WEBVTT - Shush! The Creatures are Sleeping 0:00:04.120 --> 0:00:07.000 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind from how stuff 0:00:07.040 --> 0:00:14.920 Works dot com. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. 0:00:15.280 --> 0:00:17.360 My name is Robert Lamb, and I'm a senior writer 0:00:17.440 --> 0:00:19.239 here at how stuff works dot com. And with me 0:00:19.320 --> 0:00:23.880 today is Julie Douglas, who is a longtime writer, editor, 0:00:23.880 --> 0:00:27.040 pyrotechnician here at how stuff works dot com. Welcome to 0:00:27.080 --> 0:00:30.520 the podcast, Julie, Thanks Robert, I'm really excited to be here. Yeah, 0:00:30.560 --> 0:00:34.560 we're gonna be uh taking the podcast often an entirely 0:00:34.560 --> 0:00:37.000 different trajectory now. You know, previously we were stuff in 0:00:37.000 --> 0:00:38.920 the science lab. Now we're stuff to blow your mind. 0:00:39.320 --> 0:00:42.520 It's kind of like a a joy division to new order, 0:00:43.159 --> 0:00:47.240 Um Jefferson Airplane to Jefferson Starship kind of shift here. 0:00:47.520 --> 0:00:49.920 It's you know, the old version was great, but the 0:00:49.920 --> 0:00:52.479 new version is going to be even more amazing. That's right. 0:00:52.560 --> 0:00:55.440 I mean we have everything from like our cat's shape 0:00:55.480 --> 0:00:58.960 shifters to why are we existing here in this world? 0:00:58.960 --> 0:01:01.680 In this universe? I mean, we're just gonna open the 0:01:01.680 --> 0:01:06.160 portal and we're gonna start the new iteration. Yes, all right, 0:01:06.800 --> 0:01:09.960 let's get this started. Yeah, let's do it. As it happens, 0:01:10.000 --> 0:01:13.680 we are both cat owners so we are very familiar 0:01:13.760 --> 0:01:16.440 with the site of a cat in its various stages 0:01:16.440 --> 0:01:19.039 of sleep, which it seems like they have many, just 0:01:19.080 --> 0:01:23.520 based on their their bodily position, right, It's true, they're elaborate. Sometimes. 0:01:23.760 --> 0:01:28.280 I really love watching my cat in slumber, and I 0:01:28.360 --> 0:01:30.560 look at him sometimes and think, oh my god, why 0:01:30.600 --> 0:01:33.280 can't I be you? It just seems so like the 0:01:33.600 --> 0:01:36.319 master of the universe here in your sixteen hours of 0:01:36.480 --> 0:01:39.720 various positions of sleep. Yeah, we refer to them to 0:01:39.880 --> 0:01:44.040 our cats sleep levels based on what kind of bread 0:01:44.080 --> 0:01:46.880 product she resembles. So there's like bread mode where she 0:01:46.920 --> 0:01:48.760 looks kind of like a loaf of bread, and then 0:01:48.760 --> 0:01:50.600 of course when she gets really relaxed, she goes into 0:01:50.640 --> 0:01:53.320 full on bagel mode, where she's like, you know, very circular, 0:01:53.400 --> 0:01:56.960 kind of looks like a cinnamon bun. Wow. So, and 0:01:56.960 --> 0:01:59.640 and they do sleep a lot. In fact, let's see, 0:01:59.640 --> 0:02:02.640 what's the uh be terrible for cats? It's like fifty 0:02:03.240 --> 0:02:06.160 point six percent of the day give or take leopards 0:02:06.160 --> 0:02:09.040 of like twelve point one hours. Yeah, yeah, And I 0:02:09.040 --> 0:02:11.000 would definitely say my cats more like maybe on the 0:02:11.040 --> 0:02:14.320 sixteen hour. And he's seriously just doesn't do a whole lot. 0:02:14.360 --> 0:02:15.640 And I don't know if that's because he's a main 0:02:15.720 --> 0:02:20.040 con and he's like this twenty six pound um cat. 0:02:20.160 --> 0:02:24.000 That's you know, like I said, the master of the universe. Um, 0:02:24.040 --> 0:02:25.800 he can do whatever he wants. So if he wants 0:02:25.800 --> 0:02:28.839 to sleep for sixteen hours, it's going to happen. It's 0:02:29.000 --> 0:02:32.640 it's it's interesting because obviously most humans with you know, 0:02:32.800 --> 0:02:36.400 jobs and and you know responsibilities, don't sleep twelve hours 0:02:36.400 --> 0:02:39.120 a day. Um. Yeah, so it's more like in the 0:02:39.160 --> 0:02:42.040 six to eight range. And you see a wide variety 0:02:42.080 --> 0:02:46.079 of sleep patterns