 00:02:07,360 Speaker 1: world of light, the word the sunlit world, I mean 33 00:02:07,400 --> 00:02:09,880 Speaker 1: that's an area of the known, and then the world 34 00:02:09,880 --> 00:02:12,640 Speaker 1: of darkness that isn't an area of the if not 35 00:02:12,760 --> 00:02:15,720 Speaker 1: the unknown, at least the uncertain. The other the possible. 36 00:02:15,760 --> 00:02:18,760 Speaker 1: They had sort of the quantum state where the darkness 37 00:02:18,800 --> 00:02:21,760 Speaker 1: can be simply emptiness. The darkness can be something you 38 00:02:21,760 --> 00:02:24,080 Speaker 1: could trip over, it could be a thief, it could 39 00:02:24,080 --> 00:02:27,040 Speaker 1: be a monster. There's there's room for just about any 40 00:02:27,080 --> 00:02:31,040 Speaker 1: fear within that undefined space of shadow. And that undefined 41 00:02:31,080 --> 00:02:35,760 Speaker 1: space of shadow is largely what occupied the the human 42 00:02:35,840 --> 00:02:39,360 Speaker 1: experience and in fact, if you look at archaeological evidence 43 00:02:39,520 --> 00:02:42,440 Speaker 1: that suggests that, you know, just four d thousand years 44 00:02:42,480 --> 00:02:46,400 Speaker 1: ago or so, early humans mastered fire before that, what 45 00:02:46,400 --> 00:02:48,720 Speaker 1: would you do. I mean, you didn't. You didn't really 46 00:02:48,760 --> 00:02:51,760 Speaker 1: have that access to something that could glow and provide 47 00:02:51,840 --> 00:02:55,840 Speaker 1: some sort of illumination in the dark. Now skip ahead 48 00:02:55,840 --> 00:02:59,000 Speaker 1: to today, where we have a possibility for twenty four 49 00:02:59,240 --> 00:03:02,400 Speaker 1: hour light environments, and we kind of take that for 50 00:03:02,520 --> 00:03:07,760 Speaker 1: granted that darkness really did rule the night. Indeed, I 51 00:03:07,760 --> 00:03:10,040 Speaker 1: mean for the longest, to borrow a phrase from historian 52 00:03:10,080 --> 00:03:13,720 Speaker 1: William Manchester, you had a world uh lit only by fire, 53 00:03:13,800 --> 00:03:16,160 Speaker 1: right at least a night lit only by fire. So 54 00:03:16,240 --> 00:03:18,920 Speaker 1: you even if you had you had fire, you had candles, 55 00:03:18,960 --> 00:03:21,760 Speaker 1: you had torches, you had campfires. Eventually you get gas 56 00:03:21,840 --> 00:03:26,680 Speaker 1: lighting and and and lanterns and other uh luminary innovations. 57 00:03:26,720 --> 00:03:28,840 Speaker 1: But but for the most part, you're sort of carving 58 00:03:28,840 --> 00:03:31,200 Speaker 1: out a little bit. You were reclaiming a little bit 59 00:03:31,240 --> 00:03:34,120 Speaker 1: of the night, but it's not quite as good as 60 00:03:34,120 --> 00:03:37,040 Speaker 1: the daylight, and you're still surrounded by all these shadows 61 00:03:37,040 --> 00:03:41,200 Speaker 1: and just gulfs of impenetrable darkness. Right until you had 62 00:03:41,240 --> 00:03:45,680 Speaker 1: like a really good um widespread source of artificial light. 63 00:03:45,840 --> 00:03:50,280 Speaker 1: All you have those dying embers to light the space 64 00:03:50,440 --> 00:03:53,120 Speaker 1: around you. So what would you do. You would submit 65 00:03:53,200 --> 00:03:55,400 Speaker 1: to that dark and most of us would go to sleep. 66 00:03:55,800 --> 00:03:58,840 Speaker 1: And that brings up this idea which we've touched upon before, 67 00:03:59,120 --> 00:04:02,840 Speaker 1: of two a sleep. Yeah, I mean this is pretty simple. 68 00:04:02,880 --> 00:04:05,040 Speaker 1: What happens when it gets dark? And again you may 69 00:04:05,080 --> 00:04:07,720 Speaker 1: have some some some light at your disposal, you may 70 00:04:07,720 --> 00:04:10,400 Speaker 1: have a camp fire your disposal, but your abilities are 71 00:04:10,480 --> 00:04:14,360 Speaker 1: greatly reduced. So you go to sleep. You simply call 72 00:04:14,440 --> 00:04:19,840 Speaker 1: it a day, except something happens about about halfway through, 73 00:04:19,960 --> 00:04:23,840 Speaker 1: right you wake because according to historian Rogert Eckert, who 74 00:04:23,920 --> 00:04:27,320 Speaker 1: published a book on the matter called at Days Closed 75 00:04:27,440 --> 00:04:29,680 Speaker 1: Night in Times Past, which by the way, was a 76 00:04:29,680 --> 00:04:33,400 Speaker 1: culmination of his sixteen years of research that uncovered more 77 00:04:33,400 --> 00:04:38,120 Speaker 1: than five references to a segmented sleeping pattern, he found 78 00:04:38,120 --> 00:04:41,520 Speaker 1: that you would wake in this fourteen hour sleep pattern 79 00:04:42,240 --> 00:04:46,039 Speaker 1: for maybe an hour or two, get up, tend your animals, 80 00:04:46,440 --> 00:04:49,679 Speaker 1: do a little white house keeping in the moonlight, have sex, 81 00:04:50,440 --> 00:04:54,480 Speaker 1: lay in bed, thinking, smoking a pipe, or gossiping with 82 00:04:54,600 --> 00:04:57,279 Speaker 1: your bed fellows. In fact, and we've mentioned before, I 83 00:04:57,360 --> 00:05:00,920 Speaker 1: love this. It's widely known that Benjamin Franklin would light 84 00:05:00,960 --> 00:05:05,240 Speaker 1: a candle and take cold air baths, reading naked in 85 00:05:05,279 --> 00:05:07,880 Speaker 1: a chair. Indeed, that was his his strategy for this 86 00:05:08,440 --> 00:05:11,520 Speaker 1: this period between the two sleeps. And one thing I 87 00:05:11,520 --> 00:05:14,159 Speaker 1: love about this is it also really defines that idea 88 00:05:14,160 --> 00:05:17,160 Speaker 1: about the middle of the night, right because for us, 89 00:05:17,279 --> 00:05:20,360 Speaker 1: the middle of the night is typically more a situation 90 00:05:20,440 --> 00:05:22,359 Speaker 1: of staying up late enough for it to be the 91 00:05:22,360 --> 00:05:25,720 Speaker 1: middle of the night. But you go back to to this, 92 00:05:25,720 --> 00:05:28,840 Speaker 1: this earlier mode of sleep, and it's it's not merely 93 00:05:28,880 --> 00:05:31,599 Speaker 1: a stage of lateness, but a true in between that 94 00:05:31,880 --> 00:05:36,160 Speaker 1: this this little space, this little uh clutch of the 95 00:05:36,240 --> 00:05:39,720 Speaker 1: darkness that you end up occupying between these two dominant 96 00:05:39,720 --> 00:05:43,880 Speaker 1: phases of sleep. Now and Stephen Johnson's book How We 97 00:05:43,920 --> 00:05:46,080 Speaker 1: Got to Now in the PBS series, there is a 98 00:05:46,120 --> 00:05:48,479 Speaker 1: section on light and he talks about that. He talks 99 00:05:48,480 --> 00:05:52,560 Speaker 1: with historian Craig Koslovsky, who says that you know, are 100 00:05:52,640 --> 00:05:57,000 Speaker 1: kind of nighttime wakenings now or even insomnia may be 101 00:05:57,200 --> 00:06:01,800 Speaker 1: attributed to this original for seen our sleep phase. In 102 00:06:01,839 --> 00:06:04,680 Speaker 1: other words, it's kind of normal that we get up sometimes, 103 00:06:04,720 --> 00:06:07,160 Speaker 1: you know, midnight or two o'clock in the morning, and 104 00:06:07,200 --> 00:06:09,040 Speaker 1: we can't get back to sleep for a while. Yeah, 105 00:06:09,040 --> 00:06:11,520 Speaker 1: I mean that's the biological norm. That's what we evolved 106 00:06:11,600 --> 00:06:13,920 Speaker 1: to do. And it's only been in the last hundred 107 00:06:13,920 --> 00:06:16,640 Speaker 1: and fifty years, two hundred years, that we've really carved 108 00:06:16,640 --> 00:06:21,120 Speaker 1: out a substantial zone of the night and and ReLit it. 109 00:06:21,360 --> 00:06:23,800 Speaker 1: According to Stephen Johnson in the in the book of 110 00:06:24,000 --> 00:06:25,840 Speaker 1: How We Got to Now, in that that chapter and 111 00:06:25,960 --> 00:06:29,040 Speaker 1: Light points out that today's night sky burned six thousand 112 00:06:29,080 --> 00:06:31,119 Speaker 1: times brighter than it did in me or one hundred 113 00:06:31,120 --> 00:06:34,400 Speaker 1: and fifty years ago. So it's it's transforms. It's transformed 114 00:06:34,400 --> 00:06:37,560 Speaker 1: the way we sleep, the way we work and uh. 115 00:06:37,600 --> 00:06:40,240 Speaker 1: And that's of course spiral of office, Johnson explains in 116 00:06:40,279 --> 00:06:43,640 Speaker 1: his book into the creation of global networks of communication. 