WEBVTT - Will We Ever Live Without Sleep? Featuring Simone Giertz! 0:00:00.230 --> 0:00:00.850 Guess what, Mango? 0:00:01.090 --> 0:00:01.670 What's up, Will? 0:00:02.110 --> 0:00:04.809 So I was reading about this anthropologist, Robert Lohman. And 0:00:04.830 --> 0:00:07.010 in the 1990s, Lohman went to Papua New Guinea to 0:00:07.080 --> 0:00:10.000 study the Asabano people. So it was his first night there, 0:00:10.080 --> 0:00:12.460 and one of the elders keeps apologizing to him because 0:00:12.500 --> 0:00:14.920 he couldn't sleep over with him. Like he wanted to 0:00:14.960 --> 0:00:16.780 share a bed with Lohman, but he had a few 0:00:16.820 --> 0:00:20.380 prior commitments. So Lohman's a little confused, right? But then 0:00:20.420 --> 0:00:22.619 he keeps getting these offers from other men, and he 0:00:22.700 --> 0:00:25.600 quickly realizes this is not a sexual thing. It's their 0:00:25.640 --> 0:00:28.600 version of hospitality. Like to make sure you sleep well 0:00:28.640 --> 0:00:31.290 and feel welcomed, The Asobana make it a priority to 0:00:31.370 --> 0:00:34.629 offer you some conversation and body warmth. And also, they 0:00:34.670 --> 0:00:36.670 tell Lohman, having a local in the room will protect 0:00:36.720 --> 0:00:37.440 him from witchcraft. 0:00:37.490 --> 0:00:39.000 So, you know, all good things. 0:00:39.600 --> 0:00:41.680 But what's funny is that sharing a bed with strangers, 0:00:41.740 --> 0:00:45.020 especially while traveling, used to be common practice. I was 0:00:45.040 --> 0:00:47.240 reading this book, Wild Nights, and in it, the author 0:00:47.280 --> 0:00:49.720 talks about how it shows up in Erasmus writing. It's 0:00:49.760 --> 0:00:52.380 discussed in Moby Dick. But the funniest account to me 0:00:52.420 --> 0:00:55.730 was from the 17th century diarist Samuel Pepys. Why is that? 0:00:56.080 --> 0:00:57.740 Well, Peeps used to keep this log of. 0:00:57.820 --> 0:01:00.080 All of his bedmates, scoring them on the quality of 0:01:00.100 --> 0:01:02.420 their conversation, making a note if they did too much 0:01:02.480 --> 0:01:03.340 tossing and turning. 0:01:03.380 --> 0:01:05.610 Can you imagine how nerve-wracking it would be to share 0:01:05.630 --> 0:01:06.170 a bed with him? 0:01:06.270 --> 0:01:06.510 I know. 0:01:06.590 --> 0:01:08.009 I mean, I feel like I'd spend the whole night 0:01:08.050 --> 0:01:10.730 worrying if I was hogging the sheets or, like, thinking 0:01:10.750 --> 0:01:13.910 about if my pillow talk was good enough. I want 0:01:13.930 --> 0:01:14.450 a good review. 0:01:14.520 --> 0:01:14.860 Me too. 0:01:15.190 --> 0:01:18.000 It's very nerve-wracking. So, well, speaking of pillow talk, what 0:01:18.020 --> 0:01:19.740 do you say we dive into this episode on sleep? 0:01:35.130 --> 0:01:37.000 Hey there, podcast listeners. I'm Will Pearson. 0:01:37.140 --> 0:01:39.580 And as always, I'm joined by my good friend, Mengesh Hatikader, 0:01:39.720 --> 0:01:41.160 and you're listening to Part-Time Genius. 0:01:41.740 --> 0:01:42.940 Now, we've got a fun show today. 0:01:42.959 --> 0:01:46.050 We're discussing a topic that you know frustrates me, Mengho. 0:01:46.190 --> 0:01:47.010 Uh-huh. Sleep. 0:01:47.410 --> 0:01:49.710 I have never been a fan of sleeping. 0:01:50.150 --> 0:01:52.510 I'm definitely in the camp of people who would totally 0:01:52.550 --> 0:01:53.690 take a pill if I could. 0:01:53.570 --> 0:01:54.750 Avoid it altogether. 0:01:55.490 --> 0:01:57.990 I've always been this way, even in first grade when 0:01:58.010 --> 0:02:00.660 Miss Pritchett made us declare our favorite animal, you know 0:02:00.680 --> 0:02:01.540 what animal I chose? 