throughout the animal kingdom. So so yeah, 0:02:46.080 --> 0:02:49.000 that's that's what we're gonna be chatting about today. Um, 0:02:49.040 --> 0:02:51.600 you know, do all animals sleep? And what does that 0:02:51.639 --> 0:02:54.440 consist of for different members of the animal kingdom? Yeah? 0:02:54.440 --> 0:02:56.720 And why do our cats sleep so much? Yeah? That's 0:02:56.760 --> 0:02:58.919 you know, I think that is actually a universal question 0:02:58.960 --> 0:03:01.240 that has got to be as words. So we're going 0:03:01.280 --> 0:03:04.640 to try to do that by first approaching sleep. Yeah, 0:03:04.639 --> 0:03:08.880 what is sleep? Sleep? I think that obviously it's really important. 0:03:08.840 --> 0:03:12.200 It is profoundly important on our existence and how we 0:03:12.280 --> 0:03:17.880 operate physically, mentally, emotionally. Um, and I think that we 0:03:18.000 --> 0:03:20.720 take it for granted but and we think, Okay, we 0:03:20.800 --> 0:03:22.880 just close our eyes and we wake up and we 0:03:23.000 --> 0:03:26.000 get going. Um. In fact, there's so much more going on, 0:03:26.040 --> 0:03:27.560 and I think that we kind of need to revisit 0:03:27.600 --> 0:03:30.080 the basics really quickly just to get an idea of 0:03:30.080 --> 0:03:33.960 how complex sleep is. So you so let's just do 0:03:34.040 --> 0:03:36.400 a quick recap. I'm sure we've all heard this in 0:03:36.880 --> 0:03:38.640 school at one point or another, but you know that 0:03:38.720 --> 0:03:42.480 there's stage one, which is the lightest sleep, and that's 0:03:42.480 --> 0:03:44.680 when we kind of start to relax our muscles a 0:03:44.680 --> 0:03:48.600 little bit. And is this the point where you're you're 0:03:48.600 --> 0:03:51.480 reading your book at night and you suddenly start reading 0:03:51.640 --> 0:03:53.880 words that aren't actually in the book. Yeah, they all 0:03:53.880 --> 0:03:56.320 start to sort of melt together. And this is also 0:03:56.400 --> 0:03:59.280 the point to where you feel like, well, they're like, 0:03:59.320 --> 0:04:01.680 oh gosh, feels so great. You know that little voice 0:04:01.720 --> 0:04:04.880 in your head I think, so I fallen asleep, that's awesome. 0:04:05.040 --> 0:04:06.280 And then all of a sudden, you feel like you're 0:04:06.280 --> 0:04:09.240 tripping or falling. Um, And that's really your muscles sort 0:04:09.280 --> 0:04:12.720 of working themselves out. So that's stage one, and stage 0:04:12.760 --> 0:04:16.520 two is when your breathing patterns and your heart rates 0:04:16.520 --> 0:04:19.159 start to slow down a little bit. And your body 0:04:19.160 --> 0:04:21.480 temperature takes a little bit of a dip. And then 0:04:21.600 --> 0:04:24.240 stage three or when the delta waves start to roll 0:04:24.360 --> 0:04:27.760 in and lull you into a deeper sleep, although you're 0:04:27.760 --> 0:04:31.120 still sort of fighting with that lighter sleep. And then 0:04:31.240 --> 0:04:34.680 stage four is known as the delta sleep, which, um, 0:04:34.760 --> 0:04:36.919 it sounds like you should really say the adult asleep 0:04:36.960 --> 0:04:41.919 because it you know, it's that really slow wave. Um. 0:04:41.960 --> 0:04:45.839 And that's when you're getting thirty minutes of truly deep sleep. 0:04:46.000 --> 0:04:49.640 And that is also when you're capable of sleep walking. 0:04:49.839 --> 0:04:54.159 So yeah, So I don't know if you ever sleepwalked 0:04:54.200 --> 0:04:56.080 when you were a little No, I don't think I did. 0:04:56.320 --> 0:04:58.520 Know I did a lot, and so my parents would 0:04:58.560 --> 0:05:00.640 see me cruising through the house like three am, and 0:05:01.040 --> 0:05:03.239 my hands would be up like Frankenstein. So I literally 0:05:03.279 --> 0:05:06.360 thought I was Frankenstein. I was rolling around the house 0:05:06.400 --> 0:05:08.960 like that. But wait, in the dreams or just as 0:05:08.960 --> 0:05:11.400 a child, you were convinced you were Frankenstein in the dream. 