117 00:06:44,240 --> 00:06:48,440 Speaker 1: Uh and and and a lot of our modern technological world. Yeah, 118 00:06:48,480 --> 00:06:51,039 Speaker 1: because all of a sudden, you have improved street lighting, 119 00:06:51,120 --> 00:06:55,640 Speaker 1: you had the advent of social opportunities at the in 120 00:06:55,960 --> 00:06:58,640 Speaker 1: during the evening, you have you know, restaurants and cafes 121 00:06:58,680 --> 00:07:00,600 Speaker 1: to go to. And that cause is a shift in 122 00:07:00,640 --> 00:07:05,200 Speaker 1: people sleep patterns because before that, according to Koslovski, you 123 00:07:05,240 --> 00:07:09,039 Speaker 1: had associations with the night that we're not so good. 124 00:07:09,040 --> 00:07:11,360 Speaker 1: We're talking about before the seventeenth century. He says the 125 00:07:11,480 --> 00:07:16,480 Speaker 1: night was a place populated by people of disrepute, criminals, prostitutes, 126 00:07:16,600 --> 00:07:18,840 Speaker 1: and drunks. And he said even the wealthy who could 127 00:07:18,880 --> 00:07:21,400 Speaker 1: afford candle light had better things to spend their money 128 00:07:21,400 --> 00:07:23,640 Speaker 1: on than burning their candles all night long. There really 129 00:07:23,720 --> 00:07:27,240 Speaker 1: wasn't any prestige or social value. And staying up all night, yeah, 130 00:07:27,280 --> 00:07:30,240 Speaker 1: I mean nightfalls. You locked the door because the only 131 00:07:30,280 --> 00:07:32,400 Speaker 1: people out there are going to be people that are 132 00:07:32,440 --> 00:07:34,280 Speaker 1: probably up to no good. You don't want anything to 133 00:07:34,280 --> 00:07:36,680 Speaker 1: do with that. And the walls to the city, if 134 00:07:36,720 --> 00:07:39,600 Speaker 1: you have walls around your your here in which you live, 135 00:07:39,800 --> 00:07:41,960 Speaker 1: those are gonna close because anyone entering the city in 136 00:07:41,960 --> 00:07:44,200 Speaker 1: the night again up to no good. And hey, don't 137 00:07:44,200 --> 00:07:47,040 Speaker 1: forget about those nighttime predators of the animal ilk, right, 138 00:07:47,160 --> 00:07:48,880 Speaker 1: that's right. I mean it takes us back to our 139 00:07:48,960 --> 00:07:52,840 Speaker 1: primeval self, right. Uh, the idea that that there are 140 00:07:52,920 --> 00:07:55,960 Speaker 1: predators out there that will eat us and the night 141 00:07:56,040 --> 00:07:59,800 Speaker 1: belongs to to those creatures, not to us. Um. And 142 00:08:00,160 --> 00:08:02,160 Speaker 1: you know, you can spiral off from that into a 143 00:08:02,200 --> 00:08:05,000 Speaker 1: lot of our our fears of the of the dark, 144 00:08:05,120 --> 00:08:08,320 Speaker 1: of the dark, and concerns about the night and uh, 145 00:08:08,440 --> 00:08:12,000 Speaker 1: and that basic type one error and cognition that we 146 00:08:12,040 --> 00:08:14,640 Speaker 1: make when we believe a connection is really there and 147 00:08:14,920 --> 00:08:17,840 Speaker 1: uh when it isn't. We're hardwired to make type one 148 00:08:17,960 --> 00:08:21,600 Speaker 1: errors because a type to air a false negative gets 149 00:08:21,600 --> 00:08:24,480 Speaker 1: you killed. Always better to assume that their predators out 150 00:08:24,480 --> 00:08:27,200 Speaker 1: there in the dark. Always better to assume their thieves 151 00:08:27,200 --> 00:08:30,040 Speaker 1: and criminals and and whatever out there in the shadows, 152 00:08:30,080 --> 00:08:33,679 Speaker 1: because it's a safer bed. Now we'll talk later about 153 00:08:33,679 --> 00:08:37,959 Speaker 1: how this type one into cognition errors can uh kind 154 00:08:37,960 --> 00:08:40,080 Speaker 1: of mess us up here in our modern world. But 155 00:08:40,160 --> 00:08:43,480 Speaker 1: for now, let's try to figure out why we respond 156 00:08:43,640 --> 00:08:45,880 Speaker 1: so greatly to light and dark in the first place. 157 00:08:46,240 --> 00:08:47,880 Speaker 1: And in order to do that, we got to look 158 00:08:47,920 --> 00:08:49,560 Speaker 1: our old friends on the tree of life. I'm talking 159 00:08:49,559 --> 00:08:52,719 Speaker 1: about single filled bacteria because again, this comes back through 160 00:08:52,760 --> 00:08:55,920 Speaker 1: the very the basic nature of the evolution of life. Right, 161 00:08:56,360 --> 00:09:02,319 Speaker 1: Life evolved on a world that experiences period clockwork, periods 162 00:09:02,360 --> 00:09:05,600 Speaker 1: of night and day of light and darkness, and so 163 00:09:06,040 --> 00:09:10,439 Speaker 1: life itself is taking form within these environmental constraints yep. 164 00:09:10,520 --> 00:09:13,800 Speaker 1: And one of these constraints is a circadian rhythm, which 165 00:09:13,880 --> 00:09:17,000 Speaker 1: tracks a standard Earth day's twenty four hour cycle. It's 166 00:09:17,000 --> 00:09:19,960 Speaker 1: a secret to why we can adjust to different time 167 00:09:20,080 --> 00:09:24,560 Speaker 1: zones and their accompanying sleep patterns. And according to Annally Knew, 168 00:09:24,600 --> 00:09:27,439 Speaker 1: it's writing for I O nine in the article this 169 00:09:27,520 --> 00:09:30,800 Speaker 1: is why you Can't sleep quote, it's likely that circadian 170 00:09:30,840 --> 00:09:35,439 Speaker 1: rhythms evolved in sino bacteria blue green algae over three 171 00:09:35,520 --> 00:09:38,160 Speaker 1: billion years ago. And so you would say, okay, fine, 172 00:09:38,200 --> 00:09:41,480 Speaker 1: why but why did that blue green algae need to 173 00:09:41,600 --> 00:09:44,960 Speaker 1: have some sort of circadian rhythm? And the answer is 174 00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:48,400 Speaker 1: that it's all about energy. Because single cell bacteria they 175 00:09:48,440 --> 00:09:50,760 Speaker 1: need energy, but to get at their bodies had to 176 00:09:50,800 --> 00:09:54,760 Speaker 1: carry out two different chemical processes that interfered with each other. 177 00:09:55,120 --> 00:09:58,360 Speaker 1: So the bacteria began keeping time by tracking the sun. 178 00:09:58,480 --> 00:10:02,000 Speaker 1: So when it was light outside the cyanobacteria, we'd get 179 00:10:02,120 --> 00:10:05,400 Speaker 1: energy from photosynthesis, and when it was dark they could 180 00:10:05,440 --> 00:10:09,920 Speaker 1: get energy by sequestering nitrogen. But if these two processes 181 00:10:09,960 --> 00:10:13,160 Speaker 1: were done simultaneously, they would cancel each other out. But 182 00:10:13,320 --> 00:10:16,680 Speaker 1: sequentially keeping track of light and dark and went to 183 00:10:16,679 --> 00:10:22,560 Speaker 1: do these chemical processes allowed a maximum gathering of energy. Now, 184 00:10:22,600 --> 00:10:25,800 Speaker 1: the other idea is that at that time there were 185 00:10:25,880 --> 00:10:28,960 Speaker 1: life forms who shared the same environment, and this was 186 00:10:29,040 --> 00:10:31,800 Speaker 1: also a way to compete with each other for food. 187 00:10:31,920 --> 00:10:35,120 Speaker 1: So some evolved to feed during the day and others 188 00:10:35,160 --> 00:10:38,080 Speaker 1: to feed at night. And then you go forward and 189 00:10:38,160 --> 00:10:43,160 Speaker 1: you have us bipedal energy hogs really taking advantage of 190 00:10:43,200 --> 00:10:46,360 Speaker 1: this whole circadian rhythm thing. And of course this brings 191 00:10:46,400 --> 00:10:48,440 Speaker 1: us back to our old friend, the pineal gland, which 192 00:10:48,480 --> 00:10:51,360 Speaker 1: we we did an entire episode about about the pineal gland. 