0:02:02.080 --> 0:02:03.620 The giraffe. Why? 0:02:03.940 --> 0:02:06.260 Not because it was tall, not because it could slam 0:02:06.300 --> 0:02:09.220 dunk with ease, because they only have to sleep a 0:02:09.260 --> 0:02:11.750 couple hours of night. How sad is this? That was 0:02:11.770 --> 0:02:15.030 like the reason that I chose it. And I've always 0:02:15.090 --> 0:02:18.470 wondered if humans will ever be able to avoid sleep entirely. 0:02:18.610 --> 0:02:20.510 So we're going to get to the bottom of this. 0:02:20.550 --> 0:02:20.950 Are you ready? 0:02:21.090 --> 0:02:22.190 I mean like the very bottom. 0:02:22.210 --> 0:02:24.110 We're going to figure this out because I need to 0:02:24.169 --> 0:02:26.070 know if I'm going to have my never sleep again 0:02:26.130 --> 0:02:28.910 dream come true. But we've got so many other fun 0:02:28.950 --> 0:02:29.930 things coming up in the. 0:02:29.889 --> 0:02:30.630 Show as well. 0:02:30.690 --> 0:02:32.510 We'll take a look at what happens in our brains 0:02:32.550 --> 0:02:35.130 when we're sleeping, what happens in our brains when we're 0:02:35.169 --> 0:02:37.210 sleeping in a new place or when we're staring at 0:02:37.250 --> 0:02:38.610 a cell phone before we sleep. 0:02:39.270 --> 0:02:41.710 We've got our part-time genius quiz with a couple. 0:02:41.510 --> 0:02:43.030 Of Zumba instructors. 0:02:43.050 --> 0:02:44.190 Zumba instructors. 0:02:44.410 --> 0:02:44.810 Right. 0:02:44.950 --> 0:02:46.650 Okay. This is awesome. 0:02:47.270 --> 0:02:49.510 And someone I'm super excited to talk to, we've got 0:02:49.650 --> 0:02:54.320 one of our favorite inventors, the self-proclaimed queen of crappy robots, 0:02:54.419 --> 0:02:57.859 Simone Yetch, who happened to invent a really funny alarm clock. 0:02:57.880 --> 0:02:58.090 I love her. 0:02:58.100 --> 0:03:00.960 So we'll talk about that. She is amazing. But before 0:03:01.000 --> 0:03:03.960 we get to all of that, how weird is sleep, Mango? 0:03:03.980 --> 0:03:04.100 Yeah. 0:03:06.139 --> 0:03:06.420 I know. 0:03:06.440 --> 0:03:09.160 I mean, the way we talk about sleep is really funny. Like, 0:03:09.440 --> 0:03:11.419 people used to wear it as this badge of honor 0:03:11.500 --> 0:03:14.280 how little they slept. I read this thing about Keith 0:03:14.320 --> 0:03:17.239 Richards where he talked about being up for five full days. 0:03:17.419 --> 0:03:17.660 Whoa. 0:03:17.840 --> 0:03:21.220 Just working and composing and all this while his lazy 0:03:21.260 --> 0:03:22.880 bandmates were taking naps. 0:03:22.940 --> 0:03:23.310 Right. 0:03:23.340 --> 0:03:26.490 But it's always this dig from productive people. But of course, 0:03:26.530 --> 0:03:29.290 you know, Keith Richards being Keith Richards has disaster stories 0:03:29.330 --> 0:03:31.540 about this too, right? So there's this one time he 0:03:31.560 --> 0:03:33.340 stayed up for nine days straight. 0:03:33.460 --> 0:03:34.000 Good God. 0:03:34.040 --> 0:03:37.150 Which sounds horrible. But the way he describes it, he 0:03:37.190 --> 0:03:40.410 was riding this adrenaline high and feeling totally awake. And 0:03:40.430 --> 0:03:42.770 then all of a sudden, as he was reaching to 0:03:42.810 --> 0:03:45.710 put a cassette tape on a shelf, he fell asleep 0:03:45.750 --> 0:03:47.810 so hard he collapsed and broke his nose. 0:03:48.730 --> 0:03:50.810 I'm not sure sleep studies should really be conducted on 0:03:50.870 --> 0:03:51.530 Keith Richards. 0:03:51.570 --> 0:03:53.950 I'm thinking that's probably not as accurate. 0:03:54.310 --> 0:03:57.680 Well, there are definitely these hyperproductive people like Margaret Thatcher 0:03:57.740 --> 0:03:59.900 who only need three or four hours of sleep at night. 