0:05:11.520 --> 0:05:13.440 In the dream, yeah, I mean, because kids are weird, 0:05:13.520 --> 0:05:16.400 I could you know, that's kind of awesome. I kind 0:05:16.400 --> 0:05:18.520 of wish that I had been a kid who thought 0:05:18.520 --> 0:05:21.280 that she was Frankenstein because I could really freak out 0:05:21.279 --> 0:05:26.440 the neighbors and just dream fire. Um. That sounded like 0:05:26.520 --> 0:05:29.479 Robert de Niro's Frankenstein. Sorry about that. Um. And then 0:05:29.520 --> 0:05:34.440 stage five is when remickers. So that's when you're dreaming, um. 0:05:34.560 --> 0:05:37.440 And that's when you're really working things out, all that 0:05:37.520 --> 0:05:41.599 data that you've processed throughout the day. Um. And that's 0:05:41.640 --> 0:05:44.320 also where you might be having a dream that's say 0:05:44.680 --> 0:05:47.600 a dog is mauling your face, god forbid, and a 0:05:47.720 --> 0:05:49.479 dog might be having a dream where it's mauling a 0:05:49.520 --> 0:05:54.359 humans face exactly. Yes, yeah, and total totally parallel dreams 0:05:54.360 --> 0:05:56.640 at the same time. And the cool thing about this 0:05:56.760 --> 0:06:00.240 is that, uh, you have a sort of built in mechanism, 0:06:00.400 --> 0:06:03.640 paralysis mechanism to make sure that you don't freak out 0:06:03.720 --> 0:06:06.440 during that time period, so that dog doesn't leap out 0:06:06.480 --> 0:06:09.760 and try to bite in its dream and I don't 0:06:09.800 --> 0:06:12.320 try to you know, take the dog off of me 0:06:12.360 --> 0:06:15.240 and smash it or interesting. So like that. So many 0:06:15.279 --> 0:06:17.480 of these episodes you hear about where like somebody's having 0:06:17.520 --> 0:06:19.640 a dream and they start like strangling their spouse or 0:06:19.680 --> 0:06:22.520 something like you know, um, like that's not in this 0:06:22.600 --> 0:06:25.479 stage then no, No, I think there's something else going on. Well, yeah, 0:06:25.480 --> 0:06:29.520 because I think I'm probably thinking of Ozzy Osborne. So well, 0:06:30.080 --> 0:06:32.680 you have to wonder too if there are certain medications 0:06:32.760 --> 0:06:37.719 or substances that might be messing with the natural rhythms. Yeah, 0:06:37.960 --> 0:06:39.960 I mean, I don't know that Azzy was ever on anything, 0:06:40.040 --> 0:06:43.600 but no, no, yeah, I mean that's that's pretty far 0:06:43.680 --> 0:06:47.679 fetched for him. But yes, so you never know. That's, um, 0:06:47.720 --> 0:06:50.719 there's certainly external forces that could be acting on that. Okay. 0:06:50.800 --> 0:06:54.240 So there, So we're in this stage, we're dreaming the 0:06:54.320 --> 0:06:57.000 brains being cleared up, and we're going through these stages 0:06:57.240 --> 0:07:00.640 about ninety minutes every ninety minutes, so there's a ton 0:07:00.680 --> 0:07:02.919 of stuff that's going on, and we're also kind of 0:07:02.960 --> 0:07:05.320 flailing around, moving around. I think I've read a stat 0:07:05.360 --> 0:07:07.680 somewhere that we move around at least seven times per hour. 0:07:08.360 --> 0:07:11.200 So it's not the it's not just the slumber that 0:07:11.240 --> 0:07:13.560 we think of. That's all peaceful and you know, the 0:07:13.600 --> 0:07:16.080 cats called up by your head. I need that staff 0:07:16.080 --> 0:07:18.280 next time I'm kicked out of bed at three in 0:07:18.280 --> 0:07:20.600 the morning from moving too much. Yeah, yeah, see that 0:07:20.600 --> 0:07:25.560 that would be helpful maybe maybe, Yeah, I mean probably 0:07:25.560 --> 0:07:27.800 can't like actually present the stats at three in the morning, 0:07:27.840 --> 0:07:30.760 be like, whoa wait, slow down, check out this review, 0:07:30.880 --> 0:07:33.960 this the study, and the Scientific American. I'm totally supposed 0:07:33.960 --> 0:07:35.400 to move around. You should be concerned if I'm not 0:07:35.520 --> 0:07:37.640 kicking you in my sleep, you know. Yeah, on second FID, 0:07:37.640 --> 0:07:41.560 that might exacerbating the situation. UM. So it's good to 0:07:41.760 --> 0:07:44.600 have an understanding of just what basically what sleep is, 0:07:44.640 --> 0:07:48.360 because that's the model that we use UM to study 