Why you need a good night's sleep ⏲️ 6 Minute English

12,867 views ・ 2024-10-31

BBC Learning English


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00:07
Hello, this is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English.
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I'm Georgie and we're ready to start,
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Phil... Phil?
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Sorry Georgie, I was just catching 40 winks, you know,
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getting some shut eye, dozing, taking a nap. I was sleeping...
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Sleeping at work?
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Phil, how could you?
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I know, I know. Sorry, I, I didn't sleep well last night.
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I'll forgive you this time, but make sure you go to bed early tonight,
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because getting a good night's sleep is incredibly important.
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For example, did you know that people who get enough sleep live about five
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years longer than people who don't?
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Wow, so a good night's sleep can lengthen your life.
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In this programme, we'll be finding out more about the benefits of sleep and
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as usual, learning some useful new vocabulary as well.
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But first, now that you've woken up, I have a question for you.
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Do you know how much of the average person's life is spent asleep?
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Is it a) a half? b) a quarter? or c) a third?
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I think we spend about a third of our lives sleeping.
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OK, well, I'll reveal the correct answer at the end of the programme.
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The question of why humans sleep is not easy to answer.
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In terms of evolution, why would it make sense to go unconscious every night,
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leaving yourself vulnerable to danger?
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It can only mean that the benefits gained from sleep are huge.
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Here, science journalist Ginny Smith explains some of these benefits
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to BBC Radio 4 programme, Inside Science.
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So we've probably all experienced this,
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that if you've had a bad night's sleep and then you try and do some work,
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you just can't concentrate.
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Your brain isn't in the right state to take in new information.
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But we also need to sleep after we've learnt new things,
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because that's when our brain consolidates the information -
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takes it from short-term storage to long-term storage,
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fits it in with other things we already know,
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that old adage of if you've got a problem, sleep on it -
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your brain does actually work on things during the night,
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and you can often wake up and have solved the problem in your sleep.
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When we sleep,
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our brains refresh, leaving us feeling rested in the morning.
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But after a bad night's sleep, it's more difficult to concentrate -
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we can't take in, or understand, new information.
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We also have the saying if you've got a problem, sleep on it. To sleep on
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it means to delay making a decision until you've had time to think about it.
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But that also turns out to be true, scientifically speaking.
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During sleep, your brain really can work out problems and find solutions.
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But what about the other side of the story?
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What happens when you get too little sleep or none at all?
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Here's Ginny Smith again, talking to BBC Radio 4 programme, Inside Science.
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Sleep deprivation is a form of stress,
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and we know that when you are stressed, your sort of
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fight-or-flight response is activated and that causes all these changes
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in your body that focus on immediate survival over long-term health.
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But if we are chronically stressed,
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money worries or a stressful job or something that's going on forever,
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or life in general, chronic sleep deprivation
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that's causing that level of stress,
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then you might constantly have a damped down immune system,
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which can then lead to all these knock-on problems.
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Having none or too little of something important is known as deprivation.
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Sleep deprivation is stressful for the body,
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so stressful that it activates a fight-or-flight response,
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changes in the human body in response to a life threatening situation,
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which make us either stay and fight the threat or run away from it.
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As well as a fight-or-flight response,
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the stress of not getting enough sleep over a longer period
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also creates problems including heart disease and a weakened immune system.
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Lack of sleep has these knock-on effects -
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it causes other things to happen, but not directly.
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Now, do you see why it's so important to get a good night's sleep, Phil?
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Plus, it will stop you sleeping at work again.
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04:12
Right. I think it's time to reveal the answer to my question.
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Yes. You asked me how much of the average person's life is spent asleep,
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and I said it was about a third.
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Which was... the correct answer.
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Assuming you sleep eight hours a day,
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the average person will sleep for 229,961 hours in their lifetime,
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or around one third of their life.
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OK, let's recap the vocabulary we've learned,
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starting with the phrases catch 40 winks, get some shut eye, doze,
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and take a nap, all of which mean to sleep.
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When someone takes in information, they understand it.
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If you have a problem and you sleep on it,
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you delay making a decision until you've had time to think about it.
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Deprivation is an absence or too little of something important,
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such as food or sleep.
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The fight-or-flight response describes changes in the human body
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in response to a dangerous situation, which make us either stay
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and fight the threat or run away from it.
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And finally,
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if something has a knock-on effect, it causes other results indirectly.
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Once again, our six minutes are up, but remember to join us again next time
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for more trending topics and useful vocabulary here at 6 Minute English.
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Goodbye for now. Bye.
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