0:04:00.460 --> 0:04:02.940 She needed so little sleep, and she was so committed 0:04:03.000 --> 0:04:05.880 to being the best informed person in any room, she'd 0:04:05.920 --> 0:04:08.100 stay up and read into the late hours, but then 0:04:08.140 --> 0:04:10.100 she'd be up again at five in the morning to 0:04:10.160 --> 0:04:13.050 listen to the British Farm Report. And of course, all 0:04:13.090 --> 0:04:15.990 her staff was constantly exhausted trying to keep pace. 0:04:16.310 --> 0:04:16.630 I know. 0:04:16.850 --> 0:04:19.730 Sleep doctors actually claim she's got this rare genetic mutation 0:04:19.750 --> 0:04:22.070 that allows her to function on less sleep, and it 0:04:22.100 --> 0:04:25.230 affects about 1% of the population. But It's funny, I 0:04:25.470 --> 0:04:28.650 read this beleaguered quote from her husband, Dennis, in the BBC. 0:04:28.670 --> 0:04:30.510 Dennis? I know, honestly. You just made that up. 0:04:30.890 --> 0:04:32.630 I didn't even know there was a Dennis Thatcher until 0:04:32.680 --> 0:04:35.920 I read this piece. But his greatest contribution to the 0:04:35.980 --> 0:04:38.260 Republic seems to be trying to get her to sleep. Like, 0:04:38.839 --> 0:04:43.130 every once in a while, he was observed desperately reminding her, woman. bed. 0:04:44.050 --> 0:04:45.050 Was he a caveman or something? 0:04:45.070 --> 0:04:48.330 I used to talk that way. Of course, my other 0:04:48.350 --> 0:04:51.150 favorite Margaret Thatcher fact, and that's in the late 70s 0:04:51.230 --> 0:04:53.810 when she went to this economic summit in Japan, the 0:04:53.830 --> 0:04:57.529 country tried to supply her with 20 karate ladies as bodyguards. 0:04:58.730 --> 0:05:01.690 I know. I just love the phrase karate ladies. There 0:05:01.710 --> 0:05:03.050 should be more of that in history books. 0:05:03.210 --> 0:05:04.190 I agree. I agree. 0:05:04.270 --> 0:05:07.260 So there was definitely a time, especially in the 1980s, 0:05:07.350 --> 0:05:10.490 where Wall Street execs and rock stars and media moguls 0:05:10.610 --> 0:05:13.120 used to brag about how little sleep they got. 0:05:13.460 --> 0:05:16.450 Like not sleeping was thought to be glamorous. 0:05:16.529 --> 0:05:19.330 And even as far back as Napoleon, who outlined the 0:05:19.410 --> 0:05:22.090 perfect amount of sleep, he would say six hours for 0:05:22.130 --> 0:05:25.210 a man, seven hours for a woman, eight hours for 0:05:25.230 --> 0:05:25.610 a fool. 0:05:25.630 --> 0:05:28.000 Which just sounds so French. It does. 0:05:28.500 --> 0:05:30.480 But now it feels like the complete opposite. 0:05:30.500 --> 0:05:34.260 You look at these world-class athletes like Usain Bolt, LeBron James, 0:05:34.320 --> 0:05:37.480 and they really brag about the 12 hours of uninterrupted 0:05:37.560 --> 0:05:39.779 sleep they get And they work to protect it. 0:05:39.930 --> 0:05:42.670 Yeah, there are tons of them. Like Marion Bartoli, who 0:05:42.690 --> 0:05:45.740 won Wimbledon. She famously took this long nap before winning. 0:05:45.880 --> 0:05:48.220 And Cristiano Ronaldo, the soccer star. 0:05:48.380 --> 0:05:48.560 Right. 0:05:48.720 --> 0:05:51.620 You know, he sleeps in this totally dark chamber and 0:05:51.660 --> 0:05:54.420 he has electric blinds that flip open at 10 a.m. 0:05:54.480 --> 0:05:56.940 or whenever he wants to get up. Like that's his 0:05:57.000 --> 0:05:59.789 alarm clock. And it's because he doesn't want any artificial 0:05:59.850 --> 0:06:00.940 light in his room bothering him. 0:06:01.290 --> 0:06:02.810 I got to remember to turn the lights off in 0:06:02.850 --> 0:06:04.870 my chamber. Maybe that's been my problem. 