0:07:48.400 --> 0:07:52.640 other animals, other creatures. We know about theta waves delta waves, 0:07:52.640 --> 0:07:54.680 so you know that when they go into these slow 0:07:54.840 --> 0:08:00.000 low wave states, that there that their brains are preoccupy 0:08:00.040 --> 0:08:02.680 hid and that they're dreaming or sleeping, and that's what 0:08:02.720 --> 0:08:05.480 we assume at least. So taking that data, we can 0:08:05.520 --> 0:08:09.280 now look at say our cats, and UM measure whether 0:08:09.360 --> 0:08:11.600 or not they are actually dreaming. And though it's obvious 0:08:11.680 --> 0:08:14.480 to us, especially when they're twitching around and chasing mice 0:08:14.560 --> 0:08:17.440 or whatever they're doing in the dream UM, but that 0:08:17.520 --> 0:08:22.320 still doesn't necessarily answer why they are sleeping so much. UM. 0:08:22.400 --> 0:08:25.120 So that's something that we can look at a little 0:08:25.120 --> 0:08:28.000 bit closer. But I think within the case of our cats, 0:08:28.080 --> 0:08:31.920 it may be that we've kind of done everything for 0:08:31.960 --> 0:08:34.200 them and I'm going to go out all in here 0:08:34.600 --> 0:08:38.199 because they don't necessarily have type from predators. They have 0:08:38.240 --> 0:08:40.920 a food source, so they're all nice and cush you. 0:08:41.080 --> 0:08:43.560 So it's some people say that maybe just that they 0:08:43.600 --> 0:08:47.920 don't have, um, the impetus there too to be more 0:08:48.000 --> 0:08:51.640 of a predator themselves and spend more time awake. Well, 0:08:51.679 --> 0:08:55.080 certainly for indoor totally indoor cats that would be the case. 0:08:56.040 --> 0:09:00.120 Are still goes outside and kills things and probably us 0:09:00.120 --> 0:09:02.679 to avoid things every now and so. So that might 0:09:02.720 --> 0:09:04.760 be why you're cat sleeping twelve hours and my cat 0:09:04.880 --> 0:09:07.000 is landing around for sixteen hours. Oh yeah, it's kind 0:09:07.000 --> 0:09:09.080 of like, hey, there's nothing going on here, I'm going 0:09:09.120 --> 0:09:12.160 to go into the chipmunk dream. Yeah exactly. Yeah, it's 0:09:12.200 --> 0:09:14.720 kind of boring here that or sometimes I think of 0:09:14.760 --> 0:09:18.800 the movie Inception. Okay, sometimes I think that my cats 0:09:18.880 --> 0:09:23.440 just kind of practicing to um put some sort of 0:09:23.480 --> 0:09:25.640 thoughts in my subconscious when I'm make sure I'm dreaming. 0:09:25.840 --> 0:09:28.439 They probably are. Is that is that crazy cat lady 0:09:28.480 --> 0:09:30.600 talk a little bit? But I mean, you spend enough 0:09:30.640 --> 0:09:33.640 time with a cats, those those guys are weird. Um 0:09:33.720 --> 0:09:36.800 the thank you for comforting me. Well, the other thing 0:09:36.840 --> 0:09:40.160 about cats and their predator nature. I've I've read some 0:09:40.160 --> 0:09:44.400 some arguments that if society were fall apart um and 0:09:44.640 --> 0:09:46.640 you know, in humans were gone the next day, like 0:09:47.160 --> 0:09:49.840 you know, all the cats would obviously go feral. But 0:09:49.840 --> 0:09:52.439 but domestic cats would have a better shot at surviving 0:09:52.480 --> 0:09:57.600 as a species because they continue these rehearsals for you know, 0:09:57.760 --> 0:10:01.960 for predation. You know, they're uh, they continue to even 0:10:01.960 --> 0:10:04.440 if they're not hunting there, you know, they're attacking things 0:10:04.480 --> 0:10:07.280 in your living room. You know, they're they're continuing the exercises. 