1 00:00:07,240 --> 00:00:09,480 Speaker 1: That is the sound of a fake fireplace. But I 2 00:00:09,560 --> 00:00:12,600 Speaker 1: sometimes play on my real iPhone when I really can't sleep. 3 00:00:13,320 --> 00:00:17,200 Speaker 1: As a slumberer, I would give my performance a sea. 4 00:00:17,800 --> 00:00:20,520 Speaker 1: I sometimes have trouble falling asleep, and I almost always 5 00:00:20,520 --> 00:00:24,280 Speaker 1: have trouble staying down in my apartment. I've hung blackout drapes, 6 00:00:24,520 --> 00:00:28,080 Speaker 1: stocked the pantry with melatonin, and have tried every variety 7 00:00:28,120 --> 00:00:32,959 Speaker 1: of self hypnosis trying to force quit consciousness. When I'm 8 00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:35,800 Speaker 1: on tour, I'll collect all of the hotel pillows and 9 00:00:35,800 --> 00:00:38,400 Speaker 1: build a pyramid of them on my face, trying to 10 00:00:38,440 --> 00:00:40,480 Speaker 1: block out whatever it is it is keeping me awake 11 00:00:40,520 --> 00:00:46,800 Speaker 1: at five am. This is deeply human. I'm Dessa, and 12 00:00:46,840 --> 00:00:48,720 Speaker 1: if you can hear the sound of my voice, then 13 00:00:48,720 --> 00:00:51,839 Speaker 1: you are awake. And I hope that's on purpose, that 14 00:00:51,920 --> 00:00:56,000 Speaker 1: you're not just whiling away some exasperated minutes in the darkness, 15 00:00:56,400 --> 00:00:59,920 Speaker 1: the dreaded morning bird song wooming every nearer, trying to 16 00:01:00,080 --> 00:01:02,200 Speaker 1: coax your rescue dog of a brain to do the 17 00:01:02,280 --> 00:01:05,800 Speaker 1: reasonable thing and come light down for a while. The 18 00:01:05,920 --> 00:01:09,440 Speaker 1: question of those angst written hours, and of this program 19 00:01:09,640 --> 00:01:14,200 Speaker 1: is why can't I sleep? We often hear that screens 20 00:01:14,240 --> 00:01:16,679 Speaker 1: and stress are to blame. But how much of our 21 00:01:16,680 --> 00:01:20,080 Speaker 1: insomnia is really a product of the modern lifestyle. How 22 00:01:20,160 --> 00:01:23,119 Speaker 1: much and how well to humans sleep? And why does 23 00:01:23,160 --> 00:01:26,520 Speaker 1: so many of us struggle with sleeplessness. Let's begin with 24 00:01:26,560 --> 00:01:31,679 Speaker 1: a little science. Let's talk body clocks. I work very 25 00:01:31,680 --> 00:01:36,160 Speaker 1: closely with blind veterans UK and these extraordinary individuals who 26 00:01:36,200 --> 00:01:38,800 Speaker 1: have lost their eyes as a result of combat or disease. 27 00:01:39,280 --> 00:01:42,600 Speaker 1: They're essentially time blind. Not only have they lost their 28 00:01:42,640 --> 00:01:45,000 Speaker 1: sense of sight, but they've also lost their sense of 29 00:01:45,080 --> 00:01:48,320 Speaker 1: time because the eye isn't able to detect the light 30 00:01:48,400 --> 00:01:51,880 Speaker 1: dark cycle and set the internal master clock within the brain. 31 00:01:52,520 --> 00:01:55,600 Speaker 1: That is Russell Foster, director of the Sleep and Circadian 32 00:01:55,680 --> 00:02:01,040 Speaker 1: Neuroscience Institute at the University of Oxford, and that term circadian. 33 00:02:01,840 --> 00:02:05,880 Speaker 1: It's the external light dark cycle, particularly at dawn and dusk, 34 00:02:06,240 --> 00:02:10,520 Speaker 1: that is detected by specialized receptors within the eye, which 35 00:02:10,560 --> 00:02:13,640 Speaker 1: then set the master clock within the brain, and that 36 00:02:13,720 --> 00:02:16,960 Speaker 1: allows us to be beautifully attuned and aligned to the 37 00:02:17,040 --> 00:02:19,720 Speaker 1: external world. Does our body know already that the day 38 00:02:19,760 --> 00:02:21,640 Speaker 1: is twenty four hours long or does it learn that 39 00:02:21,680 --> 00:02:23,959 Speaker 1: when we arrive on the planet. This is what's I 40 00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:27,760 Speaker 1: think so extraordinary, because the internal clock is a subcellular 41 00:02:28,120 --> 00:02:32,040 Speaker 1: molecular clock. So we could take almost any cell in 42 00:02:32,080 --> 00:02:35,360 Speaker 1: the body, put it in a dish and monitor its activity, 43 00:02:35,720 --> 00:02:38,680 Speaker 1: and it would show a near not exactly, but a 44 00:02:38,760 --> 00:02:43,760 Speaker 1: near twenty four oscillation. Russell is something of a sleep evangelist, 45 00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:47,960 Speaker 1: very pro sleep, and he's enthusiastic in describing the manifold 46 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:51,000 Speaker 1: functions and benefits of getting a full night of it. 47 00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:55,399 Speaker 1: It's memory, consolidation, the processing of information. Some really important 48 00:02:55,520 --> 00:02:58,560 Speaker 1: data that's emerged recently has been the clearance of toxins 49 00:02:58,600 --> 00:03:03,320 Speaker 1: and particularly some misfolded proteins the plaques which have been 50 00:03:03,320 --> 00:03:07,160 Speaker 1: associated with the development of Alzheimer's. Sleep also plays a 51 00:03:07,280 --> 00:03:10,560 