Our natural sleep cycle | Jessa Gamble

Translator: Marta Catarecha Reviewer: Xavier Novella Sinde

Let's start with day and night.

Comencem amb el día i la nit.

Life evolved under conditions

La vida va evolucionar en condicions

of light and darkness,

de llum i foscor,

light and then darkness.

llum i després foscor.

And so plants and animals

Després les plantes i els animals

developed their own internal clocks

van desenvolupar rellotges interns

so that they would be ready for these changes in light.

per ajustar-se a aquests canvis d'il·luminació.

These are chemical clocks,

Són rellotges químics

and they're found in every known being that has two or more cells

i són presents en tots els éssers coneguts de dues o més cèl·lules

and in some that only have one cell.

i en alguns éssers unicel·lulars.

I'll give you an example --

Us posaré un exemple.

if you take a horseshoe crab off the beach,

Si traiem un cranc de la platja,

and you fly it all the way across the continent,

el duem a l'altre extrem del continent,

and you drop it into a sloped cage,

i el posem dins una gàbia amb pendent,

it will scramble up the floor of the cage

s'enfilarà a la part alta (del fons) de la gàbia

as the tide is rising

quan pugi la marea

on its home shores,

a les costes del lloc del qual prové

and it'll skitter down again right as the water is receding

i baixarà novament quan la marea baixi

thousands of miles away.

a milers de quilòmetres de distància.

It'll do this for weeks,

Ho farà durant setmanes,

until it kind of gradually loses the plot.

fins que, a poc a poc, perdi el ritme.

And it's incredible to watch,

És increïble de veure

but there's nothing psychic or paranormal going on;

però no succeeix res psíquic o paranormal,

it's simply that these crabs have internal cycles

simplement aquests crancs tenen cicles iterns

that correspond, usually, with what's going on around it.

que coincideixen, generalment, amb allò que passa al seu voltant.

So, we have this ability as well.

Nosaltres també tenim aquesta capacitat.

And in humans, we call it the "body clock."

En el cas dels humans se'n diu rellotge corporal.

You can see this most clearly when you take away someone's watch

Es pot veure més clarament si li traiem a algú el rellotge

and you shut them into a bunker, deep underground,

i el tanquem en un búnquer sota terra

for a couple of months. (Laughter)

durant un parell de mesos.

People actually volunteer for this,

Les persones s'ofereixen voluntàries

and they usually come out

i generalment en surten

kind of raving about their productive time in the hole.

desvariant sobre el temps útil al forat.

So, no matter how atypical these subjects would have to be,

Així, sense importar la raresa dels individus,

they all show the same thing.

tots mostren el mateix.

They get up just a little bit later every day -- say 15 minutes or so --

Es lleven una mica més tard cada dia, al voltant de 15 minuts,

and they kind of drift all the way around the clock like this

i desvien el seu cicle biològic

over the course of the weeks.

durant setmanes

And so, in this way we know that they are working on their own internal clocks,

D'aquesta manera, sabem que es guien pels seus rellotges interns,

rather than somehow sensing the day outside.

en lloc d'experimentar el dia que fa afora.

So fine, we have a body clock,

Així, doncs, tenim un rellotge corporal

and it turns out that it's incredibly important in our lives.

i resulta que es summament important a les nostres vides.

It's a huge driver for culture

És un gran motor de la cultura,

and I think that it's the most underrated force on our behavior.

i penso que és la força més subestimada del comportament.

We evolved as a species near the equator,

Vam evolucionar com a espècie a prop de l'equador,

and so we're very well-equipped

i és per això que estem ben equipats

to deal with 12 hours of daylight

per fer front a 12 hores de llum

and 12 hours of darkness.

i 12 de foscor.

But of course, we've spread to every corner of the globe

Però, és clar, ens hem escampat per tot el planeta

and in Arctic Canada, where I live,

i a l'Àrtic canadenc, on visc jo,

we have perpetual daylight in summer

tenim llum perpètua a l'estiu

and 24 hours of darkness in winter.

i 24 hores de foscor a l'hivern.

So the culture, the northern aboriginal culture,

Així, la cultura aborigen del nord

traditionally has been highly seasonal.

tradicionalment ha estat molt estacional.

In winter, there's a lot of sleeping going on;

A l'hivern dormen molt.

you enjoy your family life inside.

Gaudeixen, a casa, de la vida familiar.

And in summer, it's almost manic hunting

I a l'estiu hi ha una activitat frenètica

and working activity very long hours,

i feina durant moltes hores,

very active.

frenètic.

So, what would our natural rhythm look like?

Com seria el nostre ritme natural?

What would our sleeping patterns be

Quins serien els patrons del son

in the sort of ideal sense?

en un sentit ideal?

Well, it turns out

Doncs resulta que

that when people are living

quan les persones viuen

without any sort of artificial light at all,

sense llum artificial de cap mena

they sleep twice every night.

dormen el doble a la nit.

They go to bed around 8:00 p.m.

Se'n van a dormir pel volts de les 8 de la nit

until midnight

fins a mitjanit

and then again, they sleep

i després dormen una altra vegada

from about 2:00 a.m. until sunrise.

des de les 2 fins a punta de dia.

And in-between, they have a couple of hours

I, entre mig, tenen un parell d'hores

of sort of meditative quiet in bed.

de tranquil·la meditació al llit.

And during this time,

I durant aquest temps

there's a surge of prolactin,

es dóna un augment de la prolactina,

the likes of which a modern day never sees.

cosa que no veiem avui dia.

The people in these studies

La gent d'aquests estudis

report feeling so awake during the daytime,

diu que es sent tan desperta durant el dia

that they realize

que s'adona

they're experiencing true wakefulness

que han viscut una vigília verdadera

for the first time in their lives.

per primer cop a la vida.

So, cut to the modern day.

Tornem a l'actualitat.

We're living in a culture of jet lag,

Vivim la cultura del jet lag,

global travel,

dels viatges pel món,

24-hour business,

dels negocis de 24 hores,

shift work.

de les feien a torns.

And you know, our modern ways

La forma moderna

of doing things

de fer les coses

have their advantages,

té avantatges

but I believe we should understand the costs.

però penso que hauríem d'entendre'n el preu.

Thank you.

Gràcies.

(Applause)

(Aplaudiments)