0:10:07.360 --> 0:10:10.520 It's like a constant terrorist training camp in your living room, 0:10:10.559 --> 0:10:14.600 you know. Um, and and while dogs many breeds of dogs, 0:10:14.600 --> 0:10:16.480 you know, it's like we'd be there, um you know, 0:10:16.559 --> 0:10:20.240 perverted their natural hunting instincts into something ridiculous you know 0:10:20.400 --> 0:10:22.360 where you know it ends up with we end up 0:10:22.400 --> 0:10:24.120 like my parents, with a college that wants to bark 0:10:24.160 --> 0:10:27.120 at trees, you know, and they don't really have us. 0:10:27.360 --> 0:10:29.600 They don't have a skill set anymore. You know, they'd 0:10:29.640 --> 0:10:34.640 be as useless as writers and the apocalypse. You know, wow, 0:10:35.000 --> 0:10:38.199 but I don't know, I don't know writers could they 0:10:38.200 --> 0:10:40.200 could do They could take their pencils. They don't even 0:10:40.240 --> 0:10:42.760 use pencils anyone, am I saying, Yeah, you're right, they 0:10:42.800 --> 0:10:44.760 would language with the dogs, they would begin barking in 0:10:44.840 --> 0:10:49.400 the trees. Yeah, well I don't know. So we we 0:10:49.520 --> 0:10:53.640 have animals that are clocking in a lot of sleep, 0:10:53.679 --> 0:10:56.719 a little sleep. Yeah, yeah, they're they're kind of all 0:10:56.760 --> 0:10:59.600 over the board. Like we mentioned the cat is coming 0:10:59.640 --> 0:11:02.040 in it kind of like fifth half the day roughly. 0:11:02.679 --> 0:11:05.520 And uh, and we should mention that you'll find varying 0:11:05.559 --> 0:11:07.400 figures on all of this out there on the net 0:11:07.440 --> 0:11:10.600 because you know, sometimes it's like a domestic animals sleep 0:11:11.360 --> 0:11:14.440 or or you know, a captive animal sleep patterns versus 0:11:14.480 --> 0:11:17.839 the wild animals sleep patterns. And you know, it's hard 0:11:17.840 --> 0:11:19.160 to get a lot of sleep when someone is trying 0:11:19.160 --> 0:11:21.080 to eat you. Yeah, that's true. And that makes sense 0:11:21.080 --> 0:11:23.839 too because the ones that are captive, it's it's kind 0:11:23.840 --> 0:11:26.960 of hard to measure some animals and and so yeah, 0:11:27.000 --> 0:11:28.640 some of them would have to be captive in order 0:11:28.640 --> 0:11:32.800 to get some data off of them, like um at 0:11:32.880 --> 0:11:35.560 the like at the low end of the spectrum. Um, 0:11:35.600 --> 0:11:37.600 Like it's hard to beat the giraffe, which is like 0:11:38.720 --> 0:11:41.319 almost two hours a day and you know, which is 0:11:41.360 --> 0:11:44.960 about seven point nine percent of the day. And uh, 0:11:44.960 --> 0:11:47.200 and you see other like the horse is really low 0:11:47.240 --> 0:11:50.199 at two point nine hours, the donkey at three point 0:11:50.240 --> 0:11:53.200 one hours um. And which is kind of interesting because 0:11:53.200 --> 0:11:55.120 I guess you, like some of these animals, you're thinking, 0:11:55.120 --> 0:11:56.679 these guys are always on the run, you know, or 0:11:56.720 --> 0:11:58.920 they've got to always be ready to to to you know, 0:11:59.160 --> 0:12:01.680 to just take off at any moment to avoid a predator. 0:12:02.280 --> 0:12:05.640 So they've apparently evolved, you know, into this state where 0:12:05.679 --> 0:12:08.400 they just really don't need much sleep. Yeah, which I 0:12:08.400 --> 0:12:11.800 thought was kind of odd because the giraffe I understood. 0:12:11.920 --> 0:12:14.360 I thought, Okay, if I'm a giraffe and I'm you know, 0:12:14.679 --> 0:12:17.120 out in the wild, I'm going to be scared that 0:12:17.160 --> 0:12:20.200 something's got to you know, put its teeth into my 0:12:20.280 --> 0:12:24.760 neck or or why not. But the cow not necessarily. Well, 0:12:24.920 --> 0:12:26.760 I guess the cows one that we've it's kind of 0:12:26.800 --> 0:12:30.320 like the dogs. We've really perverted the species over time 0:12:30.320 --> 0:12:31.960 to where they're you know, they really don't have anything 0:12:32.000 --> 0:12:34.440 to worry about. But maybe like some you know, original 0:12:34.760 --> 0:12:39.160 version of the cow was more survival you know. Yeah, 0:12:39.280 --> 0:12:41.679 this makes sense, Yeah, absolutely, And then I thought it 0:12:41.720 --> 0:12:44.800 was really cool about the giraffe too. Is that they 0:12:44.880 --> 0:12:48.280 sleep sometimes I get five minutes at a time. Yeah, 0:12:48.400 --> 0:12:52.280 And and then they're really efficient sleepers, so they're not 0:12:52.480 --> 0:12:55.880 kind of peddling around with the stage one and they're 0:12:55.880 --> 0:12:58.120 not having dreams about tripping or you know, falling. They 0:12:58.160 --> 0:13:01.240 get like straight into deep sleep, which I really admire. 