Speaker 1: role in keeping the immune system healthy. Studies have emerged 52 00:03:10,560 --> 00:03:13,119 Speaker 1: in the last few years showing that if you are 53 00:03:13,760 --> 00:03:18,600 Speaker 1: tired or sleep deprived prior to or immediately following an 54 00:03:18,600 --> 00:03:23,120 Speaker 1: inoculation for a vaccine, then your antibody response is actually 55 00:03:23,160 --> 00:03:27,160 Speaker 1: reduced if you're chronically tired. Russell thinks that sleep is 56 00:03:27,320 --> 00:03:31,520 Speaker 1: well slept on. Modern society doesn't value or prioritize it 57 00:03:31,560 --> 00:03:35,960 Speaker 1: as it should. We have become industrial creatures in the 58 00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:38,880 Speaker 1: past what two hundred years, and most rapidly since the 59 00:03:38,960 --> 00:03:42,880 Speaker 1: nineteen fifties, with a massive commercialization of cheap light at 60 00:03:43,000 --> 00:03:46,040 Speaker 1: night for electric light, we've invaded the night, and in 61 00:03:46,080 --> 00:03:51,400 Speaker 1: the process we've abandoned sleep. So we're fighting against millions 62 00:03:51,400 --> 00:03:54,640 Speaker 1: and certainly hundreds of thousands of years of evolutionary biology, 63 00:03:54,680 --> 00:03:57,560 Speaker 1: which is embraced sleep. And it's really interesting to think 64 00:03:57,560 --> 00:04:06,000 Speaker 1: how sleep was considered in the medieval parade. Historical records 65 00:04:06,000 --> 00:04:08,960 Speaker 1: suggest that in many parts of the medieval world, a 66 00:04:09,080 --> 00:04:12,800 Speaker 1: segmented pattern of sleep was the norm. People essentially slept 67 00:04:12,800 --> 00:04:15,400 Speaker 1: in two shifts. The first would last for a couple 68 00:04:15,400 --> 00:04:18,240 Speaker 1: of hours, and then you'd get up and maybe do 69 00:04:18,320 --> 00:04:21,080 Speaker 1: some work, or eat, or drink or pray, have sex, 70 00:04:21,279 --> 00:04:23,840 Speaker 1: visit with the neighbors or whatever. And in English, this 71 00:04:23,880 --> 00:04:27,440 Speaker 1: period of the night was sometimes called the watch. Then 72 00:04:27,640 --> 00:04:30,159 Speaker 1: you'd go back to bed for a second longer sleep 73 00:04:30,279 --> 00:04:35,279 Speaker 1: till morning. Historically, sleep has been prized, says Russell. In 74 00:04:35,320 --> 00:04:38,680 Speaker 1: the Elizabethan era, people were practically writing love poems about it. 75 00:04:42,240 --> 00:04:46,360 Speaker 1: I just think of Shakespeare the honey heavy dew of slumber, Sleep, sleep, 76 00:04:46,480 --> 00:04:50,719 Speaker 1: nature's softness, Have thy forsaken thee We intuitively seemed to 77 00:04:50,760 --> 00:04:53,200 Speaker 1: embrace sleep. But wait a minute, Wait a minute, because 78 00:04:53,240 --> 00:04:56,280 Speaker 1: I mean Shakespeare, hold On, Macbeth is an insomniac, right, 79 00:04:56,440 --> 00:05:00,159 Speaker 1: his life is a sleepwalker. Falstaff has sleep apnea. The 80 00:05:00,160 --> 00:05:03,480 Speaker 1: guy with the best take on on sleep as Hamlet, 81 00:05:03,560 --> 00:05:07,960 Speaker 1: as he's comtemplating suicide like everybody wants it and nobody's 82 00:05:08,040 --> 00:05:10,320 Speaker 1: getting it. It seems like that was true even in 83 00:05:10,400 --> 00:05:13,960 Speaker 1: Shakespeare's time. Absolutely, but they realized that if they weren't 84 00:05:14,000 --> 00:05:17,680 Speaker 1: getting it, they were in trouble. And now we actively 85 00:05:17,880 --> 00:05:25,120 Speaker 1: fight against it. At least in Shakespeare's time, the insomniacs 86 00:05:25,160 --> 00:05:27,960 Speaker 1: had the sense to lament what they were missing, whereas 87 00:05:28,000 --> 00:05:30,680 Speaker 1: now we might wear a sleepless night is a badge 88 00:05:30,680 --> 00:05:33,799 Speaker 1: of honor, proof positive that we stay grinding, and everybody 89 00:05:33,839 --> 00:05:36,280 Speaker 1: from Martha Stewart to Loewayne brags about how a few 90 00:05:36,279 --> 00:05:41,479 Speaker 1: hours they spend asleep. Okay, but let's pause on the 91 00:05:41,560 --> 00:05:45,520 Speaker 1: historical and cultural analysis for a second. Let's turn to Moody, 92 00:05:45,560 --> 00:05:56,279 Speaker 1: our sheet, a real life insomniac. If I were to say, hey, Moody, 93 00:05:56,600 --> 00:05:59,240 Speaker 1: what's your sleep life? Like? What are you say to me? 94 00:05:59,560 --> 00:06:05,000 Speaker 1: I'd really just like burst into tears. I have a toddler, 95 00:06:05,240 --> 00:06:09,000 Speaker 1: I have anxiety, and we've just moved, and my sleep 96 00:06:09,000 --> 00:06:13,440 Speaker 1: pattern is a feeling afraid in my bed is definitely 97 00:06:13,520 --> 00:06:16,560 Speaker 1: something that is familiar to me these days. Is it 98 00:06:16,640 --> 00:06:20,279 Speaker 1: like essentially a thresholding thing that It's like all of 99 00:06:20,320 --> 00:06:24,160 Speaker 1: the ghosts of my errors, concerns, and fears haunt me 100 00:06:24,200 --> 00:06:26,640 Speaker 1: around the clock, but I'm distracted from them in the 101 00:06:26,680 --> 00:06:30,599 Speaker 1: daytime hours, whereas they have top billing. At night, when 102 00:06:30,600 --> 00:06:33,359 Speaker 1: everything is dark and quiet, there are no other stimuli. 