193 00:10:51,400 --> 00:10:54,080 Speaker 1: I think we called it my third eye peneal optics 194 00:10:54,600 --> 00:10:56,640 Speaker 1: um and uh, certainly go back and listen to that 195 00:10:56,640 --> 00:10:58,200 Speaker 1: one if you want a deeper dive into this, but 196 00:10:58,960 --> 00:11:02,760 Speaker 1: just to refresh, pineal gland is a small organ shaped 197 00:11:02,800 --> 00:11:05,840 Speaker 1: like a pine cone, hence the name, and it's located 198 00:11:05,920 --> 00:11:08,760 Speaker 1: on the mid line attached to the posterior end of 199 00:11:08,840 --> 00:11:11,719 Speaker 1: the roof of the third ventricle in the brain and 200 00:11:11,880 --> 00:11:14,800 Speaker 1: humans is roughly one sentiment or in length, and the 201 00:11:14,840 --> 00:11:20,040 Speaker 1: pennel is composed of penelocytes and giggle cells. In older animals, 202 00:11:20,040 --> 00:11:24,120 Speaker 1: the penel often contains calcium deposits or brain stand Now, 203 00:11:24,520 --> 00:11:27,440 Speaker 1: it's it's not an eye, it's not a true eye, 204 00:11:27,559 --> 00:11:30,040 Speaker 1: but it is. It does have optical properties, and it 205 00:11:30,080 --> 00:11:32,640 Speaker 1: does and light does play a role in what it does. 206 00:11:33,240 --> 00:11:36,960 Speaker 1: So light exposure to the retina relays to the hypothalamus, 207 00:11:36,960 --> 00:11:38,920 Speaker 1: and this is an area in the brain that is 208 00:11:38,960 --> 00:11:42,200 Speaker 1: involved in the in the coordination of biological clock signals. 209 00:11:42,520 --> 00:11:46,040 Speaker 1: UH and fibers from the hypothalamus descend to the spinal 210 00:11:46,080 --> 00:11:50,520 Speaker 1: cord and project to the superior cervical ganglia, from which 211 00:11:50,720 --> 00:11:54,520 Speaker 1: post a ganglionic neutrons ascend back to the pineal gland. 212 00:11:54,800 --> 00:11:59,200 Speaker 1: So the penneal transduces signals from the sympathetic nervous system 213 00:11:59,200 --> 00:12:03,240 Speaker 1: into a hormone linal signal, and it produces several important hormones, 214 00:12:03,280 --> 00:12:08,240 Speaker 1: including melotonin, in response to environmental lighting. So the human 215 00:12:08,280 --> 00:12:12,440 Speaker 1: penel regulates the rhythm that beats out the biological thought 216 00:12:12,520 --> 00:12:16,480 Speaker 1: by secreting a substance melatonin according to the light stimulus 217 00:12:16,480 --> 00:12:20,120 Speaker 1: received through the eyes and from the skin. Yeah, the 218 00:12:20,120 --> 00:12:23,400 Speaker 1: penel gland acts as a control tower for the biological clock. 219 00:12:23,440 --> 00:12:26,520 Speaker 1: Inside of this directing some body functions like sleep based 220 00:12:26,559 --> 00:12:28,640 Speaker 1: on the data that it's getting back from these light 221 00:12:28,720 --> 00:12:31,600 Speaker 1: sensing skills. And I love this idea that this third 222 00:12:31,600 --> 00:12:33,679 Speaker 1: eye does have all the components of an eye, but 223 00:12:33,800 --> 00:12:36,080 Speaker 1: is not an eye, and it is taking in all 224 00:12:36,120 --> 00:12:39,120 Speaker 1: of these environmental cues in order to tell the body. Hey, 225 00:12:39,120 --> 00:12:42,240 Speaker 1: time to wake up or time to go to sleep? Now, Um. 226 00:12:42,320 --> 00:12:46,640 Speaker 1: Alison louder Milk, who is whenres senior editors here, had 227 00:12:46,720 --> 00:12:49,360 Speaker 1: brought up the point before, and I think she was 228 00:12:49,480 --> 00:12:53,400 Speaker 1: like talking about whales at the Georgia Aquarium who are 229 00:12:53,440 --> 00:12:56,520 Speaker 1: affected by daylight savings time she ran up the point 230 00:12:56,559 --> 00:13:01,400 Speaker 1: of what what would happen if you weren't exposed to 231 00:13:01,520 --> 00:13:04,160 Speaker 1: light at all? Yeah, this brings to mind some research 232 00:13:04,160 --> 00:13:07,920 Speaker 1: from two thousand eleven UH into the nature of the 233 00:13:08,280 --> 00:13:12,240 Speaker 1: Mexican blind cave fish. Now, despite what the name would 234 00:13:12,240 --> 00:13:15,679 Speaker 1: have you think, this species exists in both subterranean and 235 00:13:15,800 --> 00:13:19,280 Speaker 1: surface populations. Now the surface fish swim with the benefit 236 00:13:19,320 --> 00:13:24,040 Speaker 1: of sighted eyes, while their underground can go about blindly 237 00:13:24,559 --> 00:13:28,440 Speaker 1: in laboratory populations this UH. In this two thousand eleven 238 00:13:28,440 --> 00:13:31,560 Speaker 1: to say, the surface fish slept while the cavers darted 239 00:13:31,600 --> 00:13:35,199 Speaker 1: around all night. Uh. The researchers discovered that the differing 240 00:13:35,280 --> 00:13:38,840 Speaker 1: sleep behavior hinged on a few dominant gene mutations that 241 00:13:38,880 --> 00:13:41,560 Speaker 1: became fixed in the cave populations when they took to 242 00:13:41,640 --> 00:13:44,560 Speaker 1: the dark. After All, as we've discussed in our truck 243 00:13:44,640 --> 00:13:48,360 Speaker 1: lafonta episode of food is scarce in the subterranean environments 244 00:13:48,360 --> 00:13:52,120 Speaker 1: particularly in Subtranian waters. So natural selection favors the scavengers 245 00:13:52,240 --> 00:13:56,200 Speaker 1: who are willing to work long, long hours. Um. This 246 00:13:56,559 --> 00:14:02,360 Speaker 1: research also brings to mind the account of researcher Christina Lanzoni, 247 00:14:02,520 --> 00:14:05,079 Speaker 1: who spent a whopping two hundred and sixty nine days 248 00:14:05,080 --> 00:14:09,240 Speaker 1: of solitary confinement in the subterranean under lab in the 249 00:14:09,240 --> 00:14:12,320 Speaker 1: Frasasi Caves in central Italy. Now, granted she didn't have 250 00:14:12,360 --> 00:14:15,680 Speaker 1: to swim about all night scaven scaven for food, but 251 00:14:16,000 --> 00:14:21,520 Speaker 1: her sleep patterns altered significantly. On average, Lanzoni's waking days 252 00:14:21,520 --> 00:14:25,800 Speaker 1: stretched on for fifty four to fifty six hours, followed 253 00:14:25,800 --> 00:14:29,600 Speaker 1: by fourteen to sixteen hours of sleep. For furthermore, that 254 00:14:29,680 --> 00:14:32,160 Speaker 1: sleep was much more like that of an infant, as 255 00:14:32,200 --> 00:14:35,960 Speaker 1: she fall immediately into rim sleep and dream of wide 256 00:14:36,000 --> 00:14:39,840 Speaker 1: and open spaces. So UM, what I like about those 257 00:14:39,840 --> 00:14:43,400 Speaker 1: two studies is that they do really drive home how 258 00:14:43,480 --> 00:14:46,960 Speaker 1: crucial light and dark um is. Do an organism be 259 00:14:47,040 --> 00:14:51,360 Speaker 1: it to being an organism's uh evolutionary advancement into a 260 00:14:51,600 --> 00:14:54,440 Speaker 1: into a realm of darkness, or its continuing existence in 261 00:14:54,440 --> 00:14:56,960 Speaker 1: a room of light, or just taking a single organism 262 00:14:57,120 --> 00:14:59,440 Speaker 1: and taking it out of that that flow of light 263 00:14:59,480 --> 00:15:03,440 Speaker 1: and dark and putting it into a subterranean world. Now, 264 00:15:03,480 --> 00:15:06,360 Speaker 1: in those examples, as are those are all organisms who 265 00:15:06,840 --> 00:15:10,160 Speaker 1: could detect light. But the question becomes, what if you 266 00:15:10,200 --> 00:15:13,800 Speaker 1: were never indoctrinated into light in the first place. We're 267 00:15:13,800 --> 00:15:15,480 Speaker 1: going to take a quick break when we get back, 268 00:15:15,560 --> 00:15:18,160 Speaker 