0:06:04.890 --> 0:06:04.990 So. 0:06:05.390 --> 0:06:08.240 There's this clear premium on sleep, but don't you think 0:06:08.279 --> 0:06:10.900 it's weird that we spend a third of our lives 0:06:10.960 --> 0:06:14.920 pretty much paralyzed and unconscious? Honestly, I'm getting irritated again 0:06:14.940 --> 0:06:15.980 just thinking about it. 0:06:16.400 --> 0:06:18.640 Think of all the things you could be doing. I know. 0:06:18.680 --> 0:06:22.020 We should all be Thatchering every night. But one of 0:06:22.040 --> 0:06:23.750 the things that's fascinating to me is that there's this 0:06:23.820 --> 0:06:27.029 insistence that everyone has to sleep the same way, right? 0:06:27.490 --> 0:06:30.190 And I was reading this book, Dreamland, by David Randall. 0:06:30.700 --> 0:06:33.040 And in one section, he talks about this history professor 0:06:33.080 --> 0:06:36.390 from Virginia Tech who kept finding references in medieval literature 0:06:36.490 --> 0:06:39.550 to first sleep and second sleep. He found it in 0:06:39.589 --> 0:06:42.109 Canterbury Tales. He found it in old texts. It was 0:06:42.150 --> 0:06:44.550 just repeated in lots of places. And what he eventually 0:06:44.690 --> 0:06:48.540 sussed out was that historically, people would get two periods 0:06:48.580 --> 0:06:51.020 of rest every night. They'd go to bed, then they'd 0:06:51.420 --> 0:06:53.779 wake up for an hour and talk and think and 0:06:54.190 --> 0:06:57.050 engage in some canoodling. And after an hour, they'd go 0:06:57.070 --> 0:06:58.850 back to bed and sleep till morning. And this was 0:06:58.910 --> 0:07:00.090 a really common thing. 0:07:00.270 --> 0:07:00.409 Yeah. 0:07:00.450 --> 0:07:02.550 I mean, it reminds me of Ben Franklin and his 0:07:02.589 --> 0:07:05.490 so-called air baths, you know, where Franklin would wake up 0:07:05.529 --> 0:07:07.529 at four or five in the morning, work for an hour. 0:07:07.550 --> 0:07:09.730 He claimed part of the reason he was so productive 0:07:09.790 --> 0:07:12.830 is that he'd do it completely and totally in the bus, 0:07:12.870 --> 0:07:16.040 like in front of an open window, hence the term 0:07:16.180 --> 0:07:19.420 air bath. But he'd have this euphoric period of productivity. 0:07:19.480 --> 0:07:21.260 Then he'd have the best sleep of his life after that. 0:07:21.570 --> 0:07:24.780 Yeah, and obviously nude Ben Franklin had genius ideas to 0:07:24.820 --> 0:07:27.860 give us, right? But there's this great myth all over 0:07:27.900 --> 0:07:29.920 the internet that I so wish was true. 0:07:30.020 --> 0:07:30.360 What's that? 0:07:30.580 --> 0:07:33.790 And it's that Ben Franklin invented the first mechanical bull. Oh, 0:07:33.950 --> 0:07:35.230 that's got to be true, right? 0:07:35.410 --> 0:07:36.050 I mean, that's his. 0:07:36.330 --> 0:07:39.170 Have you heard this? The story goes that Ben Franklin 0:07:39.190 --> 0:07:41.880 made a prototype bull and let John Adams ride it. 0:07:42.480 --> 0:07:44.880 And it was so unrideable that Adams ended up with 0:07:44.940 --> 0:07:46.280 a third-degree burn on his bottom. 0:07:46.400 --> 0:07:47.800 I'm going to say this has got to be true. 0:07:47.880 --> 0:07:50.780 It's so specific. But the part that makes it, like, 0:07:51.000 --> 0:07:54.100 feel believable is that the primary reason Ben invented the 0:07:54.120 --> 0:07:56.880 thing was to get people's bowels moving. Right. Which is, 0:07:57.220 --> 0:07:58.870 you know, a total lie. But I love that some 0:07:58.900 --> 0:08:01.250 fifth graders probably included it in his school report. 0:08:01.290 --> 0:08:02.530 Oh, that's brilliant. That's brilliant. 