103 00:06:33,600 --> 00:06:36,719 Speaker 1: There are no distractions, or no people to keep alive, 104 00:06:36,920 --> 00:06:40,120 Speaker 1: or dogs to feed or phone calls. You're really alone 105 00:06:40,120 --> 00:06:42,680 Speaker 1: with your thoughts, and for me, that kind of amplifies 106 00:06:42,880 --> 00:06:45,560 Speaker 1: anything that's going on in my head. I'd say at 107 00:06:45,680 --> 00:06:49,440 Speaker 1: night anxiety is worse, which exacerbates sleep issues for sure. 108 00:06:50,640 --> 00:06:53,719 Speaker 1: But Moody's perspective on insomnia is informed by a lot 109 00:06:53,800 --> 00:06:57,120 Speaker 1: more than just personal experience. I'm a historian of the 110 00:06:57,160 --> 00:07:01,320 Speaker 1: ancient Middle East, ancient Assyria and Babylonia and the other 111 00:07:01,400 --> 00:07:06,359 Speaker 1: civilizations that occupied what we call ancient Mesopotamia, the land 112 00:07:06,400 --> 00:07:10,440 Speaker 1: between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates, which is now where 113 00:07:10,480 --> 00:07:13,800 Speaker 1: Iraq and Syria are. Did people suffer sleeplessness in the 114 00:07:13,840 --> 00:07:15,960 Speaker 1: same way, as near as you can tell, I think 115 00:07:16,000 --> 00:07:18,920 Speaker 1: it's hard to say for sure, but I do think 116 00:07:18,960 --> 00:07:22,240 Speaker 1: there are lots of common denominators in the kind of 117 00:07:22,280 --> 00:07:26,880 Speaker 1: contexts for sleeplessness, like feeling anxious or feeling depressed, or 118 00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:31,760 Speaker 1: experiencing other elements of mental distress. That link between anxiety 119 00:07:31,800 --> 00:07:35,200 Speaker 1: and sleep problems is worth underlining. The sleep Foundation in 120 00:07:35,200 --> 00:07:38,640 Speaker 1: the US notes the possibility of a vicious cycle. It's 121 00:07:38,680 --> 00:07:41,560 Speaker 1: hard to fall asleep if you're anxious, and then being 122 00:07:41,600 --> 00:07:46,120 Speaker 1: tired just increases the next day's anxiety. But how exactly 123 00:07:46,480 --> 00:07:49,120 Speaker 1: does Moody know about the complaints of people who did 124 00:07:49,160 --> 00:07:52,560 Speaker 1: their sleeping thousands of years ago? As it turns out, 125 00:07:52,640 --> 00:07:56,600 Speaker 1: she's got firsthand accounts ancient medical texts written in terra 126 00:07:56,640 --> 00:08:01,440 Speaker 1: cotta colored clay in a language called Acadian. Day to day, 127 00:08:01,600 --> 00:08:05,320 Speaker 1: I'm looking at someone's drawing of one of these objects. 128 00:08:05,320 --> 00:08:07,600 Speaker 1: But when I get to actually go to a museum 129 00:08:07,640 --> 00:08:11,600 Speaker 1: and look at one of these texts, it's a clay manuscript, 130 00:08:11,680 --> 00:08:14,120 Speaker 1: so it's a clay tablet. Some of them are sort 131 00:08:14,160 --> 00:08:16,440 Speaker 1: of the size of an iPhone, but the medical texts 132 00:08:16,440 --> 00:08:19,120 Speaker 1: are usually a little bit bigger, like a very geometric 133 00:08:19,160 --> 00:08:23,080 Speaker 1: looking writing system. Acadian is kind of like the great 134 00:08:23,120 --> 00:08:28,480 Speaker 1: great grand dad sort of grand aunt of Arabic, Hebrew, 135 00:08:29,160 --> 00:08:34,120 Speaker 1: Modern Assyrian, Aramaic, other Semitic language family groups. Can you 136 00:08:34,160 --> 00:08:37,160 Speaker 1: read Acadian? I can, and I love it. It's such 137 00:08:37,200 --> 00:08:41,320 Speaker 1: a beautiful language. An enormous number of these primary texts 138 00:08:41,360 --> 00:08:44,560 Speaker 1: have survived for thousands of years, so you've got a 139 00:08:44,600 --> 00:08:47,319 Speaker 1: real portal into the daily lives of people whose stories 140 00:08:47,360 --> 00:08:53,160 Speaker 1: otherwise might have been lost to history. The quite famous 141 00:08:53,200 --> 00:08:58,120 Speaker 1: library of Ashurbanipal in Nineveh was set on fire in 142 00:08:58,160 --> 00:09:01,200 Speaker 1: the ancient world as part of a sacking of the city, 143 00:09:01,679 --> 00:09:07,720 Speaker 1: and that bizarrely perhaps preserved all the tablets perfectly. An 144 00:09:07,760 --> 00:09:12,160 Speaker 1: ancient Mesopotamia as now, people might suffer insomnia for a 145 00:09:12,240 --> 00:09:15,920 Speaker 1: variety of reasons. Somebody might complain of a bodily ailment 146 00:09:16,000 --> 00:09:19,120 Speaker 1: that's keeping them awaken night. Yeah, so there's a description 147 00:09:19,160 --> 00:09:22,319 Speaker 1: of the person. My spleen hurts and I can't sleep. Um, 148 00:09:22,320 --> 00:09:24,400 Speaker 1: where is my spleen? I don't know where. I don't 149 00:09:24,400 --> 00:09:29,800 Speaker 1: know what where not a clue, or there might be stressed, 150 00:09:30,040 --> 00:09:33,240 Speaker 1: a condition which seems to have an etymological connection to 151 00:09:33,280 --> 00:09:37,319 Speaker 1: insomnia in the Akkadian language, so delipped too. It's a 152 00:09:37,400 --> 00:09:40,960 Speaker 1: noun that means sleeplessness or can sometimes mean just being 153 00:09:40,960 --> 00:09:43,400 Speaker 1: troubled in some way. What are the odds that we 154 00:09:43,480 --> 00:09:46,640 Speaker 1: can get delipped to trending on Twitter? I would say 155 00:09:46,720 --> 00:09:51,400 Speaker 1: pretty high considering stuff going on in the world, or 156 00:09:51,440 --> 00:09:54,240 Speaker 1: trouble sleeping might have been a symptom of a larger issue, 157 00:09:54,440 --> 00:09:58,160 Speaker 1: a cluster of complaints associated with a serious ailment. The 158 00:09:58,200 --> 00:10:01,760 Speaker 1: Assyrians didn't have a sense of journey is pathogenic vectors 159 00:10:01,800 --> 00:10:05,479 Speaker 1: for them. Sickness was often understood as the product of witchcraft. 