1: we're going to talk about blindness. We're gonna talk about 269 00:15:18,200 --> 00:15:24,480 Speaker 1: twenty four hours sleep wake disorder and fear of the dark. 270 00:15:28,360 --> 00:15:31,440 Speaker 1: All right, we're back, and we're discussing darkness. But it's 271 00:15:31,480 --> 00:15:33,600 Speaker 1: like to to live as an organism in a world 272 00:15:33,640 --> 00:15:36,160 Speaker 1: of light and dark and how light and dark rules 273 00:15:36,200 --> 00:15:40,840 Speaker 1: less at a very basic biological level. But what about 274 00:15:41,040 --> 00:15:43,640 Speaker 1: those of us whose ability to perceive light and darkness 275 00:15:43,800 --> 00:15:48,400 Speaker 1: is significantly degraded or almost erased, almost completely, at least 276 00:15:48,560 --> 00:15:51,560 Speaker 1: at the retina level. Yeah, and we'll talk about that 277 00:15:51,840 --> 00:15:54,440 Speaker 1: in a moment, about people who are blind and what 278 00:15:54,480 --> 00:15:56,000 Speaker 1: their sleep patterns are like. But first you have to 279 00:15:56,080 --> 00:15:58,200 Speaker 1: kind of go back to the whole spartadian rhythm in 280 00:15:58,240 --> 00:16:01,440 Speaker 1: the first place. And it turns out that most of 281 00:16:01,520 --> 00:16:04,760 Speaker 1: us have body clocks that run a little longer than 282 00:16:04,800 --> 00:16:08,280 Speaker 1: twenty four hours, and this can sometimes lead to something 283 00:16:08,360 --> 00:16:11,560 Speaker 1: called the twenty four hours sleep wake disorder. Or non 284 00:16:11,640 --> 00:16:15,680 Speaker 1: twenty four And according to the non twenty four site, 285 00:16:16,400 --> 00:16:19,480 Speaker 1: if your body clock is say twenty four point five 286 00:16:19,480 --> 00:16:24,280 Speaker 1: hours long, today, you're running a half hour behind. Tomorrow 287 00:16:24,880 --> 00:16:28,440 Speaker 1: you're an hour behind, and so on until your natural 288 00:16:28,680 --> 00:16:32,240 Speaker 1: rhythms have you sleeping during the day and a week 289 00:16:32,360 --> 00:16:35,520 Speaker 1: at night. Now this can go on and on and on. 290 00:16:35,560 --> 00:16:38,360 Speaker 1: So what basically what this um is saying is that 291 00:16:38,400 --> 00:16:40,080 Speaker 1: you could go to sleep at ten o'clock every night, 292 00:16:40,160 --> 00:16:43,520 Speaker 1: but if you have this non twenty four disorder, you know, 293 00:16:43,560 --> 00:16:45,600 Speaker 1: you might false ip at ten thirty and then eleven, 294 00:16:45,640 --> 00:16:47,240 Speaker 1: and then so on and so forth, and it just 295 00:16:47,320 --> 00:16:50,400 Speaker 1: keeps pushing that needle of your body clock around this 296 00:16:50,480 --> 00:16:54,320 Speaker 1: twenty four hour cycle, and in some cases it takes 297 00:16:54,440 --> 00:16:56,920 Speaker 1: up to say one and a half months to get 298 00:16:57,240 --> 00:17:00,080 Speaker 1: back to where you are simped up to say a 299 00:17:00,120 --> 00:17:02,680 Speaker 1: normal cycle that the rest of the world, at least 300 00:17:02,680 --> 00:17:05,199 Speaker 1: your time zone is on. I feel like this this 301 00:17:06,040 --> 00:17:08,720 Speaker 1: matches up at a symbolic level with with pretty much 302 00:17:08,720 --> 00:17:12,000 Speaker 1: everything uh in my modern life. Imagine with a lot 303 00:17:12,000 --> 00:17:15,640 Speaker 1: of people that you have within the the the calendar year, 304 00:17:15,720 --> 00:17:18,960 Speaker 1: within the the the confines of clock time, you have 305 00:17:19,320 --> 00:17:21,200 Speaker 1: x amount of time to spend on a given thing. 306 00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:26,520 Speaker 1: Unfortunately that thing actually takes x point five um to 307 00:17:26,800 --> 00:17:28,879 Speaker 1: to complete and it all adds up and you end 308 00:17:29,000 --> 00:17:33,240 Speaker 1: up just sort of not sticking to any particular schedule, 309 00:17:33,280 --> 00:17:35,600 Speaker 1: but just sort of falling through it. And this with 310 00:17:35,680 --> 00:17:40,760 Speaker 1: this amorphous sleeps cycle, with the amorphous attention to detail 311 00:17:40,840 --> 00:17:44,440 Speaker 1: and various corners of your life. UM and I feel 312 00:17:44,480 --> 00:17:47,800 Speaker 1: like my own just my own sleep sometimes falls like this, 313 00:17:47,960 --> 00:17:50,280 Speaker 1: like I'm not never never, just like to go to 314 00:17:50,320 --> 00:17:52,440 Speaker 1: sleep at this time, wake up at this It's like 315 00:17:52,440 --> 00:17:54,840 Speaker 1: like it'll it'll sort of flow and shift throughout a 316 00:17:54,840 --> 00:17:58,119 Speaker 1: given week. Well. As a former insomniac scept for, I 317 00:17:58,200 --> 00:18:01,280 Speaker 1: try to keep really close to the times that I 318 00:18:01,280 --> 00:18:03,120 Speaker 1: fall asleep and wake up because that helps a lot 319 00:18:03,119 --> 00:18:05,320 Speaker 1: in terms of regulation. But I understand what you mean. 320 00:18:05,359 --> 00:18:06,840 Speaker 1: I read on twenty four and I was like, well, 321 00:18:06,880 --> 00:18:10,720 Speaker 1: this is this does kind of feel like sleep can 322 00:18:10,760 --> 00:18:12,880 Speaker 1: become this very random thing and as you say, something 323 00:18:12,920 --> 00:18:16,399 Speaker 1: that you fall through as opposed to just being completely 324 00:18:16,400 --> 00:18:19,440 Speaker 1: SYNCD up on. And it turns out that among people 325 00:18:19,440 --> 00:18:24,560 Speaker 1: who are totally blind, as many as seventy suffer from 326 00:18:24,600 --> 00:18:28,280 Speaker 1: the effects of NON twenty four, which again comes about 327 00:18:28,359 --> 00:18:32,280 Speaker 1: because of this light of light perception, or more specifically, 328 00:18:32,320 --> 00:18:35,920 Speaker 1: the transmission of ocular light from the retina to their 329 00:18:35,920 --> 00:18:40,240 Speaker 1: circadian clock that is impaired, So you don't have that 330 00:18:40,320 --> 00:18:43,680 Speaker 1: sort of reset button, and you don't have that sort 331 00:18:43,680 --> 00:18:47,080 Speaker 1: of environmental cue of hey, let's wake up, and it 332 00:18:47,119 --> 00:18:50,520 Speaker 1: can be much more prevalent among the blind. So, you know, 333 00:18:50,560 --> 00:18:52,400 Speaker 1: we talked about that, this this idea that I can 334 00:18:52,400 --> 00:18:54,280 Speaker 1: take a month and a half to get sinked back 335 00:18:54,359 --> 00:18:58,240 Speaker 1: up to that cycle that at least your time zones on. 336 00:18:58,880 --> 00:19:02,760 Speaker 1: Imagine this sort of chronic sleep disorder that would be 337 00:19:02,760 --> 00:19:05,119 Speaker 1: in place, and all the symptoms that would follow. It 338 00:19:05,119 --> 00:19:08,520 Speaker 1: would feel like you had jet leg every single day 339 00:19:08,560 --> 00:19:10,840 Speaker 1: of your life. Yeah, I agree. That's that's the way 340 00:19:10,840 --> 00:19:13,240 Speaker 1: I felt before I had when I had this unaddressed 341 00:19:13,240 --> 00:19:16,320 Speaker 1: to sleep problems a while back. Yeah, And in these cases, 342 00:19:16,440 --> 00:19:19,359 Speaker 1: it's you know, extremely difficult to be on time and 343 00:19:19,400 --> 00:19:24,280 Speaker 1: stay awake at work, to attend school, pursue interest, keep 344 00:19:24,320 --> 00:19:27,639 Speaker 1: your social life intact, and so there aren't many things 345 00:19:28,119 --> 00:19:31,320 Speaker 1: that you can do for this. However, some people have 346 00:19:31,359 --> 00:19:35,719 Speaker 1: found limited relief through treatment with a synthetic version of 347 00:19:35,760 --> 00:19:39,800 Speaker 1: melotonin that will sometimes help to drag forward the body 348 00:19:39,800 --> 00:19:43,439 Speaker 1: clocks reset time by creating that chemical pulse to