0:08:02.570 --> 0:08:05.230 But let's get back to this first sleep, second sleep thing, 0:08:05.270 --> 0:08:08.090 which is fascinating. I mean, to me, the most interesting 0:08:08.130 --> 0:08:11.450 part is that it's been recreated in science experiments. Like 0:08:11.470 --> 0:08:15.150 when people are isolated from their screens, humans actually return 0:08:15.190 --> 0:08:18.380 to this natural human sleep pattern. And it brings up 0:08:18.440 --> 0:08:21.800 all sorts of questions about our circadian clocks. But let's 0:08:21.820 --> 0:08:24.000 take a step back and talk about that. I mean, 0:08:24.020 --> 0:08:26.460 we all know our bodies have a natural clock or 0:08:26.500 --> 0:08:29.620 what we call a circadian rhythm. And as part of 0:08:29.660 --> 0:08:32.679 that 24-hour cycle, we know we get tired at night, 0:08:32.740 --> 0:08:33.850 then we wake up in the morning. 0:08:34.270 --> 0:08:36.630 But why have we evolved to do any of this? 0:08:36.890 --> 0:08:39.250 I mean, it seems like just the act of going 0:08:39.309 --> 0:08:42.190 to sleep must have been so dangerous for our ancestors 0:08:42.690 --> 0:08:45.699 not wanting to be eaten by predators. In fact, there's 0:08:45.960 --> 0:08:49.040 this well-known sleep researcher at the University of Chicago named 0:08:49.120 --> 0:08:52.900 Alan Redstoffen who said, if sleep doesn't serve an absolutely 0:08:52.940 --> 0:08:56.640 vital function, it's the greatest mistake evolution has ever made. 0:08:56.730 --> 0:08:59.189 So there's got to be a really good reason, right? 0:08:59.350 --> 0:09:02.510 I mean, there is, right? There's strong evidence that sleep 0:09:02.570 --> 0:09:05.730 is important for our nervous system and our immune system. 0:09:05.809 --> 0:09:08.370 But the latest research on what's happening in our brains 0:09:08.410 --> 0:09:10.770 when we sleep is some of the most compelling. There's 0:09:10.809 --> 0:09:12.720 a tendency to think of sleeping this time when our 0:09:12.770 --> 0:09:13.720 brains are inactive. 0:09:14.030 --> 0:09:15.010 It's actually the opposite. 0:09:15.530 --> 0:09:17.900 Without getting too deep into it, we should probably run 0:09:17.940 --> 0:09:19.220 through the five stages of sleep. 0:09:19.400 --> 0:09:19.660 Okay. 0:09:20.220 --> 0:09:23.380 So the first and second stages are really light. And 0:09:23.559 --> 0:09:25.220 in fact, the first stage is so light that you 0:09:25.260 --> 0:09:28.010 might not know that you're sleeping. But by the second stage, 0:09:28.030 --> 0:09:31.670 your brain starts pinging out some sleep-specific waves. These are 0:09:31.710 --> 0:09:33.630 just flashes that last a few seconds at a time. 0:09:34.010 --> 0:09:36.569 Then the third and fourth stages move into this deep sleep, 0:09:36.670 --> 0:09:39.490 and your brain starts sending out these long rhythmic bursts 0:09:39.530 --> 0:09:42.229 called delta waves. This is where you start floating away 0:09:42.250 --> 0:09:45.460 from consciousness. And in the fourth stage particularly, that's where 0:09:45.480 --> 0:09:47.720 you can get disoriented. So I don't know if this 0:09:47.760 --> 0:09:50.080 has happened to you, but if you've ever had sleep drunkenness, 0:09:50.220 --> 0:09:52.380 like if you've ever woken up at the wrong cycle 0:09:52.420 --> 0:09:55.209 and felt totally groggy, That's because you were interrupted in 0:09:55.230 --> 0:09:56.020 the fourth stage. 0:09:56.800 --> 0:09:58.809 You're saying this all in such a soothing voice. I 0:09:58.809 --> 0:09:59.689 think I need to share. 0:09:59.790 --> 0:10:02.970 A fact about waking people up in that fourth stage. 0:10:03.010 --> 0:10:05.550 So there are actually all these ridiculous alarm clocks meant 0:10:05.590 --> 0:10:08.810 to wake up really heavy sleepers. Like we've got Simone 0:10:08.830 --> 0:10:11.490 Yetch later today who made one of the funniest. 