160 00:10:06,120 --> 00:10:08,320 Speaker 1: You got sick because somebody put a spell on you. 161 00:10:08,800 --> 00:10:13,720 Speaker 1: What we call anti witchcraft texts basically descriptions of medical 162 00:10:13,760 --> 00:10:18,240 Speaker 1: experiences caused by witchcraft, and then the corresponding rituals or 163 00:10:18,280 --> 00:10:23,960 Speaker 1: incantations and medical prescriptions to deal with those issues. There's 164 00:10:24,000 --> 00:10:28,000 Speaker 1: a particular text that Moody thinks links insomnia with heartbreak, 165 00:10:28,600 --> 00:10:31,800 Speaker 1: which is an association that will probably be familiar to 166 00:10:31,840 --> 00:10:34,400 Speaker 1: anybody who has stayed up late at night scrolling the 167 00:10:34,440 --> 00:10:37,800 Speaker 1: social media account of your ex guys new girl. The 168 00:10:38,040 --> 00:10:43,560 Speaker 1: treatment involves the patient reciting like a prayer incantation addressed 169 00:10:43,559 --> 00:10:47,959 Speaker 1: to Ishtar, the goddess of love and war and ancient Mesopotamiam, 170 00:10:47,960 --> 00:10:50,080 Speaker 1: and in that he says and it is a heat. 171 00:10:50,440 --> 00:10:53,640 Speaker 1: I am tired, I am exhausted, I am ill, I 172 00:10:53,679 --> 00:10:57,360 Speaker 1: am vexed, I am sleepless, I am scared. That sounds 173 00:10:57,400 --> 00:10:59,920 Speaker 1: like a I don't know, it sounds like a mash 174 00:11:00,000 --> 00:11:02,640 Speaker 1: about a new Phoebe Bridgers record. Like that sounds like 175 00:11:02,679 --> 00:11:26,040 Speaker 1: the hook you know, super relatable. Ah aheah, I am 176 00:11:25,160 --> 00:11:38,720 Speaker 1: I am, I am see science. Okay, big shout out 177 00:11:38,720 --> 00:11:42,000 Speaker 1: here to Andy Thompson, musical genius for that bit of 178 00:11:42,040 --> 00:11:49,320 Speaker 1: bittersweet guitar on short notice. Oh. Now, as you may 179 00:11:49,360 --> 00:11:52,280 Speaker 1: already know, the consequences of not getting enough sleep can 180 00:11:52,320 --> 00:11:55,800 Speaker 1: be pretty ugly. Let's go back to Professor Russell. There's 181 00:11:55,880 --> 00:11:59,800 Speaker 1: now a very important link between chronic sleep deprivation and cancer. 182 00:12:00,160 --> 00:12:03,400 Speaker 1: It's a global impact on health. Lack of sleep in 183 00:12:03,480 --> 00:12:05,800 Speaker 1: the long term can result in a big list of 184 00:12:05,840 --> 00:12:09,839 Speaker 1: garbage outcomes for both mind and body. Fluctuation in moods, 185 00:12:09,920 --> 00:12:13,880 Speaker 1: increased irritability, anxiety, loss of empathy. We failed to pick 186 00:12:13,960 --> 00:12:17,480 Speaker 1: up those social signals from friends and colleagues. One very 187 00:12:17,520 --> 00:12:24,439 Speaker 1: important factor, of course, is risk taking an impulsivity. Cognitive 188 00:12:24,440 --> 00:12:27,520 Speaker 1: impairment due to sleep deprivation has made history and some 189 00:12:27,640 --> 00:12:31,400 Speaker 1: of our most memorable disasters. Think of the famous images 190 00:12:31,440 --> 00:12:35,960 Speaker 1: from January when the US launched the Challenger Space Shuttle. 191 00:12:37,360 --> 00:12:39,760 Speaker 1: We have a report from Leaply Dynamic confter that the 192 00:12:39,840 --> 00:12:43,640 Speaker 1: vehicle has exploded. By Director confirmed that we are looking 193 00:12:43,679 --> 00:12:47,240 Speaker 1: at checking with the recovery forces to see what can 194 00:12:47,280 --> 00:12:52,320 Speaker 1: be done. At this point, the Challenger Space Shuttle disaster 195 00:12:52,800 --> 00:12:56,680 Speaker 1: was a failure to appreciate consequences, and that's really very 196 00:12:56,760 --> 00:13:00,480 Speaker 1: clear as a result of relatively short amounts of sleep disruption. 197 00:13:03,160 --> 00:13:06,080 Speaker 1: An investigation was launched to try to understand the cause 198 00:13:06,120 --> 00:13:09,160 Speaker 1: of the explosion, and a report from the Human Factors 199 00:13:09,240 --> 00:13:13,040 Speaker 1: Subcommittee listed severe sleep deprivation of NASA managers as a 200 00:13:13,040 --> 00:13:18,360 Speaker 1: contributing factor. And in your own life, you've probably noticed 201 00:13:18,360 --> 00:13:21,520 Speaker 1: that being super tired makes you less effective at whatever 202 00:13:21,559 --> 00:13:25,680 Speaker 1: it is you're trying to do. I suck when I'm tired. 