the 349 00:19:43,520 --> 00:19:47,919 Speaker 1: circadian um body clock. But again this is limited and 350 00:19:48,000 --> 00:19:51,520 Speaker 1: not everybody responds to it. Yeah, but still the synthetic 351 00:19:51,600 --> 00:19:54,440 Speaker 1: melotonin is key, much better than wandering around in the 352 00:19:54,480 --> 00:19:56,600 Speaker 1: middle of the night trying to stuff the pineal glands 353 00:19:56,680 --> 00:19:59,080 Speaker 1: out of people, so that if you're victims skulls. Yeah, 354 00:19:59,080 --> 00:20:01,160 Speaker 1: there are only so many air bath that you can take. 355 00:20:02,320 --> 00:20:04,280 Speaker 1: But I mean, that's one of the things about sleep problems, right, 356 00:20:04,400 --> 00:20:06,240 Speaker 1: There's so many things you have to do in during 357 00:20:06,280 --> 00:20:08,680 Speaker 1: the course of a day, and here you are awake 358 00:20:09,040 --> 00:20:12,160 Speaker 1: in the dead of night, in the dark, and this 359 00:20:12,240 --> 00:20:14,000 Speaker 1: is you and you it's not only is it not 360 00:20:14,119 --> 00:20:16,359 Speaker 1: the time to do most of those things, but even 361 00:20:16,440 --> 00:20:19,000 Speaker 1: even the things that you could conceivably do that you 362 00:20:19,000 --> 00:20:20,639 Speaker 1: can turn on a light and grab a book or 363 00:20:20,800 --> 00:20:22,680 Speaker 1: or whatever, you work on your homework, work on your 364 00:20:23,119 --> 00:20:27,520 Speaker 1: you know, some some of your daylit work stuff, you 365 00:20:27,560 --> 00:20:30,280 Speaker 1: don't have the mindset to do it because what you 366 00:20:30,320 --> 00:20:32,960 Speaker 1: need is sleep at that time. Yeah, And I mean 367 00:20:33,400 --> 00:20:37,439 Speaker 1: it can also lead to other sleep disturbances like nightmares. 368 00:20:37,760 --> 00:20:40,880 Speaker 1: And there was a really interesting study that just came 369 00:20:40,920 --> 00:20:43,919 Speaker 1: out in the journal Sleep Medicine. And granted it is 370 00:20:43,960 --> 00:20:46,520 Speaker 1: one study, and it's very small, but in the study, 371 00:20:46,520 --> 00:20:50,840 Speaker 1: it showed that an average of of the dreams experienced 372 00:20:50,840 --> 00:20:54,680 Speaker 1: by people born blind are nightmares. And when you look 373 00:20:54,800 --> 00:20:57,920 Speaker 1: at sighted people in nightmares, it accounts for only six 374 00:20:57,960 --> 00:21:01,320 Speaker 1: percent of the dreams that they have. So that's you know, 375 00:21:01,359 --> 00:21:05,080 Speaker 1: a fourfold increase if you are born blind in this 376 00:21:05,119 --> 00:21:07,520 Speaker 1: one study. Yeah, Now, I do want to want to 377 00:21:07,600 --> 00:21:09,560 Speaker 1: drive home here that this is this is not something 378 00:21:09,560 --> 00:21:12,880 Speaker 1: that causes excessive trouble for those individuals. So don't think 379 00:21:12,920 --> 00:21:15,639 Speaker 1: about any blind people in your life or just you know, 380 00:21:16,080 --> 00:21:17,880 Speaker 1: uh that you may know and think, oh my god, 381 00:21:17,920 --> 00:21:19,600 Speaker 1: that you know that that poor person they're having to 382 00:21:19,680 --> 00:21:22,920 Speaker 1: just live of nightmare every night, something to that effect, 383 00:21:23,600 --> 00:21:26,920 Speaker 1: because it's not like that. No. In fact, when the 384 00:21:27,040 --> 00:21:29,960 Speaker 1: study participants who are born blinds were told of this 385 00:21:30,040 --> 00:21:34,320 Speaker 1: fourfold increase, they didn't even realize that it was disproportionate. 386 00:21:34,359 --> 00:21:36,640 Speaker 1: And they did they were fine for it. And if 387 00:21:36,680 --> 00:21:38,439 Speaker 1: you think about it, then we'll talk a little bit 388 00:21:38,480 --> 00:21:41,600 Speaker 1: more about this. That's maybe because dreams and nightmares kind 389 00:21:41,600 --> 00:21:45,000 Speaker 1: of helped guide us in an odd way. Yeah, we've 390 00:21:45,040 --> 00:21:49,000 Speaker 1: we've talked about dreams and nightmares in the past, and 391 00:21:49,240 --> 00:21:51,000 Speaker 1: I mean, you basically get down to this idea that 392 00:21:51,040 --> 00:21:53,760 Speaker 1: the dreams are, of course not just a screen saver 393 00:21:54,440 --> 00:21:57,119 Speaker 1: like dreams and and everything that's going on in your 394 00:21:57,119 --> 00:22:00,400 Speaker 1: brain at night. It's about processing the information, and from 395 00:22:00,440 --> 00:22:06,200 Speaker 1: the day, it's about processing your environment, your struggles, your stresses, 396 00:22:06,320 --> 00:22:09,439 Speaker 1: the problems that you're facing and working them out in 397 00:22:09,480 --> 00:22:13,480 Speaker 1: the brain. And sort of the the byproduct of all 398 00:22:13,600 --> 00:22:16,840 Speaker 1: that is the dreamscape that you end up inhabiting. Yeah, 399 00:22:16,880 --> 00:22:18,600 Speaker 1: and let's droll down into the nitty gritty of this 400 00:22:18,640 --> 00:22:21,520 Speaker 1: study because I think it tells something about that dreamscape. So, 401 00:22:21,680 --> 00:22:24,439 Speaker 1: people who are born blind, they didn't have dreams with 402 00:22:24,560 --> 00:22:28,480 Speaker 1: visual content, that's one thing, and then that's where their 403 00:22:28,560 --> 00:22:32,280 Speaker 1: dreams became nightmares. Now, people who lost their sight later 404 00:22:32,320 --> 00:22:36,080 Speaker 1: in life may have visual content in their dreams, although 405 00:22:36,119 --> 00:22:38,640 Speaker 1: the longer they've been blind, the fear dreams they had 406 00:22:38,720 --> 00:22:42,000 Speaker 1: with visual content. Now, consider that seven percent of their 407 00:22:42,080 --> 00:22:45,959 Speaker 1: dreams were nightmares, and dreams have normally sided people are 408 00:22:45,960 --> 00:22:48,600 Speaker 1: based on the images and that they had, and they 409 00:22:48,600 --> 00:22:51,399 Speaker 1: have nightmares only six percent a time. Now. The trial 410 00:22:51,480 --> 00:22:56,240 Speaker 1: subjects nightmares were often related to threats experienced in everyday life, 411 00:22:56,320 --> 00:23:00,200 Speaker 1: and one woman had nightmares about being run over by 412 00:23:00,200 --> 00:23:04,040 Speaker 1: a car or getting into embarrassing social situations like spilling 413 00:23:04,040 --> 00:23:06,280 Speaker 1: a cup of coffee on her. And if I remember 414 00:23:06,359 --> 00:23:08,800 Speaker 1: this correctly, I believe the woman was someone who had 415 00:23:08,800 --> 00:23:13,120 Speaker 1: been blind since birth. Now all of that comes to 416 00:23:13,280 --> 00:23:17,360 Speaker 1: suggest that again, that dreamscape is trying to work out 417 00:23:17,440 --> 00:23:19,880 Speaker 1: all of the things that are happening to you emotionally 418 00:23:19,880 --> 00:23:23,600 Speaker 1: and physically throughout the day. So there's this idea that 419 00:23:23,800 --> 00:23:27,400 Speaker 1: increased nightmares and those blind from birth maybe a way 420 00:23:27,440 --> 00:23:32,480 Speaker 1: to remember information that's important to survival and welfare, particularly 421 00:23:32,480 --> 00:23:36,040 Speaker 1: if you think about the more complex interactions with the 422 00:23:36,040 --> 00:23:39,800 Speaker 1: physical world, like navigating traffic. If you don't have any 423 00:23:39,880 --> 00:23:45,080 Speaker 1: sort of mental imagery of that or visual imagery of that, 424 00:23:45,119 --> 00:23:48,320 Speaker 1: then it's harder to create that blueprint. Right, So there's 425 00:23:48,480 --> 00:23:51,560 Speaker 1: there's more work that has to be done at night 426 00:23:51,920 --> 00:23:54,479 Speaker 1: while the bride brain is sleeping to help process all 427 00:23:54,560 --> 00:23:57,600 Speaker 1: that