In the United States, it’s estimated that 30 percent of adults and 66 percent of adolescents are regularly sleep-deprived. This isn’t just a minor inconvenience: staying awake can cause serious bodily harm. Claudia Aguirre shows what happens to your body and brain when you skip sleep.
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Watch
Link to this TED Talk: What Would Happen If You Didn’t Sleep?
Glossary
- moody – (of a person) given to unpredictable changes of mood, especially sudden bouts of gloominess or sullenness
- adolescent – (of a young person) in the process of developing from a child into an adult
- to induce sth – bring about or give rise to
- to doze – sleep lightly
- to replenish – restore (a stock or supply) to a former level or condition
- inflammation – a localized physical condition in which part of the body becomes reddened, swollen, hot, and often painful, especially as a reaction to injury or infection
- obesity – the state of being grossly fat or overweight
- stroke – a sudden disabling attack or loss of consciousness caused by an interruption in the flow of blood to the brain
- insomnia – habitual sleeplessness; inability to sleep
- by-product – an incidental or secondary product made in the manufacture or synthesis of something else
- slumber – sleep
- sanity – the ability to think and behave in a normal and rational manner; sound mental health
Watch and listen
Answer the questions below.
- What did Randy Garner do in 1965? (00:00)
- What happened to him? (00:20)
- What are some possible effects of lack of sleep? (00:40)
- How much sleep do we need every night? (01:00)
- What happens during non-REM sleep? (01:25)
- How many Americans are sleep deprived? (01:35)
- What possible fatal consequences can sleeplessness have? (01:50)
- How does the brain accumulate waste? (02:50)
- How is this waste cleaned up? (03:35)
Practice Makes Perfect
Fill in the blanks with the correct preposition. Go to TED to find out more.
We grow sleepy due to signals 2.____ our body telling our brain we are tired, and signals from the environment telling us it’s dark outside. The rise 3.____ sleep-inducing chemicals, like adenosine and melatonin, send us 4.____ a light doze that grows deeper, making our breathing and heart rate slow 5.____ and our muscles relax.
Studies show that chronically sleeping fewer than six hours a night increases stroke risk 6.____ four and half times compared to those getting a consistent seven to eight hours of shuteye. This condition, known as Fatal Familial Insomnia, places the body 7.____ a nightmarish state of wakefulness, forbidding it 8.____ entering the sanctuary of sleep. Within months or years, this progressively worsening condition leads 9.____ dementia and death.
Answers:
- IN 2. FROM 3. IN 4. INTO 5. DOWN 6. BY 7. IN 8. FROM 9. TO
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