203 00:13:25,800 --> 00:13:29,600 Speaker 1: I really suck. I'm very sensitive. But would you get 204 00:13:29,640 --> 00:13:32,920 Speaker 1: in the color and drive? I know, I'm a touring musician, right, 205 00:13:32,960 --> 00:13:36,440 Speaker 1: that's my my night job, I guess. And in the 206 00:13:36,480 --> 00:13:38,600 Speaker 1: beginning of my career, the way that we used to 207 00:13:38,600 --> 00:13:43,720 Speaker 1: treat night drives was super cavalier. Super cavalier, right. Everyone 208 00:13:43,760 --> 00:13:45,400 Speaker 1: was worried about had you had too much to drink, 209 00:13:45,440 --> 00:13:47,840 Speaker 1: but nobody was worried about how exhausted are you? And 210 00:13:47,840 --> 00:13:50,280 Speaker 1: then I think collectively a lot of people, at least 211 00:13:50,280 --> 00:13:53,560 Speaker 1: in my community learned because we were terrified of the 212 00:13:53,559 --> 00:13:59,400 Speaker 1: Stories of flipped van's night drives really scare me. I've 213 00:13:59,440 --> 00:14:02,200 Speaker 1: definitely been in a vehicle where somebody has drifted off 214 00:14:02,480 --> 00:14:05,559 Speaker 1: and the car has drifted onto the rumble strip. Because 215 00:14:05,600 --> 00:14:08,360 Speaker 1: the thing is, when you really need sleep, you can't 216 00:14:08,360 --> 00:14:11,160 Speaker 1: resist it through sheer force of will, Like physically, you 217 00:14:11,240 --> 00:14:14,360 Speaker 1: cannot stop yourself from nodding off. Yes, a micro sleep 218 00:14:14,440 --> 00:14:17,400 Speaker 1: is this sort of uncontrollable falling asleep so you can 219 00:14:17,440 --> 00:14:21,920 Speaker 1: actually be driving. There are these overwhelming, uncontrollable falling asleep 220 00:14:21,960 --> 00:14:25,520 Speaker 1: episodes because you're chronically tired, and a lot of people 221 00:14:25,640 --> 00:14:29,600 Speaker 1: have experienced these micro sleeps. Figures shared by the CDC 222 00:14:29,920 --> 00:14:33,360 Speaker 1: report that one adults drivers in the US say that 223 00:14:33,400 --> 00:14:36,360 Speaker 1: they've fallen asleep while driving in the past thirty days, 224 00:14:36,920 --> 00:14:39,960 Speaker 1: and drowsy driving contributes to over a hundred thousand accidents 225 00:14:40,000 --> 00:14:44,479 Speaker 1: annually in the US. Being chronically tired can be particularly 226 00:14:44,560 --> 00:14:47,440 Speaker 1: hasitous for people who work long hours or late into 227 00:14:47,440 --> 00:14:51,160 Speaker 1: the night. Think of the insane schedules of medical professionals. 228 00:14:51,480 --> 00:14:54,640 Speaker 1: Well tired nurses and doctors do not perform the same 229 00:14:54,680 --> 00:14:58,840 Speaker 1: way that well rested nurses and doctors do. The amount 230 00:14:58,880 --> 00:15:00,800 Speaker 1: of time on the night shift can have a big 231 00:15:00,880 --> 00:15:06,480 Speaker 1: effect upon accident rates and harm to patients. If sleep 232 00:15:06,560 --> 00:15:10,440 Speaker 1: is so important, then why aren't we valuing it? Why 233 00:15:10,560 --> 00:15:13,520 Speaker 1: is low Wayne writing a song called no Sleep? Also 234 00:15:13,600 --> 00:15:17,080 Speaker 1: incidentally the titles of songs by a bunch of other rappers. 235 00:15:17,520 --> 00:15:20,120 Speaker 1: And Martha Stewart is bragging about running on four hours 236 00:15:20,120 --> 00:15:22,280 Speaker 1: a night. I think he goes back to a rather 237 00:15:22,360 --> 00:15:26,920 Speaker 1: puritan time when work was was virtuous, and therefore, because 238 00:15:26,960 --> 00:15:29,960 Speaker 1: when you're sleep, you can't work, sleep must be bad. 239 00:15:37,200 --> 00:15:40,800 Speaker 1: In her book Insomnia, a Luned Summers, Bremner notes that 240 00:15:40,920 --> 00:15:45,400 Speaker 1: Dutch Calvinists demanded that sleep be indulged in only in moderation, 241 00:15:45,920 --> 00:15:49,680 Speaker 1: and I quote English preachers of the seventeenth century made 242 00:15:49,760 --> 00:15:54,840 Speaker 1: sleep into the equivalent of moral disorder, which is heavy. 243 00:15:55,240 --> 00:15:58,560 Speaker 1: So let's go someplace untouched by Puritanism to see how 244 00:15:58,640 --> 00:16:05,240 Speaker 1: humans sleep there. I've actually spent extended field work in 245 00:16:05,880 --> 00:16:09,560 Speaker 1: multiple sites, probably close to a year in Bolivia with 246 00:16:09,560 --> 00:16:12,720 Speaker 1: the chimane, maybe about three or four months with the 247 00:16:12,760 --> 00:16:16,640 Speaker 1: san people in in the Kalahari also sometimes called the bushman, 248 00:16:17,040 --> 00:16:19,800 Speaker 1: and more recently, I've spent maybe about three or four 249 00:16:19,880 --> 00:16:24,480 Speaker 1: months with the Hadza in Tanzania, who are also hunter gatherers. 