hey everyone and welcome to top think today we're gonna learn about what happens when you
sleep three hours a night now let's begin number one degraded attention when you don't get enough
sleep attention is often the first thing to go you might remember sitting in class having
stayed up way too late studying the night before no matter how hard you try it feels impossible
to pay attention your eyelids weigh a hundred pounds your head sinks into your hands or onto
your desk and without even realizing it you zone out and miss almost everything that your
teacher says sleep deprivation impairs something called selective attention this is your ability
to focus on one specific thing instead of paying equal attention to everything in the world around
you in class for example you use your selective attention to listen to your teacher there are tons
of other stimuli that are occurring at the same time like students taking notes or people walking
outside the window but well-functioning brain can tune those things out but sleep deprivation can
make concentration seem impossible this discovery comes from Willamette University their researchers
examine the selective attention of two groups of people one got a full night's sleep while
the other was sleep-deprived both groups were instructed to listen to one of two different
stories which were played simultaneously the first one was played into the participants right ear
and the second was played into their left for the people who had slept eight hours the night before
this was pretty easy they had no problem recalling details and staying focused when looking at their
brain activity there was one enhanced signal that represented the story they were paying attention
to the sleep-deprived group didn't do nearly as well they struggled to stay focused on one story
because their brains couldn't concentrate the neurological signal was much less enhanced which
means that deprived participants were dividing their attention between the two stories not only
is this kind of multitasking confusing it affects other major brain functions memory encoding
retrieval and comprehension all decrease when you can't concentrate so please do yourself a favor
and get a full eight hours otherwise you're gonna spend the whole day wondering what you're missing
number two higher cognition even if you can pay attention chances are your brain just won't work
like it normally does sleeping only three hours a night has a huge impact on most elements of higher
cognition that means everything from perception to memory but some functions suffer more than others
a 2010 study discovered a group of higher cognitive functions that go down the drain
when your brain can't recharge and detoxify using neuroimaging researchers saw that the
prefrontal cortex experiences the largest decline in performance when sleep-deprived the prefrontal
cortex is the area at the very front of your brain it's right behind your forehead it's responsible
for a wide variety of functions which are usually called executive functions there's some of the
most sophisticated things that your brain can do most people claim executive functions are
what separate humans from every other animal on the planet they're advanced reflexive and
cognitively complex creative problem-solving is one of the best examples it's our ability to think
outside the box to discover unique solutions for intricate problems but when you don't get enough
sleep your prefrontal cortex can't function like it normally does so creativity and innovation
naturally fall apart oh and it doesn't stop there higher cognition is often called emotion dependent
in other words certain emotional states allow you to think and behave differently for example when
you're feeling happy it's much easier to make reasonable decisions than when you're feeling
sad since getting three hours of sleep decreases your mood well it impairs higher cognition even
more now of course most people think there's an easy fix just drink a cup of coffee caffeine is
an immensely popular stimulant that people use to wake up their body and brain after 15 minutes
which is about how long it takes for caffeine to enter your bloodstream you start to feel lively
and attentive it even improves your mood and motivation so you'd think that this burst of
energy would restore higher cognition - right well if you were lacking in creativity before
shouldn't a bit of caffeine get you back on track unfortunately there's no easy replacement for a
good night's sleep when it comes to higher cognition a cup of coffee isn't nearly as
effective this finding stems from the same 2010 study they analyzed what areas of a sleep-deprived
brain were most affected by caffeine individuals who didn't get enough sleep but drank a cup of
coffee experienced increased attention and alertness but their creativity never got any
better so don't let your lack of sleep slow your brain down if you start sleeping eight
hours each night you'll feel more creative and perceptive than ever number three dietary decay
everyone knows that foods like candy chips and french fries are bad for you they contain excess
amounts of sugar salt and starch if you're not careful eating a few unhealthy snacks each day
can really add up salt for example increases your risk of high blood pressure while sugar after
giving you a small boost leaves you feeling cloudy and tired there are many reasons why you should
avoid these unhealthy foods as often as possible but sleep deprivation makes eating right much much
harder you see when your body doesn't get enough sleep it can really control your appetite on the
mental side your usual level of self-discipline is way down that means you have a harder time
maintaining your healthy eating habits the pile things on sleep deprivation injects a signal
can amount of mental stress into your life when you're feeling foggy and frustrated you're more
likely to choose tasty yet fattening snacks they provide a much needed neurological reward even
though they ultimately hurt you in the long run physically sleep deprivation messes with hormone
production it starts by stimulating a hunger hormone called ghrelin normally ghrelin tells
you when you've got an empty stomach but if you have too much ghrelin in your system your hunger
never goes away those excess hormones continuously trick your body into overeating Grillin will keep
sending more and more hunger signals long after you've eaten your fill and to make matters worse
sleep deprivation subsequently inhibits a hormone made by your small intestine called leptin leptin
regulates your body's energy levels by telling your brain when to stop nourishing itself so
without leptin you'll accidentally eat way more food than you're supposed to more food
means slower digestion more fat storage and an uncomfortable episode of heartburn now
you combine all that with a negative impact of the actual foods that you're eating starch for example
is a natural appetite inhibitor even if you're sleeping eight hours a night too much starch
can ruin your diet but when your hormones are already dysfunctional well overeating is almost
inevitable as you can see a simple lack of sleep can quickly snowball into a much bigger problem
but how does this combination of sleeplessness and a poor diet affect the rest of your body
well let's run through some important statistics really quick if you sleep less than three hours a
night you're about 48 percent more likely to develop heart disease that seems like a lot
right well it makes sense when you consider that you're increasing the risk of obesity by about
50% sleep deprived people are more likely to eat unhealthy foods and more of them not to mention
you're less likely to exercise when you're feeling tired you're also three times more likely to get
sick due to lower immune function you're prone to common mental illnesses like major depression
and chronic anxiety by catching and correcting bad sleeping habits you can dramatically improve your
daily and long-term health number for increased mortality unlike the other items on this list
drowsy driving doesn't have a long-term impact on your cognition or health but that doesn't mean
it's any less important in fact over 70,000 car accidents happen every year from drowsy driving
around fifty percent of those accidents result in major injury and another ten percent are fatal
compared to driving under the influence drowsy driving doesn't seem that bad so you're a little
sleepy what's the big deal what's the worst that could happen imagine one night you're cruising
down the freeway at seventy miles per hour it's just you and a few other cars so you're not paying
all that much attention you've got the heat on so the car is warm and cozy you're listening to
some soft music since you got cruise control your foot isn't even on the gas slowly but surely your
eyes start to close before you know it you're not even looking at the road anymore until suddenly
your body shocks itself awake you stare out the windshield wondering how long you'd closed your
eyes even if it was just a few seconds that's more than enough time to run head-on into a divider or
another car at 70 miles per hour it's very likely that a collision would result in significant
injury or death and that's all because you didn't get enough sleep the night before
the biggest problem with drowsy driving is how incredibly common it is for example most people
are exhausted after a busy day at work but they still have to commute home in the afternoon it can
happen to anyone but if you're not getting eight hours of sleep then you're putting yourself and
everyone around you at risk so no matter how hard you try to focus your brain won't be as attentive
and aware later in the day it'll be harder and harder for you to stay awake so getting enough
sleep isn't only good for your body in your brain now it might just save your life hey thank you
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