information. So it's just, you know, the situation where 428 00:23:57,600 --> 00:24:00,560 Speaker 1: there's there's a they live in a slightly different sense 429 00:24:00,600 --> 00:24:04,600 Speaker 1: world than cited individuals, and the way they interact with 430 00:24:04,640 --> 00:24:08,639 Speaker 1: that sense world requires more processing in the night. It 431 00:24:08,680 --> 00:24:11,320 Speaker 1: maybe perhaps more fear based processing is a way to 432 00:24:11,400 --> 00:24:14,720 Speaker 1: inform the way that they're going to navigate their their 433 00:24:14,760 --> 00:24:18,399 Speaker 1: world the next day, and again the researchers found like 434 00:24:18,600 --> 00:24:24,400 Speaker 1: zero pronounced anxiety or depression as a result of increased nightmares. Yeah, 435 00:24:24,440 --> 00:24:26,199 Speaker 1: because even when you get don't get down into like 436 00:24:26,440 --> 00:24:29,320 Speaker 1: really like fear with a capital of f A lot 437 00:24:29,359 --> 00:24:31,680 Speaker 1: of our navigation during the course of the day is 438 00:24:31,760 --> 00:24:34,639 Speaker 1: ultimately fear based. You know. Just think of taking the 439 00:24:34,680 --> 00:24:36,919 Speaker 1: train in the morning, which I often think about that 440 00:24:37,000 --> 00:24:40,080 Speaker 1: in terms of of people who who deal with blindness, 441 00:24:40,080 --> 00:24:43,159 Speaker 1: because there are a number of of of blind individuals 442 00:24:43,200 --> 00:24:46,200 Speaker 1: who take the train. We see them, see them every day. 443 00:24:46,240 --> 00:24:49,679 Speaker 1: But and you think about the the effort of doing that. 444 00:24:49,720 --> 00:24:52,919 Speaker 1: You're dealing with a this murderous piece of machinery that 445 00:24:53,000 --> 00:24:55,919 Speaker 1: goes down the tracks, that travels in this uh in 446 00:24:55,960 --> 00:24:59,240 Speaker 1: this pit that has rats in it, and and you 447 00:24:59,280 --> 00:25:01,320 Speaker 1: have to get there, have to go up an elevator 448 00:25:01,560 --> 00:25:03,920 Speaker 1: or take the stairs, and there's there. There's so many 449 00:25:03,960 --> 00:25:08,760 Speaker 1: different places, in different opportunities for me to die in 450 00:25:08,840 --> 00:25:12,280 Speaker 1: the course of of my daily commute, and I have 451 00:25:12,320 --> 00:25:15,800 Speaker 1: the benefit of sight uh to help me. I think 452 00:25:15,800 --> 00:25:20,040 Speaker 1: it also calls in, you know, to light this idea 453 00:25:20,080 --> 00:25:22,720 Speaker 1: that we really do dream with all of our senses 454 00:25:23,280 --> 00:25:26,840 Speaker 1: and those are all available to us. Yeah, it's it's 455 00:25:26,840 --> 00:25:29,760 Speaker 1: a it's a different sense world, that's for sure. All Right, 456 00:25:29,760 --> 00:25:31,400 Speaker 1: we're gonna take a quick break and when we get 457 00:25:31,400 --> 00:25:34,440 Speaker 1: back we will talk about being afraid of the dark 458 00:25:34,680 --> 00:25:42,480 Speaker 1: and whether or not having seem to do with insomnia. 459 00:25:43,560 --> 00:25:48,160 Speaker 1: All right, we're back. And this leads us inevitably to nicktophobia, 460 00:25:48,240 --> 00:25:52,120 Speaker 1: to fear of the dark. Now I have a toddler. 461 00:25:52,680 --> 00:25:54,560 Speaker 1: He's not really at the point where he seems to 462 00:25:54,600 --> 00:25:57,879 Speaker 1: have a fear of the dark yet. Um, he's in 463 00:25:57,880 --> 00:26:00,920 Speaker 1: the dark. You just can't see. But uh, your your 464 00:26:01,000 --> 00:26:03,080 Speaker 1: child is a is a bit older. Have you been 465 00:26:03,160 --> 00:26:07,720 Speaker 1: through fear of the dark has played into her experiences 466 00:26:07,760 --> 00:26:10,440 Speaker 1: at all? No, uh, not yet. I mean she's five 467 00:26:10,480 --> 00:26:13,399 Speaker 1: and a half. But I remember when I was um 468 00:26:13,440 --> 00:26:18,359 Speaker 1: around her age that I was definitely afraid of some 469 00:26:18,400 --> 00:26:21,040 Speaker 1: sort of monster lurking in the closet, which would only 470 00:26:21,080 --> 00:26:23,160 Speaker 1: become a fear, of course, when the lights were out. 471 00:26:23,359 --> 00:26:26,040 Speaker 1: When was the last time you slept with all the 472 00:26:26,119 --> 00:26:30,040 Speaker 1: lights on with but with the not not by accident, 473 00:26:30,119 --> 00:26:32,119 Speaker 1: but because you said I am going to leave a 474 00:26:32,200 --> 00:26:34,240 Speaker 1: light on when I go. I can't remember. I mean, 475 00:26:34,240 --> 00:26:37,400 Speaker 1: now I'm like Elvis and I have blackout shades and 476 00:26:37,600 --> 00:26:40,480 Speaker 1: you know, not not one little stream of light gets through. 477 00:26:41,640 --> 00:26:43,959 Speaker 1: What about you? Um? You know, I feel like there 478 00:26:44,000 --> 00:26:46,520 Speaker 1: was a time in the last few years when my 479 00:26:47,040 --> 00:26:51,040 Speaker 1: before my child came and uh, and that's when my 480 00:26:51,119 --> 00:26:53,159 Speaker 1: wife was out of town, and I think, I like, 481 00:26:53,240 --> 00:26:56,400 Speaker 1: I read something kind of spooky or watch something spooky, 482 00:26:56,600 --> 00:27:00,200 Speaker 1: and uh, and without the normal sort of comfort own 483 00:27:00,680 --> 00:27:02,920 Speaker 1: of sharing a bed with someone, I was like, oh, wow, 484 00:27:02,960 --> 00:27:05,000 Speaker 1: it's just me in here. And I ended up sleeping 485 00:27:05,000 --> 00:27:06,480 Speaker 1: at least part of the night with the light on 486 00:27:06,680 --> 00:27:09,800 Speaker 1: because because having that other person there you have, something 487 00:27:09,840 --> 00:27:11,920 Speaker 1: comes for you in the night, either they all hear 488 00:27:11,960 --> 00:27:14,840 Speaker 1: it or they can only really kill one of you 489 00:27:14,880 --> 00:27:18,160 Speaker 1: at once effectively, so someone's going to survive. That's so funny, 490 00:27:18,200 --> 00:27:20,800 Speaker 1: because when we've talked about outsourcing memory before, it's kind 491 00:27:20,840 --> 00:27:25,280 Speaker 1: of like outsourcing responsibility. A murder comes, then you take 492 00:27:25,320 --> 00:27:28,200 Speaker 1: care of it. But I do remember years before when 493 00:27:28,240 --> 00:27:30,560 Speaker 1: I saw The Ring for the first time, I slept 494 00:27:31,160 --> 00:27:34,400 Speaker 1: with definitely slept with the lights on all night after 495 00:27:34,440 --> 00:27:37,080 Speaker 1: seeing that. That one, that one scared me pretty bad. 496 00:27:37,320 --> 00:27:40,080 Speaker 1: I remember the book I Am Legend, which I got 497 00:27:40,119 --> 00:27:43,280 Speaker 1: from you, Richard Matheson that terrified. We had a hard 498 00:27:43,320 --> 00:27:44,960 Speaker 1: time going to say that's a good one. That's a 499 00:27:45,000 --> 00:27:47,320 Speaker 1: good fear of the dark book for sure, because it 500 00:27:47,320 --> 00:27:49,880 Speaker 1: has to deal with a character who, on top of 501 00:27:49,920 --> 00:27:52,840 Speaker 1: all of his his angst and his problems and his 502 00:27:53,000 --> 00:27:57,840 Speaker 1: his alcoholism, when the sun goes down, dark things come 503 00:27:57,880 --> 00:28:01,520 Speaker 1: out of of the shadow and come for him and 504 00:28:01,600 --> 00:28:05,400 Speaker 1: call for him, and uh and he must resist sleep 505 00:28:05,520 --> 00:28:10,160 Speaker 1: in order to survive. Yeah, it's it's it's an impressive book. Yeah, 506 00:28:10,320 --> 00:28:12,600 Speaker 1: not to mention his alcoholism too, which is that's not 507 00:28:12,640 --> 00:28:14,600 Speaker 1: a good time to be an alcoholic when you've got 508 00:28:14,640 --> 00:28:18,960 Speaker 1: the bloodthirstay at your door, alright, So uh yeah, nickophobia, 509 