250 00:16:25,080 --> 00:16:28,280 Speaker 1: That is. Gandhi as an anthropologist who studies the sleep 251 00:16:28,320 --> 00:16:31,120 Speaker 1: habits of people who are not concerned with calvinism or 252 00:16:31,160 --> 00:16:35,880 Speaker 1: screen time or corporate burnout. Gandhi conducts his research by 253 00:16:35,920 --> 00:16:38,680 Speaker 1: asking a lot of questions, how tired were you when 254 00:16:38,680 --> 00:16:40,520 Speaker 1: you went to bed, do you have any dreams? Did 255 00:16:40,560 --> 00:16:43,280 Speaker 1: you wake up during the night? And he asks study 256 00:16:43,320 --> 00:16:45,960 Speaker 1: participants to wear an accelerometer, a device kind of like 257 00:16:46,000 --> 00:16:49,440 Speaker 1: a fitbit that records their patterns of physical activity. These 258 00:16:49,440 --> 00:16:53,040 Speaker 1: are populations where people don't have money, they don't have 259 00:16:53,200 --> 00:16:56,680 Speaker 1: indoor plumbing. Most of them today live in relative isolation, 260 00:16:56,880 --> 00:16:59,360 Speaker 1: and they certainly don't have a nine to five work schedule, 261 00:16:59,560 --> 00:17:01,960 Speaker 1: which is what makes them useful for your studying sleep. 262 00:17:02,200 --> 00:17:06,160 Speaker 1: You are living with people who are in smaller communities, 263 00:17:06,520 --> 00:17:08,320 Speaker 1: aren't connected to the grid in the same way that 264 00:17:08,359 --> 00:17:12,719 Speaker 1: we are. Are They sleeping like, you know, ten hours 265 00:17:12,720 --> 00:17:17,680 Speaker 1: a night and uninterruptedly and waking fresh faced every day? 266 00:17:17,680 --> 00:17:20,640 Speaker 1: Like what is their sleep experience? Compared to ours. Actual 267 00:17:20,800 --> 00:17:25,760 Speaker 1: sleep duration would be somewhere around six to seven hours 268 00:17:25,760 --> 00:17:29,040 Speaker 1: per night, which is actually pretty much the same pattern 269 00:17:29,080 --> 00:17:33,200 Speaker 1: we have in the US. If that surprises you, me too. 270 00:17:33,680 --> 00:17:35,800 Speaker 1: A lot of us somewhere along the way picked up 271 00:17:35,800 --> 00:17:38,240 Speaker 1: the number eight. You're supposed to get eight hours of 272 00:17:38,240 --> 00:17:42,960 Speaker 1: shut I every night, but recommendations from the National Sleep 273 00:17:42,960 --> 00:17:46,200 Speaker 1: Foundation highlight how that changes over the course of development. 274 00:17:46,760 --> 00:17:50,000 Speaker 1: Newborns are supposed to get fourteen to seventeen hours a day, 275 00:17:50,080 --> 00:17:54,080 Speaker 1: which makes them horrible Dutch Calvinists. For adults, the recommendation 276 00:17:54,160 --> 00:17:56,600 Speaker 1: is seven to nine hours, but the need varies from 277 00:17:56,600 --> 00:17:59,679 Speaker 1: person to person and night tonight. The right amount of 278 00:17:59,680 --> 00:18:02,240 Speaker 1: sleep for you is the amount that enables you to 279 00:18:02,280 --> 00:18:08,880 Speaker 1: wake up well rested and ready for the day. Gandhi 280 00:18:08,920 --> 00:18:11,800 Speaker 1: has recorded a notable difference, though, in the time that's 281 00:18:11,840 --> 00:18:15,000 Speaker 1: earmarked for sleep in the communities he studied if they 282 00:18:15,040 --> 00:18:18,440 Speaker 1: spend more time in bed. Time in bed is your 283 00:18:18,440 --> 00:18:23,200 Speaker 1: conscious decision, and sleep duration is not a conscious decision. 284 00:18:23,720 --> 00:18:26,840 Speaker 1: That means they don't have to optimize their horizontal hours 285 00:18:26,880 --> 00:18:29,760 Speaker 1: to ring every minute of rest out of them like 286 00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:32,520 Speaker 1: there's a comfortable margin of air. Do you have a 287 00:18:32,520 --> 00:18:35,960 Speaker 1: confident answer to the question what is normal human sleep? 288 00:18:36,280 --> 00:18:40,800 Speaker 1: Normal human sleep fits into your day, like you don't 289 00:18:40,840 --> 00:18:43,680 Speaker 1: shape your day around your sleep, you shape your sleep 290 00:18:43,800 --> 00:18:47,399 Speaker 1: around your day. When people ask me from the other side, 291 00:18:47,480 --> 00:18:50,760 Speaker 1: like why study sleep, my new elevator pitch is that 292 00:18:51,119 --> 00:18:54,520 Speaker 1: the only things that are important in your life will 293 00:18:54,560 --> 00:18:57,080 Speaker 1: affect your sleep. So if something really great happens, you're 294 00:18:57,080 --> 00:18:59,120 Speaker 1: staying up late, that affects your sleep. If you're really 295 00:18:59,280 --> 00:19:02,080 Speaker 1: troubled by some thing and you're feeling anxiety, that affects 296 00:19:02,119 --> 00:19:04,920 Speaker 1: your sleep. If you've ever read a magazine about getting 297 00:19:04,960 --> 00:19:07,800 Speaker 1: better sleep, you've probably been told how important it is 298 00:19:07,840 --> 00:19:10,879 Speaker 1: to have a routine to keep your bedroom a sanctum 299 00:19:10,920 --> 00:19:15,800 Speaker 1: for rest. However, I've found that consistency from night tonight 300 00:19:15,920 --> 00:19:20,440 Speaker 1: is totally a Western recommendation thing. When you have the 301 00:19:20,480 --> 00:19:23,960 Speaker 1: ability to control your environment, you can try to do 302 00:19:24,119 --> 00:19:26,320 Speaker 1: things like that and sleep at the same time every 303 00:19:26,400 --> 00:19:29,600 Speaker 1: night and have these routines and rituals to kind of 304 00:19:29,640 --> 00:19:32,000 Speaker 1: get yourself into the mood to sleep. But in the 305 00:19:32,119 --> 00:19:34,880 Speaker 1: environments I've been working in, people don't have that level 306 00:19:34,880 --> 00:19:37,840 Speaker 1: of control. It's the environment that tells them when to sleep, 307 00:19:37,920 --> 00:19:41,040 Speaker 1: not their own ritual. Are the populations that you've spent 308 00:19:41,080 --> 00:19:46,040 Speaker 1: time with. Are they as frequently tired as people who 309 00:19:46,080 --> 00:19:49,720 Speaker 1: are living in industrial societies? Definitely not. They are more 310 00:19:49,920 --> 00:19:54,479 Speaker 1: rested and less tired. Why I think that your sleep 311 00:19:54,480 --> 00:19:58,679 Speaker 1: and your awake have to kind of reach this dynamic equilibrium. 