0:13:01.280 --> 0:13:04.080 I want to try to cultivate that for myself. Yeah. 0:13:04.240 --> 0:13:07.160 They've Yeah, they've really just completely streamlined the process to 0:13:07.200 --> 0:13:10.640 get right to the goods, the bare minimum to remain functional, insane, 0:13:10.640 --> 0:13:12.480 I guess. Yeah. Yeah, they're like the Martha Stewart I 0:13:12.480 --> 0:13:15.320 think of the animal Kingdom. They're just they're being very 0:13:15.400 --> 0:13:18.560 efficient about how they spend their time sleeping. Well, you 0:13:18.559 --> 0:13:20.959 know the the elephant that was pretty high up there, 0:13:20.960 --> 0:13:24.960 and that's you know what's trying to eat an elephant? Yeah. Yeah, 0:13:25.040 --> 0:13:28.360 and there is also the brown bat. Oh, the brown 0:13:28.400 --> 0:13:31.800 bats on the the other end of the spectrum. Eighty 0:13:31.840 --> 0:13:35.200 two point nine percent of the day, nineteen point nine 0:13:35.200 --> 0:13:40.040 hours of sleep. Yeah, those suckers are I mean, they 0:13:40.040 --> 0:13:43.480 are layabouts. Yeah, I mean you can think. The thing 0:13:43.520 --> 0:13:45.920 I was reading about the brown bat is that a 0:13:46.480 --> 0:13:50.440 their flyers and to fly with wings in this world 0:13:50.920 --> 0:13:53.719 is it just requires a huge amount of energy. Like 0:13:54.080 --> 0:13:56.760 that's why one of the reasons you don't have airplanes 0:13:56.760 --> 0:13:59.640 with flapping wings because you know, it might look cool 0:13:59.679 --> 0:14:01.560 in the uh, you know, in the sci fi movies 0:14:01.679 --> 0:14:04.160 or the you know, the cartoons, but it would require 0:14:04.200 --> 0:14:06.480 a tremendous amount of energy that just doesn't make sense 0:14:06.480 --> 0:14:09.040 when you have propellers. Bats don't have propellers, so they 0:14:09.040 --> 0:14:11.480 got a flap and by flapping, uh, you know, to 0:14:11.760 --> 0:14:14.080 get things, you know, rolling in the air, they're expending 0:14:14.120 --> 0:14:16.360 a lot of energy and they're eating like mosquitoes and stuff. 0:14:16.400 --> 0:14:19.440 So sometimes the best course of action is to just 0:14:19.640 --> 0:14:23.440 turn it off for nineteen hours. Yeah, and that would 0:14:23.440 --> 0:14:25.160 make sense to you that they might hide themselves away 0:14:25.200 --> 0:14:28.000 from predators or yeah, you know, or if the mascues 0:14:28.000 --> 0:14:30.320 were only going to be out for a couple of hours, 0:14:30.600 --> 0:14:32.480 you know. Yeah, that's right. Most of your bats are 0:14:32.480 --> 0:14:34.920 seeking shelter in you know, high trees or in caves, 0:14:35.560 --> 0:14:37.360 and they'll be in a situation where they really don't 0:14:37.400 --> 0:14:40.080 have to worry about predators so much, either due to 0:14:40.120 --> 0:14:45.880 their location or their numbers. Yeah. Another creature animal on 0:14:45.920 --> 0:14:49.720 this list, um is the tree sloth, which is one 0:14:49.720 --> 0:14:53.160 of my favorite animals. I think. Um, I don't even 0:14:53.160 --> 0:14:55.160 know how to describe what it looks like other than 0:14:55.200 --> 0:14:58.160 just like a hairy looking alien, ye, kind of a 0:14:58.280 --> 0:15:02.040 mossy hairy alien, like a mumpy even too. I mean 0:15:02.080 --> 0:15:04.840 it's like the Muppet that just didn't make the cut. Yeah, 0:15:05.120 --> 0:15:08.360 you know, yeah, they kind of like somber face kind 0:15:08.400 --> 0:15:12.040 of cute, like not the baby slots are really cute, obviously, 0:15:12.120 --> 0:15:14.360 but we had the adults. They're yeah, they they're kind 0:15:14.360 --> 0:15:17.320 of like Muppets. Yeah yeah, and it's maybe like it's 0:15:17.360 --> 0:15:19.000 cute but menacing at the same time, which is I 0:15:19.040 --> 0:15:21.360 think why it wouldn't have made the Muppet cut, you know. 0:15:22.560 --> 0:15:26.400 But anyway, their their name Slaus obviously because um they're 0:15:26.440 --> 0:15:28.760 thought of is well not just thought it. But they 0:15:28.800 --> 0:15:31.600 are very slow moving creatures but um in captivity to 0:15:31.600 --> 0:15:34.280 actually sleep for fourteen hours, but in the while they 0:15:34.320 --> 0:15:37.000 sleep for ten hours, so that really mirrors more of 0:15:37.040 --> 0:15:41.120 our own activity. Um. So I think just just I 0:15:41.120 --> 0:15:42.720 can clear up their name a little bit because they're 0:15:42.720 --> 0:15:45.480 already saddled with the Moniker slough. I just want to 0:15:45.520 --> 0:15:49.120 get that out there for the sloth world. Yeah, a 0:15:49.160 --> 0:15:52.320 little shout out. Now, Human infants are pretty high to 0:15:52.840 --> 0:15:56.600 sixty sixty six point seven percent of the day sixteen hours. Yeah, 0:15:56.640 --> 0:16:00.840 they're crazy high, which makes sense, um, because think of 0:16:01.000 --> 0:16:03.000 I mean again, we got we've talked about the data 0:16:03.080 --> 0:16:06.800 that you're processing during sleep, and just think of all 0:16:06.880 --> 0:16:09.720 the stimuli. You know, you've been shut in the womb 0:16:09.760 --> 0:16:13.160 for almost ten months. Yeah, like everything is new, lights different, 0:16:13.280 --> 0:16:16.640 I mean yeah, some sound is familiar, but some sound isn't. 0:16:16.840 --> 0:16:20.080 So it's uh, it's building that database that they have 0:16:20.120 --> 0:16:24.280 to do. So I don't know. Um, are there any 0:16:24.280 --> 0:16:28.280 creatures that require zero sleep for different types of sleep? 0:16:28.280 --> 0:16:32.200 How does that work? Well, that's that's the question. Um, 0:16:32.240 --> 0:16:36.160 I mean there are There are certainly animals that, for starters, 0:16:36.240 --> 0:16:39.680 can disrupt their normal sleeping patterns for certain special events. 0:16:40.080 --> 0:16:43.840 You know, like migratory birds. You know, they they've got 0:16:43.920 --> 0:16:46.840 a suddenly put into overdrive travel long distances that they 0:16:46.840 --> 0:16:50.800 can they can alter how much sleep they need. Um. Now, 0:16:50.880 --> 0:16:53.480 fish and amphibians are these are some of the creatures 0:16:53.520 --> 0:16:56.960 that were still not completely sure on whether they're sleeping 0:16:57.040 --> 0:17:03.080 or not, or if they're just you know, exhibiting resting signs. Um. 0:17:03.240 --> 0:17:06.000 And again the typical like signs of sleep. You know, 0:17:06.040 --> 0:17:08.800 it's like you generally you're looking for reduction and physical activity, 0:17:09.160 --> 0:17:13.679 discrete decreased response to outside sim stimuli um. And you 0:17:13.680 --> 0:17:16.479 know generally that's you know, sleeping creature will will assume 0:17:16.760 --> 0:17:19.800 a certain position, you know, or you know, back to 0:17:19.840 --> 0:17:23.520 the cats, the same thing. Um. So we don't necessarily 0:17:23.560 --> 0:17:26.840 observe these things going on with fish and amphibians. So 0:17:27.359 --> 0:17:29.960 you know, the jury still is still out. So a 0:17:30.040 --> 0:17:33.359 jellyfish could be like the way deep Bottom and they 0:17:33.440 --> 0:17:36.520 might have successfully attached to tracking device, food or something, 0:17:36.760 --> 0:17:39.040 and there's a period of inactivity, you sort of have 0:17:39.119 --> 0:17:40.920 to assume that maybe they're in a resting state. Is 0:17:40.960 --> 0:17:42.560 that Yeah, that that's kind of how it goes. But 0:17:42.600 --> 0:17:44.960 again it's it's you know, it's like like you're saying earlier, 0:17:45.320 --> 0:17:47.399 we base a lot of it on the on the 0:17:47.440 --> 0:17:50.040 human mind, and we sort of, you know, we we 0:17:50.160 --> 0:17:52.720 use that as the model to try and understand everything. 