00:28:19,080 --> 00:28:23,440 Speaker 1: it is this anxiety reaction which is characterized by an obsessive, 510 00:28:23,480 --> 00:28:26,840 Speaker 1: irrational fear of the dark. And typically you see that 511 00:28:26,880 --> 00:28:29,239 Speaker 1: in children, and you know they tend to grow out 512 00:28:29,280 --> 00:28:31,520 Speaker 1: of it, but sometimes they don't. Sometimes people are still 513 00:28:31,520 --> 00:28:36,240 Speaker 1: feared of the dark. And there's this idea that um 514 00:28:36,440 --> 00:28:39,800 Speaker 1: sleep disturbances could just be a fear of the dark. 515 00:28:39,880 --> 00:28:43,000 Speaker 1: And there's a paper call quote, are people with insomnia 516 00:28:43,040 --> 00:28:46,720 Speaker 1: afraid of the dark? Pilot study from Ryerson University Sleep 517 00:28:46,760 --> 00:28:49,840 Speaker 1: in Depression Lab, And it looks at a possible link 518 00:28:49,880 --> 00:28:53,120 Speaker 1: between sleep disorders and the dark. Yeah, and this study, 519 00:28:53,320 --> 00:28:55,760 Speaker 1: nearly half of the students who reported having poor sleep 520 00:28:56,120 --> 00:28:59,240 Speaker 1: also reported a fear of the dark, and researchers confirmed 521 00:28:59,400 --> 00:29:04,200 Speaker 1: this objectively by measuring blink responses to sudden noise bursts 522 00:29:04,520 --> 00:29:07,760 Speaker 1: in light and dark surroundings. Good sleepers became accustomed to 523 00:29:07,760 --> 00:29:12,120 Speaker 1: the noise burst, but the poor sleepers grew more anticipatory 524 00:29:12,200 --> 00:29:15,040 Speaker 1: when the lights went down. So you end up with 525 00:29:15,040 --> 00:29:18,680 Speaker 1: a situation where the poor sleepers were far more easy 526 00:29:18,760 --> 00:29:22,200 Speaker 1: to startle in the dark compared to the good sleepers. Yeah, 527 00:29:22,240 --> 00:29:24,920 Speaker 1: and the reason for all the eye theatrics, according to 528 00:29:25,080 --> 00:29:28,840 Speaker 1: Dr Colleen Karney of Ryerson University, is that if you're 529 00:29:28,880 --> 00:29:31,280 Speaker 1: already a little anxious, the noise will make you flinch. 530 00:29:31,600 --> 00:29:33,600 Speaker 1: And she said, we looked at eye reactions because it 531 00:29:33,720 --> 00:29:36,560 Speaker 1: is one of the most robust ways to measure this anxiety. 532 00:29:36,600 --> 00:29:39,680 Speaker 1: If you blink immediately after the noise, that means it 533 00:29:39,720 --> 00:29:42,600 Speaker 1: startles you. It's It's an interesting thing about this in 534 00:29:42,680 --> 00:29:45,240 Speaker 1: terms of phobias because, as we recently discussed in our 535 00:29:45,760 --> 00:29:48,920 Speaker 1: Fear of Holes episode where we discussed phobias a bit, 536 00:29:49,040 --> 00:29:52,600 Speaker 1: I mean, phobias come out of in many cases anyway, 537 00:29:52,760 --> 00:29:57,880 Speaker 1: they stem from a realistic fear. And certainly it's realistic, 538 00:29:57,960 --> 00:30:00,560 Speaker 1: as we've discussed, to have some apprehension about the dark, 539 00:30:00,560 --> 00:30:03,120 Speaker 1: because at the very least, the dark is the environment 540 00:30:03,120 --> 00:30:05,000 Speaker 1: where you will not see the whole you're about to 541 00:30:05,000 --> 00:30:08,880 Speaker 1: step into. Yeah, it's again it's that uncertainty that's stepping 542 00:30:08,920 --> 00:30:11,880 Speaker 1: into the unknown. And so when you say, like you know, 543 00:30:11,920 --> 00:30:13,840 Speaker 1: a spouses out of town, all of a sudden, those 544 00:30:13,920 --> 00:30:17,280 Speaker 1: those noises in the dark become much larger in your 545 00:30:17,320 --> 00:30:21,320 Speaker 1: mind than they possibly are, and um, you respond to 546 00:30:21,360 --> 00:30:25,200 Speaker 1: them in a much more robust way. So the interesting 547 00:30:25,240 --> 00:30:28,360 Speaker 1: thing about this study is that it got the researchers 548 00:30:28,400 --> 00:30:32,000 Speaker 1: to thinking if some people with sleep disorders like insomnia 549 00:30:32,040 --> 00:30:35,000 Speaker 1: they have an active and untreated phobia of the dark, 550 00:30:35,480 --> 00:30:39,400 Speaker 1: that treatment methods may need to be reevaluated. In other words, 551 00:30:39,760 --> 00:30:43,920 Speaker 1: could the underlying cause of the insomnia be a phobia 552 00:30:43,960 --> 00:30:46,040 Speaker 1: to the dark. So in other words, maybe we're better 553 00:30:46,040 --> 00:30:49,760 Speaker 1: off treating the phobia if it's there, rather than the 554 00:30:50,320 --> 00:30:53,719 Speaker 1: inability to sleep. Yeah, and again this is more like 555 00:30:53,720 --> 00:30:56,640 Speaker 1: a hunch of the study, so you know, and they're 556 00:30:56,640 --> 00:30:58,400 Speaker 1: saying that they're just there's some people who do not 557 00:30:58,520 --> 00:31:02,520 Speaker 1: respond to behavioral drug therapy. Therefore, maybe there's something else 558 00:31:02,600 --> 00:31:06,360 Speaker 1: going on and it could relate to this. It's certainly 559 00:31:06,440 --> 00:31:08,120 Speaker 1: this would be a good one to hear from from 560 00:31:08,160 --> 00:31:10,040 Speaker 1: listeners because I know we have listeners. I know for 561 00:31:10,080 --> 00:31:12,880 Speaker 1: a fact we have listeners that have had problems with sleep. 562 00:31:13,400 --> 00:31:16,720 Speaker 1: And so, yeah, I ask yourself, to what extent do 563 00:31:16,760 --> 00:31:20,920 Speaker 1: you are you, honestly, um apprehensive about the dark and 564 00:31:20,960 --> 00:31:23,440 Speaker 1: do you feel that plays into your scenario or is 565 00:31:23,440 --> 00:31:27,120 Speaker 1: your scenario definitely not associated with that, because I know 566 00:31:27,160 --> 00:31:29,000 Speaker 1: I have a friend or I have one friend in 567 00:31:29,040 --> 00:31:32,120 Speaker 1: particular who has had always hadn't been plagued by insomnia, 568 00:31:32,320 --> 00:31:34,720 Speaker 1: and I know he's not afraid of the dark kind 569 00:31:34,720 --> 00:31:36,760 Speaker 1: of a guy like I think he just goes out 570 00:31:36,800 --> 00:31:38,840 Speaker 1: and walks in the dark. If you can't sleep, Yeah, 571 00:31:38,920 --> 00:31:42,560 Speaker 1: and then I mean there could be other underlying conditions 572 00:31:42,560 --> 00:31:44,440 Speaker 1: that you could have an anxiety just where you could 573 00:31:44,480 --> 00:31:48,800 Speaker 1: have PTSD. So it's not really um that apparent that 574 00:31:48,880 --> 00:31:53,120 Speaker 1: it could be just a more general phobia of the dark. Um. 575 00:31:53,160 --> 00:31:55,160 Speaker 1: But if you are afraid of the dark, if it's 576 00:31:55,200 --> 00:31:58,880 Speaker 1: something that bothers you, imagine being placed into this fictional 577 00:31:59,480 --> 00:32:05,240 Speaker 1: room outfitted and the darkest material known to man. WHOA, 578 00:32:06,600 --> 00:32:10,480 Speaker 1: you're of course talking about Zanta black. That's right. It's 579 00:32:10,600 --> 00:32:13,720 Speaker 1: so dark that any light that gets through the cracks 580 00:32:13,720 --> 00:32:18,520 Speaker 1: will essentially vanish into this material, which was created by 581 00:32:18,560 --> 00:32:22,160 Speaker 1: the company Surrey Nano Systems. And we're talking about a 582 00:32:22,240 --> 00:32:27,160 Speaker 1: dense forest of carbon nanotubes, single atom carbon tubes ten 583 00:32:27,200 --> 00:32:31,280 Speaker 1: thou times thinner than human hair that drink in nine 584 00:32:31,360 --> 00:32:34,600 Speaker 1: six percent of all incoming radiation. Yeah, it's super black, 585 00:32:34,600 --> 00:32:39,239 Speaker 1: it's infinite black. It's the gothiest material possible. Uh and uh, 586 00:32:39,480 --> 00:32:41,600 Speaker 1: you're probably wondering, why would you why would you create this? 587 