312 00:19:58,720 --> 00:20:01,720 Speaker 1: I think it's kind of where in our populations in 313 00:20:01,760 --> 00:20:05,560 Speaker 1: the West, where time is money, you really push yourself 314 00:20:05,760 --> 00:20:10,000 Speaker 1: and you really take this flexible phenotype of sleep that 315 00:20:10,080 --> 00:20:13,720 Speaker 1: we we have the biological capacity to limit it to 316 00:20:13,920 --> 00:20:17,120 Speaker 1: pursue waking activities, and we really stretch it as far 317 00:20:17,160 --> 00:20:19,159 Speaker 1: as it can possibly go to the point where we 318 00:20:19,160 --> 00:20:27,760 Speaker 1: start suffering consequences. Humans are made of flexible stuff. We 319 00:20:27,800 --> 00:20:31,960 Speaker 1: adapt our schedules and lifestyles to our particular circumstances, and 320 00:20:32,119 --> 00:20:35,360 Speaker 1: modern schedules have stretched the elastic about as far as 321 00:20:35,359 --> 00:20:39,800 Speaker 1: it will go without starting to fray. I think that 322 00:20:39,960 --> 00:20:43,919 Speaker 1: it's almost like diabetes, because we achieved something as a 323 00:20:43,960 --> 00:20:46,840 Speaker 1: society where food is so plentiful and sugar is so 324 00:20:46,920 --> 00:20:49,920 Speaker 1: abundant that we now get sick from it. That we're 325 00:20:50,040 --> 00:20:53,679 Speaker 1: so good at staying up late after dark and making 326 00:20:53,800 --> 00:20:56,199 Speaker 1: good use of that time, that now that we're all 327 00:20:56,280 --> 00:21:00,840 Speaker 1: chronically sleep deprived, we just push and push push ourselves 328 00:21:01,160 --> 00:21:06,119 Speaker 1: really freaking hard. The brain can become so tired it 329 00:21:06,240 --> 00:21:09,600 Speaker 1: can't detect how tired it is, and we fool ourselves 330 00:21:09,600 --> 00:21:13,800 Speaker 1: spectacularly into thinking you're perfectly okay, but actually your cognitive 331 00:21:13,800 --> 00:21:16,920 Speaker 1: abilities are really really on the floor. That, of course 332 00:21:17,080 --> 00:21:20,359 Speaker 1: is our guy rustling in. So what steps can we 333 00:21:20,400 --> 00:21:23,720 Speaker 1: actually take to improve our sleep lives? Get as much 334 00:21:24,040 --> 00:21:26,760 Speaker 1: natural light as possible, particularly in the morning. It sets 335 00:21:26,800 --> 00:21:29,480 Speaker 1: the body clock, which sets the sleep wake cycle, and 336 00:21:29,760 --> 00:21:33,840 Speaker 1: morning light is really good for stabilizing Most people skip 337 00:21:33,920 --> 00:21:37,680 Speaker 1: the sleeping pills. All of the currently available sleeping tablets 338 00:21:38,320 --> 00:21:41,840 Speaker 1: have the problem that they sedate you. They don't provide 339 00:21:41,840 --> 00:21:44,960 Speaker 1: a biological mimic for sleep, and don't get too caught 340 00:21:45,000 --> 00:21:48,000 Speaker 1: up in the sleep apps and all their color coded analytics. 341 00:21:48,119 --> 00:21:50,600 Speaker 1: Some of the problems that people are getting with commercially 342 00:21:50,640 --> 00:21:54,160 Speaker 1: available apps are really sending them into a tail spin. 343 00:21:54,280 --> 00:21:56,680 Speaker 1: One person came up to me before COVID and said, 344 00:21:56,720 --> 00:21:59,240 Speaker 1: my app is telling me I don't get any slow 345 00:21:59,240 --> 00:22:02,359 Speaker 1: way sleep. And so this chap actually would wake himself 346 00:22:02,400 --> 00:22:04,920 Speaker 1: up at three o'clock in the morning to check how 347 00:22:05,000 --> 00:22:08,280 Speaker 1: much slow wave sleep his app was telling him. At first, 348 00:22:08,280 --> 00:22:10,439 Speaker 1: of all, these apps are really bad at telling us 349 00:22:10,480 --> 00:22:12,080 Speaker 1: about slow wave sleep and all the rest of it, 350 00:22:12,480 --> 00:22:15,440 Speaker 1: and we don't even really understand what slow wave sleep 351 00:22:15,520 --> 00:22:17,840 Speaker 1: is for, so roughly, when did you go to sleep, 352 00:22:17,840 --> 00:22:20,280 Speaker 1: when do you wake up? How many interrupts in the night. 353 00:22:20,480 --> 00:22:23,960 Speaker 1: That's kind of useful information, but I think more than 354 00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:27,080 Speaker 1: that you can be misleading and in fact, really rather harmful. 