0:10:11.170 --> 0:10:12.150 Alarm clocks I've seen. 0:10:12.720 --> 0:10:15.600 But there's this other great fire alarm clock from Japan, 0:10:15.700 --> 0:10:18.460 and it works by spraying wasabi into your room. 0:10:18.760 --> 0:10:18.980 Wasabi. 0:10:19.000 --> 0:10:22.140 Wasabi. Which I guess makes sense since horseradish up your 0:10:22.160 --> 0:10:24.150 nose is definitely going to get you out of bed. 0:10:24.210 --> 0:10:26.210 But I kind of think about it like this, like 0:10:26.530 --> 0:10:29.439 what's worse than your house being on fire? It's learning 0:10:29.460 --> 0:10:32.079 your house is on fire by having wasabi sprayed. 0:10:31.900 --> 0:10:36.030 Up your nose. Yeah, it sounds terrible. But let's get 0:10:36.070 --> 0:10:38.050 back to the stages because there's only one more. 0:10:38.070 --> 0:10:40.130 Okay, sorry for the interruption. 0:10:41.090 --> 0:10:43.270 So we've gone over the first four where your brainwaves 0:10:43.309 --> 0:10:46.370 have gradually slowed down, your body temperature has dropped, and 0:10:46.750 --> 0:10:50.200 you've gradually become immobile. You're in this deep sleep. So 0:10:50.240 --> 0:10:53.940 those four stages occupy about 80% of your sleep time. 0:10:54.520 --> 0:10:56.640 But then we move into the fifth stage, which is 0:10:56.660 --> 0:11:00.170 REM or rapid eye movement. And this is where our 0:11:00.190 --> 0:11:03.250 brains get really going again. And your eyes tend to 0:11:03.290 --> 0:11:05.650 dart around under our eyelids. And that's the stage where 0:11:05.690 --> 0:11:08.729 we really dream. Like, in a good night's sleep, you'd 0:11:08.750 --> 0:11:10.390 move through these stages multiple times. 0:11:10.650 --> 0:11:10.870 Right. 0:11:10.950 --> 0:11:13.569 And that immobility part is important. I saw this weird 0:11:13.630 --> 0:11:17.250 cat study. Wait, is that new? 0:11:18.030 --> 0:11:19.890 Well, I read a cat study. 0:11:20.230 --> 0:11:24.910 Where a researcher named Michael Jouvet in France made tiny 0:11:24.970 --> 0:11:27.320 cuts in a cat's brain and turned off the part 0:11:27.360 --> 0:11:30.740 that triggers immobility in sleep. So when these cats hit 0:11:30.780 --> 0:11:33.710 the REM stage, instead of just playing the dreams out 0:11:33.770 --> 0:11:37.010 in their head, they started acting them out in real life. 0:11:37.429 --> 0:11:40.340 The cats started hissing and clawing and arching their backs 0:11:40.400 --> 0:11:43.540 and jumping onto people and counters. You know how I 0:11:43.559 --> 0:11:46.130 feel about cats, so this is terrifying to me. All 0:11:46.170 --> 0:11:48.110 in a dream state. And when they were woken up, 0:11:48.170 --> 0:11:49.829 they were, you know, very cat about it, like, eh, 0:11:50.210 --> 0:11:50.690 no big deal. 0:11:51.250 --> 0:11:53.650 Yeah, we both share that fear of cats because I 0:11:53.650 --> 0:11:55.890 think it's because they seem so unpredictable. But the fact 0:11:55.929 --> 0:11:58.489 that in their sleep, they're actually dreaming about clawing and 0:11:58.690 --> 0:12:00.250 attacking you, that's crazy. 0:12:00.290 --> 0:12:01.150 Yeah, it is crazy. 