00:32:41,680 --> 00:32:43,880 Speaker 1: What's the point? Are you just trying to suck the 588 00:32:43,960 --> 00:32:46,600 Speaker 1: soul right right out of this? Well? Uh, this is 589 00:32:46,800 --> 00:32:50,680 Speaker 1: the main applications for this material would relate to sensitive 590 00:32:50,720 --> 00:32:55,280 Speaker 1: optical equipment like telescopes. UM and in fact, a NASA 591 00:32:55,520 --> 00:32:59,160 Speaker 1: Goddard team led by John Hagga Paine has been developing 592 00:32:59,240 --> 00:33:02,560 Speaker 1: nanotube material else like this since the two thousand seven. Yeah, 593 00:33:02,560 --> 00:33:06,160 Speaker 1: it's been described by one of the CEOs as um 594 00:33:06,400 --> 00:33:10,720 Speaker 1: deep featureless black. Even when folded and scrunched. He says, 595 00:33:10,760 --> 00:33:13,160 Speaker 1: you expect to see the hills and all you can 596 00:33:13,240 --> 00:33:16,080 Speaker 1: see it's like black. It's like a hole, like there's 597 00:33:16,120 --> 00:33:20,040 Speaker 1: nothing there. It looks so strange. So it's it's a 598 00:33:20,080 --> 00:33:23,440 Speaker 1: wonderfully creepy concept in innovation. I love it. I would 599 00:33:23,480 --> 00:33:26,520 Speaker 1: love to see it. I mean, you put it on 600 00:33:26,160 --> 00:33:29,320 Speaker 1: a gallery wall and let us stare into it, because 601 00:33:29,480 --> 00:33:31,400 Speaker 1: I love I love works of art that are just 602 00:33:31,440 --> 00:33:34,160 Speaker 1: like stark, you know, white and dark, and you can 603 00:33:34,200 --> 00:33:38,320 Speaker 1: sort of lose yourself in the depths of of the darkness. Well, 604 00:33:38,360 --> 00:33:40,720 Speaker 1: and what I think is so interesting about it is 605 00:33:40,760 --> 00:33:43,000 Speaker 1: that even when you're in the dark, you do perceive 606 00:33:43,080 --> 00:33:45,400 Speaker 1: some sort of light. Usually there's a source of somewhere 607 00:33:45,400 --> 00:33:47,480 Speaker 1: if you're never fulling in the dark. But here is 608 00:33:47,560 --> 00:33:51,680 Speaker 1: a possibility to create a room that would truly encase 609 00:33:51,800 --> 00:33:57,040 Speaker 1: you and in total lightlessness. And what I was thinking about, 610 00:33:57,360 --> 00:33:59,360 Speaker 1: um we were talking about this earlier, is that we 611 00:33:59,440 --> 00:34:03,160 Speaker 1: are now entering into fall and very soon it's going 612 00:34:03,200 --> 00:34:06,200 Speaker 1: to be winter, and already the days are getting shorter. 613 00:34:06,280 --> 00:34:09,000 Speaker 1: There's not as much sunlight available to us. And so 614 00:34:09,040 --> 00:34:13,279 Speaker 1: that's why this idea of darkness is so interesting, because 615 00:34:13,320 --> 00:34:15,399 Speaker 1: a lot of us start to turn in word right 616 00:34:15,440 --> 00:34:17,960 Speaker 1: now and we start to see these sort of cracks 617 00:34:18,000 --> 00:34:20,239 Speaker 1: in our psyche and it can be sort of a 618 00:34:20,280 --> 00:34:22,719 Speaker 1: depressive time for some people, and then sometimes it can 619 00:34:22,760 --> 00:34:25,560 Speaker 1: be good. Um yeah, why they plan to do the 620 00:34:25,600 --> 00:34:28,400 Speaker 1: holidays during the darkest period of the year. I never 621 00:34:28,480 --> 00:34:30,879 Speaker 1: understood that can we do it in a happier mind 622 00:34:31,120 --> 00:34:33,759 Speaker 1: at least go outside? Well, I thought I thought I 623 00:34:33,760 --> 00:34:37,160 Speaker 1: could take comfort from this. One aspect of it is 624 00:34:37,200 --> 00:34:39,640 Speaker 1: that if you and not to make light of suffering. 625 00:34:39,719 --> 00:34:42,759 Speaker 1: If if you find that this is a season that 626 00:34:42,840 --> 00:34:45,320 Speaker 1: does make you turn in word and become more serious 627 00:34:45,320 --> 00:34:50,120 Speaker 1: about things or grapple with things, that, um, it's beneficial 628 00:34:50,200 --> 00:34:53,239 Speaker 1: to us ultimately. And because again those cracks in the 629 00:34:53,280 --> 00:34:56,520 Speaker 1: psyche are important. And uh, if I may, I will 630 00:34:56,680 --> 00:34:59,320 Speaker 1: read a quote from Leonard Cohen which goes a little 631 00:34:59,400 --> 00:35:02,960 Speaker 1: like this. There is a crack in everything, and that's 632 00:35:02,960 --> 00:35:05,720 Speaker 1: how the light gets in. So keep that in mind, 633 00:35:06,280 --> 00:35:09,800 Speaker 1: because you lie to candle at five third a p m. 634 00:35:09,920 --> 00:35:13,120 Speaker 1: When the sun goes down in your neck of the woods, 635 00:35:13,960 --> 00:35:18,600 Speaker 1: and lock the doors. Be sure to lock the doors, 636 00:35:18,640 --> 00:35:20,880 Speaker 1: because there are things out there in the night and 637 00:35:20,960 --> 00:35:23,960 Speaker 1: they want to get to you, all right. So there 638 00:35:24,000 --> 00:35:26,439 Speaker 1: you have it. Lots of good uh content in there. 639 00:35:26,480 --> 00:35:30,640 Speaker 1: I think kind of a just a dive into the 640 00:35:30,640 --> 00:35:34,120 Speaker 1: the idea of fearing the dark, our feelings about the dark, 641 00:35:34,400 --> 00:35:37,239 Speaker 1: evolving as a as a as a creature in this 642 00:35:37,320 --> 00:35:40,080 Speaker 1: world of light and darkness. So I'm sure a lot 643 00:35:40,120 --> 00:35:42,680 Speaker 1: of people have some feedback on that. In the meantime, 644 00:35:43,000 --> 00:35:44,919 Speaker 1: go to stuffabol your Mind dot com. That is where 645 00:35:44,960 --> 00:35:48,520 Speaker 1: you'll find all the podcast episodes we've ever done, the videos, 646 00:35:48,760 --> 00:35:51,359 Speaker 1: the blog post links after our social media accounts, and 647 00:35:51,640 --> 00:35:53,600 Speaker 1: on each and every podcast we're putting down these days, 648 00:35:53,640 --> 00:35:55,840 Speaker 1: you know, we're making a point to have a podcast 649 00:35:56,000 --> 00:35:58,479 Speaker 1: landing page. It's gonna have some cool art, it's gonna 650 00:35:58,480 --> 00:36:01,719 Speaker 1: have some links to other related podcast is gonna if 651 00:36:01,760 --> 00:36:04,560 Speaker 1: there are some outside materials of of note, we're gonna 652 00:36:04,600 --> 00:36:07,000 Speaker 1: link to that. Sometimes we'll have a gallery to go 653 00:36:07,160 --> 00:36:09,360 Speaker 1: along with the episode and we'll have a link to 654 00:36:09,400 --> 00:36:11,640 Speaker 1: that of course. So so if you haven't gotten stuff 655 00:36:11,640 --> 00:36:14,280 Speaker 1: to Blow your mind dot com, uh, do yourself a favorite, 656 00:36:14,520 --> 00:36:17,520 Speaker 1: go check out. Yeah, there's lots of photos of fully 657 00:36:17,719 --> 00:36:22,200 Speaker 1: clothed man just wink wink. Okay, I'm not gonna find 658 00:36:22,239 --> 00:36:24,960 Speaker 1: that in a lot of places. Okay, I try now, 659 00:36:25,239 --> 00:36:28,160 Speaker 1: I try to include lots of photos of fully dressed 660 00:36:28,160 --> 00:36:30,760 Speaker 1: women too. I keep it. I keep it even sometimes 661 00:36:30,760 --> 00:36:34,240 Speaker 1: sometimes we get some skins, sometimes not sometimes sometimes they're animals, 662 00:36:34,560 --> 00:36:39,440 Speaker 1: sometimes their plans. I want our plant listeners to feel included. Indeed, um, 663 00:36:39,480 --> 00:36:42,400 Speaker 1: all right, and uh, if you've got some ideas on 664 00:36:42,480 --> 00:36:44,719 Speaker 1: this percolating, please do send them to us. So you 665 00:36:44,719 --> 00:36:47,719 Speaker 1: can do that by sending an email to blow the 666 00:36:47,760 --> 00:36:54,360 Speaker 1: mind at house touff works dot com for more on 667 00:36:54,440 --> 00:36:56,920 Speaker 1: this and thousands of other topics. Does it, How stuff 668 00:36:56,920 --> 00:37:01,440 Speaker 1: works dot com