355 00:22:27,160 --> 00:22:30,200 Speaker 1: It generates more anxiety. So take him with a pinch 356 00:22:30,240 --> 00:22:33,840 Speaker 1: of salt. God, it does have a real cool, like 357 00:22:34,040 --> 00:22:36,880 Speaker 1: fireplace sound that I got super into here, but it's 358 00:22:36,920 --> 00:22:42,240 Speaker 1: like so much of technology, it's deeply seductive, all right, James, 359 00:22:42,600 --> 00:22:48,000 Speaker 1: James hit me. Oh that's a nice It's just a 360 00:22:48,240 --> 00:22:53,040 Speaker 1: nice How could you not like that? Okay, cut it. 361 00:22:53,200 --> 00:22:59,480 Speaker 1: I don't want anybody falling asleep before done. Given that 362 00:22:59,680 --> 00:23:04,080 Speaker 1: sleep is so fundamental, I mean, why is it that 363 00:23:04,720 --> 00:23:08,159 Speaker 1: we suck at getting enough of it? Sleep is just 364 00:23:08,240 --> 00:23:11,760 Speaker 1: another victim of human arrogance that we're above the grubby 365 00:23:11,800 --> 00:23:15,280 Speaker 1: world of biology. We're not. We expect to do whatever 366 00:23:15,320 --> 00:23:17,800 Speaker 1: we want, whatever time of day, and we now know 367 00:23:17,920 --> 00:23:20,800 Speaker 1: that that's not possible. I think things are changing now. 368 00:23:20,840 --> 00:23:24,800 Speaker 1: We appreciate and the society is appreciating the incredible value 369 00:23:24,800 --> 00:23:29,320 Speaker 1: of sleep. I've noticed that shift to friends, colleagues, famous 370 00:23:29,320 --> 00:23:32,280 Speaker 1: people that I follow online all seem to be recognizing 371 00:23:32,280 --> 00:23:36,240 Speaker 1: the importance of rest. The NAP Ministry, which frames rest 372 00:23:36,280 --> 00:23:39,560 Speaker 1: as a form of resistance, has almost halfamillion followers on 373 00:23:39,600 --> 00:23:43,399 Speaker 1: Instagram alone, which can be called comfort if you're walking 374 00:23:43,440 --> 00:23:46,080 Speaker 1: down a mental staircase in your head at three am, 375 00:23:46,080 --> 00:23:49,000 Speaker 1: furious that your body seems so reluctant to meet its 376 00:23:49,000 --> 00:23:54,520 Speaker 1: own biological imperative. A final thought from Moody are insomniac 377 00:23:54,760 --> 00:24:00,239 Speaker 1: seriologist is an amazing phrase during a hard night can 378 00:24:00,359 --> 00:24:03,119 Speaker 1: bed knowing that you need rest unable to get it? 379 00:24:03,800 --> 00:24:06,680 Speaker 1: Have you recited that incantation? I have tried a lot 380 00:24:06,680 --> 00:24:08,920 Speaker 1: of things, but I haven't tried that, And you've just 381 00:24:09,359 --> 00:24:12,159 Speaker 1: given me the idea why not tonight? Tonight is the 382 00:24:12,280 --> 00:24:17,399 Speaker 1: night a star you'll be hearing from me. We may 383 00:24:17,400 --> 00:24:20,760 Speaker 1: struggle to sleep because we're anxious, and then struggle to 384 00:24:20,840 --> 00:24:24,199 Speaker 1: quell our anxieties because we're tired. Hashtag to lip too, 385 00:24:24,720 --> 00:24:27,639 Speaker 1: and more generally, we struggle because we've tried to slot 386 00:24:27,720 --> 00:24:30,560 Speaker 1: sleep into a neat little window in our schedules. We 387 00:24:30,600 --> 00:24:33,040 Speaker 1: expect ourselves to do it on command, at the hour 388 00:24:33,119 --> 00:24:35,120 Speaker 1: that is most convenient for the rest of our more 389 00:24:35,119 --> 00:24:42,119 Speaker 1: important lives. But falling into sleep like love is not 390 00:24:42,400 --> 00:24:45,679 Speaker 1: entirely self determined. You can only set the mood and 391 00:24:45,720 --> 00:24:48,080 Speaker 1: then make way for time and gravity to do their work. 392 00:24:51,720 --> 00:24:55,119 Speaker 1: And that My far Flown Friends is our last program 393 00:24:55,160 --> 00:24:58,240 Speaker 1: of Deeply Human second season, which means it's time to 394 00:24:58,320 --> 00:25:01,359 Speaker 1: roll credits. So why don't you just why don't you 395 00:25:01,400 --> 00:25:03,960 Speaker 1: just tuck in and we'll do this a s m 396 00:25:04,080 --> 00:25:10,879 Speaker 1: R style. Our series producer is Simon Maybin. Producers are 397 00:25:10,920 --> 00:25:16,800 Speaker 1: our Len Gregorio's Ellie House, Beth Sagar Fenton, Sandra Kenthal, 398 00:25:17,160 --> 00:25:20,600 Speaker 1: and Craig Templeton Smith with help from Hannah au Guru 399 00:25:20,840 --> 00:25:26,520 Speaker 1: and May Cameron. Our editor is Hugh Levinson. Our production 400 00:25:26,600 --> 00:25:31,320 Speaker 1: coordinator is Janet Staples, and this season was mixed by 401 00:25:31,359 --> 00:25:38,640 Speaker 1: my arrival, James Beard. Speaking of James, will you hit Oh, 402 00:25:38,680 --> 00:25:41,520 Speaker 1: they're good. I'll give you that. You're very talented arch 403 00:25:41,640 --> 00:25:44,840 Speaker 1: enemy who really strives for excellence and takes brightness work. 404 00:25:47,160 --> 00:25:50,719 Speaker 1: Deeply Human is a BBC World Service and American public 405 00:25:50,800 --> 00:25:54,040 Speaker 1: media co production with I Heeart Media. It's written and 406 00:25:54,119 --> 00:25:57,679 Speaker 1: hosted by me Dessa. Find me online at Dessa on 407 00:25:57,720 --> 00:26:11,240 Speaker 1: Instagram and Dessa Darling on Twitter, Okay, James, James, Okay 408 00:26:11,240 --> 00:26:15,080 Speaker 1: they're out. Let's call get another dessert and watch scary 409 00:26:15,119 --> 00:26:19,560 Speaker 1: movies with swear words. God, being adults is awesome.