good morning everybody
so have you ever wondered why do we
sleep so much I mean think about a third
of our life right by think for a moment
by the time you're 60 you would spend 20
years of your life just lying and bad
doing nothing right why what happens
during sleep why do we have to sleep so
much so there is a lot of myths about it
and we're gonna go through some of it
using a couple of scenarios so here is a
difficult situation for you guys
sounds familiar no it happens to the
best of us even teachers have you seen
this weirdly raised questions on your
test right no okay you figure out your
test is tomorrow
you just have one they guess what
everything happens that they somebody
breaks up with you car gets crushed
people get stuck in the elevator
I'm the teacher I've heard coffee spills
itself on your computer not your fault
but it does happen now what do you do
you've got one hour before nights your
usual bedtime right tomorrow's important
test you really have to pass it you know
you have to get the passing grade
so senior number one you just stay up
all night and study because guess what
pulling an all-nighter won't really
happen just once right what do you guys
think are you gonna do it
have you done it
[Music]
that's why the lively audience here so I
meet Jeff he is subject in the research
so the result they said fester in UC
Berkeley who's who has this weird hobby
he deprived students of sleep and he
tests them and see what what it does to
them so this is Jeff in the beginning of
this study he's supposed to spend the
night in the sleep lab doing having fun
just not sleeping doing whatever he
wants to be tested before and after the
night can you play the video please
[Music]
so it's the first hour I'm reading my
paper right now three page paper
hopefully I can get some of it done
before I get to sleep 30 pages right
there and realistic thinking anyways do
you want to see this Jeff in the morning
his progress on the paper 30 pages can
we play this video place
[Music]
okay if you haven't heard in the end she
said I'm very lucid actually does he
look Lucic to you he looks like he's
under influence right actually actually
people don't realize that when you sleep
deprived you're not like you think
you're good and you can do whatever but
if you are tested your your reaction
time is seven times slower so when
you're just a couple of hours sleep
deprived
it's equals to when you drive it's the
same as you would be driving under
influence I think they should come up
with another test not just testing for
alcohol but also for sleep deprivation
and just stop people because actually a
lot more car crashes happen because of
sleep deprivation not because of alcohol
I mean not because of alcohol as well
but it's even more and we don't even
have all of the statistics because it's
like you don't know why exactly the car
crash happened always but sometimes
people just tell yes I was sleepy now
what else are sleep deprivation does to
you just the couple of hours of sleep
deprivation already affect pretty much
every function of your body and
structure of your brain so you wanted to
study for that exam guess what by the by
the end of the day you already your
brain is over already overloaded each
hour the night passes
you just can't perceive the information
anymore your brain is not really
encoding it have you ever seen it like
have you ever felt it like you read the
chapter or you read the sentence and you
read it again and you read it doesn't
you just don't get it right because your
brain is not including it now of course
you can't memorize things as well your
memory is formation is affected
now this is all based on studies of
those people like Jeff students who
contributed their time and nights and
they were tested in the lab and that's
based on the actual data now the even
worse you first of all you didn't learn
anything during this all-nighter because
you couldn't stuff yourself with that
information your brain didn't get it now
what's worse you came to your test and
now you new stuff right do you like it's
not like you started from zero you maybe
listen to some of the classes now the
problem is even if you knew that your
recall reaching that information pulling
it out and using it is now really
damaged you even if you knew stuff you
now can access it it's somewhere in your
brain but you don't have the access and
then you can't express ideas you really
can't get the questions you don't
understand them completely you're have
problem analyzing you really slow
reaction times seven times slower like I
said before you can't focus your
emotions are all over the place you
could see on Jeff he was like he was
angry then he was laughing and then you
irritated and you're confused so I
wouldn't like you know you really don't
want to prepare this way to the test
probably some of you have experienced a
lot of these things but even if you get
to the test if you drive you might not
even get there but if you do what's more
you also affected your health just one
night of deprivation even a couple of
hours your deprivation can do all kinds
of things to you you have this killer
cells in your body that defend you and
kill all kinds of viruses and all kinds
of things that you don't want in your
body after a few hours of deprivation
the number of these cells goes down
that's why what happens at night you
revive the south
so your immune system gets down you are
more likely to get sick you're more
likely to get into injuries especially
for a third student and we know this is
all based on statistical data this is
all based on research your weight goes
up because guess what your body is
compensating for this lip sleep