0:17:52.800 --> 0:17:55.040 And you know, in some cases, like the jellyfish, I mean, 0:17:55.320 --> 0:17:59.119 it's we're so distantly related that maybe it doesn't hold up, 0:17:59.160 --> 0:18:04.879 you know, but right we're anthropomorphosizing everything. Now. One of 0:18:04.880 --> 0:18:10.119 the really cool um areas of sleep is uni hemispheric sleep, 0:18:11.119 --> 0:18:15.120 and you know, as in the hemispheres of the brain. Yeah, 0:18:15.160 --> 0:18:16.639 and this is pretty good. It's kind of like, alright, 0:18:16.680 --> 0:18:20.160 imagine you have a you have a company with ninety employees, 0:18:20.600 --> 0:18:24.400 all right, and you're open nine to six, and then 0:18:24.240 --> 0:18:26.520 then you decide, all right, we need to actually be 0:18:26.600 --> 0:18:30.080 open all the time, you know. So so if you 0:18:30.160 --> 0:18:32.760 came up so then you're like, all right, well, we 0:18:32.800 --> 0:18:35.840 can't have all ninety employees work all the time because 0:18:35.880 --> 0:18:38.479 they'll quit and leave or you know, riot or whatever. 0:18:38.760 --> 0:18:41.960 So let's have like thirty work here, thirty work here. 0:18:42.000 --> 0:18:43.800 You know, you end up like mixing it up. And 0:18:43.800 --> 0:18:47.359 that's that's the pretty much what animals such as dolphins 0:18:47.840 --> 0:18:50.800 and uh and you know another you know, aquatic mamalstude 0:18:50.800 --> 0:18:54.000 because they're they're conscious breathers. So that's the other thing. 0:18:54.000 --> 0:18:56.160 It's like, if they were to go to sleep, they 0:18:56.240 --> 0:18:59.400 wouldn't breathe and then they would die. So they've got 0:18:59.440 --> 0:19:04.160 to be awake in some fashion all the time. So 0:19:04.320 --> 0:19:07.680 they just turn one hemisphere of the brain off. Is 0:19:07.720 --> 0:19:11.880 it because there is it a function of their biology 0:19:12.000 --> 0:19:15.000 or is it because they're worried about predators or both? Well, 0:19:15.000 --> 0:19:17.359 there's that too. Yeah, I mean you're the the ocean 0:19:17.520 --> 0:19:20.560 is an intensely dangerous place. You know, even if you're 0:19:20.560 --> 0:19:22.520 you know, a dolphin hanging out with other dolphins and 0:19:22.600 --> 0:19:25.720 you know they're you know, they're pretty rough and tumble characters, 0:19:25.760 --> 0:19:29.040 but but still you know, there's constantly something trying to 0:19:29.040 --> 0:19:31.560 eat you for the most part. So so yeah, that 0:19:31.640 --> 0:19:33.040 what they do. It's kind of kind of like if 0:19:33.040 --> 0:19:35.960 you've ever seen, uh, I understand, horses and some animals 0:19:35.960 --> 0:19:38.960 still like or even like you know, joggers, I don't know, 0:19:39.040 --> 0:19:41.280 will stand on one leg and rest the other and 0:19:41.280 --> 0:19:43.320 then switch to the other leg and then rest that one. 0:19:43.480 --> 0:19:46.400 It's the same thing except with the brain. So turn 0:19:46.480 --> 0:19:49.080 one side off, let it rest. They'll let the other 0:19:49.119 --> 0:19:50.960 side turn one side off and let it rest while 0:19:50.960 --> 0:19:54.359 the other one powers everything and then do the do 0:19:54.400 --> 0:19:58.159 the opposite. So you're never turning off both sides of 0:19:58.160 --> 0:20:01.560 the brain and letting both sides eat it once, but 0:20:01.560 --> 0:20:04.000 but one side of sleeping while the other remains awake. 0:20:04.080 --> 0:20:07.880 So that allows you to react really quickly, just being 0:20:07.960 --> 0:20:11.800 more efficient. Yeah, it's never a situation where um where 0:20:11.800 --> 0:20:14.879 oh I've got awake, because uh, this is this actually 0:20:14.880 --> 0:20:17.880 goes back to um to say, say you know, when 0:20:17.880 --> 0:20:20.080 when you're asleep and suddenly you're you have a dream 0:20:20.080 --> 0:20:23.639 where you're falling when you you know, fly awake. UM. 0:20:23.680 --> 0:20:28.119 There are some interesting studies, UM, mostly from psychologist Frederick 0:20:28.400 --> 0:20:31.800 Coolidge h And he's talked about this on Radio Lab 0:20:31.880 --> 0:20:35.480 before I believe UM. Like, he argues that the the 0:20:35.520 --> 0:20:39.400 idea of having a falling dream, UM, that comes from 0:20:39.440 --> 0:20:43.040 like like early hominid history where we were living in 0:20:43.080 --> 0:20:45.199 trees and when we were sleeping in the you know, 0:20:45.760 --> 0:20:48.640 so you know, you're sleeping in a tree. That's kind 0:20:48.640 --> 0:20:50.479