0:12:01.190 --> 0:12:03.390 And, you know, sleep studies on other animals are just 0:12:03.450 --> 0:12:06.750 as fascinating. So for years, we've known that dolphins and 0:12:06.790 --> 0:12:10.370 whales and birds and other animals sleep with only half 0:12:10.410 --> 0:12:12.580 their brain at a time. So the other half can 0:12:12.620 --> 0:12:16.140 stand guard and look out for predators. And in mallard ducks, 0:12:16.160 --> 0:12:18.750 for example, when they're all in a line, the two 0:12:18.929 --> 0:12:21.330 outermost birds will often be the only ones to keep 0:12:21.429 --> 0:12:24.430 half their brains awake to look out for danger. Like 0:12:24.470 --> 0:12:26.709 they just know to stand guard for all the other 0:12:26.750 --> 0:12:30.190 ducks in the line. It's crazy and fascinating. But the 0:12:30.230 --> 0:12:33.380 weirdest thing is that previously we didn't think humans did this. 0:12:33.929 --> 0:12:36.220 But it turns out we do. There's this thing called 0:12:36.360 --> 0:12:39.400 first night effect, which happens when we stay– In a 0:12:39.440 --> 0:12:42.510 new place, our brains revert to their animal instincts and 0:12:42.530 --> 0:12:45.270 they go into survival mode to make sure nothing fishy 0:12:45.330 --> 0:12:48.349 is going on. So instead of sleeping restfully, your brain 0:12:48.570 --> 0:12:50.990 takes turns allowing one half of your brain to sleep 0:12:51.410 --> 0:12:53.709 while the other half of your brain stays more aware 0:12:53.750 --> 0:12:56.099 of its surroundings. It's why you don't get a great 0:12:56.140 --> 0:12:58.280 night's sleep in your first night or a hotel or 0:12:58.360 --> 0:13:02.420 somewhere else new. And strangely, the effect is almost completely 0:13:02.480 --> 0:13:03.679 gone by night two. 0:13:03.780 --> 0:13:04.480 That's so crazy. 0:13:04.890 --> 0:13:06.850 But before we get back to whether or not humans 0:13:06.870 --> 0:13:08.720 will ever be able to go without sleep, why don't 0:13:08.740 --> 0:13:17.939 we take a quick break for a quiz? Okay, Mango, 0:13:17.960 --> 0:13:19.100 so who do we have on the line to play 0:13:19.120 --> 0:13:19.580 with us today? 0:13:19.880 --> 0:13:22.579 Today we've got two part-time Zumba instructors on the line, 0:13:22.660 --> 0:13:24.080 Stacy and Githanjali. 0:13:24.220 --> 0:13:25.620 Zumba, this is exciting. 0:13:25.660 --> 0:13:26.560 I know, super exciting. 0:13:26.679 --> 0:13:28.820 When we put out a call for Zumba instructors, we 0:13:28.840 --> 0:13:31.610 didn't know what to expect, but we've got two really 0:13:31.620 --> 0:13:34.310 good ones on the line. So our first one works 0:13:34.370 --> 0:13:37.630 in corporate communications by day and is a Zumba instructor 0:13:37.690 --> 0:13:38.090 at night. 0:13:38.150 --> 0:13:40.050 Githanjali, welcome to Part-Time Genius. 0:13:40.370 --> 0:13:40.970 Thank you. 0:13:40.990 --> 0:13:44.189 And our other one is a voiceover actor by day 0:13:44.270 --> 0:13:46.059 and a Zumba instructor at night. 0:13:46.160 --> 0:13:48.000 So, Stacey, welcome to Part-Time Genius. 0:13:48.260 --> 0:13:48.920 Hi. 0:13:49.940 --> 0:13:52.400 So, you know what? I have to ask you guys. 0:13:52.160 --> 0:13:55.390 Just to get a better understanding of what Zumba is. 0:13:55.470 --> 0:13:58.530 I have to confess I've never been to a Zumba class. 0:13:58.970 --> 0:14:01.150 I think I'm planning to go. You guys were nice 0:14:01.210 --> 0:14:03.209 enough to tell us we should... come by one of 0:14:03.270 --> 0:14:06.110 yours at some point. But Githanjali, let's start with you. 0:14:06.530 --> 0:14:10.650 Explain to us the difference between Zumba and just say 0:14:10.880 --> 0:14:11.700 regular aerobics. 0:14:12.120 --> 0:14:14.940 With regular aerobics, you kind of break down everything. But 0:14:14.980 --> 0:14:19.400 with Zumba, you just go, go, go. And it's similar 0:14:19.420 --> 0:14:22.420 that it's in the sense that it's a dance cardio format, 0:14:23.420 --> 0:14:26.080 but it has all sorts of world dance. The emphasis 0:14:26.120 --> 0:14:28.260 is that you do a little bit of Latin American, 0:14:28.280 --> 0:14:31.440 a little African, a little Indian Bollywood. And so you 0:14:31.460 --> 0:14:34.680 get a little taste of the world while you dance 0:14:34.720 --> 0:14:35.220 and have fun. 0:14:36.980 --> 0:14:39.370 And Stacey, you mentioned you have a background in ballroom 0:14:39.410 --> 0:14:41.890 dance and Chinese opera. Is that required to go to 0:14:41.930 --> 0:14:42.609 a Zumba class? 