depravation that's the nature of our
bodies your skin you probably notice
that your skin doesn't look as good in
the evening versus morning because
overnight it regen use or regenerates
your itself so if you didn't have enough
sleep your skin you kind of have
leftovers from yesterday your skin is
old you actually age your skin ages
faster if you don't sleep enough you
know the time when on the day they move
the time was it back forward whatever
you have to wake up one hour earlier
statistically there is a plunge and
death due to cardiac arrests people die
because of one hour sleep deprivation we
have statistics about it it affects your
cardio health
of course it affects emotions people
have more suicidal thinking people are
more depressed in their more
sleep-deprived so if you really weren't
thinking about this scenario first of
all you're gonna fail even if you knew
stuff like I said you're like you're not
gonna learn anything new and you're not
gonna be able to use what you knew
before and also you actually gonna
really hurt yourself to the point if you
can get in a car accident and die
now scenario number two look at that you
get your rest you get your sleep and
then you wake up early and you study
right before the test right you rested
because you're being distressed when you
sleep is it a good choice
now your grandpa probably told you dawn
cram before exams you need time actually
it's not really the time
it's the sleep that you need so here is
another there is a series of studies but
I'm gonna show you just an example if
you practice something like maybe a new
video game right when you have to react
fast and know the things and mazes and
things so you practice in your practice
and you practice then you're being
tested then you have a retest in a
couple of hours right it's a new video
game you just learned now in the lab and
UC Berkeley what they had that they had
some people after the first test to go
and keep practicing more and more and
more and more so you're doing this video
game or this typing activity whatever
you just learned then another group when
I had a break you know they said go and
do something whatever you like and the
third great group of students that sleep
in the sleep lab they actually have a
whole bedroom in there it's a sleep lab
so they were lucky to get a nap in the
middle of the day no problem people were
like you guys you have to decide
horizontally they fall asleep so what do
you guys think which groups did the best
at the retest
[Music]
here is the cool thing not Group one
I've heard someone's Group one did worse
now you know you keep doing it and you
keep doing you hit the ceiling and like
you you can't really get better at some
point and then at some point like you
subside and you get worse have you
experienced that but the new games or
new sounds something you've just learned
now Group two didn't have much
difference from test to retest so they
did kind of well enough but why good
group 3 did better they didn't just did
better than these groups they actually
improved from test to the retest times
like not just double but more than
double improve performance so think
about it you do something real well then
you go to sleep you come back and you're
doing it three times better what had
happened right
so they actually looked into the brains
of people and animals and whoever and
they found that when you learn something
there is specific brain activity going
on and when you go to sleep your brain
runs this activity like hundreds of
times it's like you're practicing for
weeks all of that happens during sleep
right so when you wake up you actually
know better what's been more interesting
you have this cycles of sleep and you
are there different types so you go into
one type of stage of sleep and then you
get a little bit of RAM which means
dreaming and and then another cycle and
you have five of this now each stage
your brain does something else something
completely different
first it consolidates information then
max this information to trip previous
information - it pulled the meaning out
of the things fools patterns rules so
actually when you learn something new
you go through the cycle you consolidate
you connect you consolidate more you
connect you get to this cycle you see
you have a lot more RAM here that's when
you dream - and this is the most
important part of your a night where you
connect everything you pull all the
meaning from everything you've learned
with the day before now if if you wake
up by the way teens need a lot more if
you wake up here you kind of lost that
like the most important part of your
class this summary when the teacher
actually gave you the meaning of
everything you just covered so what
turns out to be you don't just need
sleep before to rest you actually need
the sleep after it's because when you
sleep you learn meaning that your brain
doesn't just rest you might pass this
exam but you're more likely to fail
because you didn't learn anything you
just cram some information inter self in
it's what it's going to be all a mess so
the best in area actually would be not
stuff yours your brain with new
information but look at your notes kind
of trigger those traces of memories in
your brain and let your brain through
out the night sort that information
consolidated and you're gonna wake up
ready for your test because you don't
actually learn as you study when you
study you stuff your brain with
information you learn when you sleep
when sleep organizes this information
for you it sorts it out
it connects it
does everything for you so this fairy
tale is no fairy tale because actually
you have work done for you when you
sleep so go get some sleep
thank you
[Applause]