0:14:42.830 --> 0:14:45.160 Yes. No, no. 0:14:45.200 --> 0:14:47.180 I mean, you don't need to have any sort of 0:14:47.240 --> 0:14:51.260 dance background at all. I think it just influences my 0:14:51.350 --> 0:14:55.310 own classes because, you know, I just noticed I'll throw. 0:14:55.130 --> 0:14:55.830 In some elements. 0:14:55.850 --> 0:14:58.370 Sometimes even I'm not even conscious of the fact that 0:14:58.710 --> 0:15:00.490 they're in there, you know, but sometimes the way I 0:15:00.550 --> 0:15:02.690 hold my arms or maybe the way I use my 0:15:02.750 --> 0:15:07.470 hands are inspired by ballroom or by Chinese opera classes. Um, 0:15:07.970 --> 0:15:10.870 but you know, what I love about being that is I, 0:15:11.050 --> 0:15:15.890 the honest truth is I actually hate exercising. When I'm 0:15:15.990 --> 0:15:18.090 in a Zumba class, I just feel like I'm at 0:15:18.110 --> 0:15:22.460 a party. And hopefully that's what my classes are like too. 0:15:22.500 --> 0:15:25.160 I just feel like we're at a party, we're dancing, 0:15:25.180 --> 0:15:27.720 we're having fun. And I don't even care that there's 0:15:27.920 --> 0:15:30.960 sweat all over the floor and that, you know, my 0:15:31.000 --> 0:15:32.910 hair is wet all the way down to the end. 0:15:34.610 --> 0:15:35.750 We're just having so much fun. 0:15:36.250 --> 0:15:38.369 That's awesome. That's kind of the way we feel about podcasting. 0:15:38.390 --> 0:15:40.470 We're always so sweaty. I know. 0:15:40.590 --> 0:15:41.369 But it's worth it. 0:15:41.370 --> 0:15:44.790 I'm just dripping. All right. 0:15:44.880 --> 0:15:47.300 So we are playing a game today. 0:15:47.340 --> 0:15:47.860 What's it called? 0:15:48.380 --> 0:15:50.040 Nonsensical Sleep Rhymes. 0:15:50.200 --> 0:15:53.640 Nonsensical Sleep Rhymes. So this is a pretty dumb game. 0:15:53.660 --> 0:15:56.460 Really dumb. It's a really dumb game. We invented this 0:15:56.520 --> 0:15:59.830 based on the phrase, you snooze, you lose. So every 0:15:59.970 --> 0:16:03.670 answer starts, you snooze, you blank. And the blank is 0:16:03.730 --> 0:16:07.170 some rhyming word. It rhymes with lose and snooze. So 0:16:07.230 --> 0:16:09.370 if we were to give you the clue, what happens 0:16:09.410 --> 0:16:13.250 if you drink martinis in your sleep? You'd say you snooze. 0:16:13.780 --> 0:16:16.880 You booze, right? So every answer is going to be 0:16:17.020 --> 0:16:21.229 exactly that moronic. And what are we playing for here, though, today, Mango? 0:16:21.670 --> 0:16:24.070 You're playing for the big prize. Whoever wins will get 0:16:24.130 --> 0:16:27.590 a handwritten note from us to your mom or your boss. 0:16:27.730 --> 0:16:28.530 It's your choice. 0:16:28.750 --> 0:16:29.210 That's right. 0:16:29.230 --> 0:16:30.830 Singing your praises. But actually, we're going to put them 0:16:30.850 --> 0:16:31.790 on the same team today. 0:16:31.930 --> 0:16:32.250 You know what? 0:16:32.270 --> 0:16:34.370 So they both get this opportunity. We're going to put 0:16:34.410 --> 0:16:37.130 you on the same team, and let's see how this goes. 0:16:37.170 --> 0:16:38.560 You guys ready to play You Snooze. 0:16:38.580 --> 0:16:40.220 You Lose? Absolutely. 0:16:40.340 --> 0:16:41.060 Yeah. 0:16:42.630 --> 0:16:42.989 All right. 0:16:43.030 --> 0:16:45.290