Saturday, March 23, 2013
Sleep Deprivation
Radiolab: Ahhhh, babies. We get in bed with producer Hannah Palin, and her husband, and her baby Dominic, as they all try to go to sleep. An intimate portrait of the effects of sleep deprivation. And then we try to understand what sleep is for by looking at what happens when you don't get it. The tired, cranky feeling of exhaustion, what’s that really about? What thing are you missing by not getting sleep? Dr. Allan Pack describes what an exhausted brain looks like (hint: a 14 year-old boy's room). And Dr. Gulio Tunoni gives us insight into why a good night of sleep is good for the brain and, as the Sisterhood of Convoluted Thinkers and opera singer Brad Cresswell tell us, good for learning how to play music.
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6 comments:
Children and sleep are one of the primary reason I don't want to reproduce. It seems so stressful to not be able to sleep with children. The thing is children are not easy to deal with and then having to go to work afterwards. I am one of those people who cannot go back to sleep after being woke up. So being woke up would be a death sentence for me...
Here at CMU in the drama department, most of us have lived a little bit sleep deprived, if only for a little. Usually, one can make it through the day, and then catch up on sleep the next night or later in the day. But, its interesting to think that it's not just a "feeling" of being tired, but actually a physical deformation on the cellular level with the folding of proteins. Though, the podcast doesn't go deeply into science of folded proteins I've got the general gist that these proteins need to fold so that the human body works properly. And when we don't sleep, those proteins don't fold, therefore, the body doesn't work right. This makes so much sense with how I've seen my body and others react to a lack of sleep. It also mentioned that when people don't sleep, they get angrier and have a shorter temper. This has also proven true in my experience. I can this also being related to the protein thing? Maybe it prevents circuits in the brain from being "wired" correctly. In any case, sleep deprivation literally deforms the inside of your body, and it seems odd to think that something so casually done in school and in life (like when someone has a newborn) has such a huge impact on the insides (and how one acts on the inside).
I quite enjoy Alex's comment above. Children and sleep are an extremely difficult combination. Babysitting for young children is often stressful because of their typical off the wall nature. I, unlike Alex, can go back to sleep after I have been woken up, but I usually become very cranky when a baby is crying and waking me. I dislike the sounds of babies crying... Also, I have read several times that interrupted sleep leaves a person more tired in the end. Interrupted sleep, although bad for the body, sometimes makes the night seem longer for me...
I tend to joke about being sleep deprived at school and just catching up on sleep during breaks, but I never realized that it actually affect the brain. The problem is that with the corse load that most Dp's carry, there is not really much time left for sleep, so listening to this podcast just makes me feel worse about the amount (or lack) of sleep I'm getting. Also, it left me wondering with it's even possible to have kids in this industry, if we are constantly working long hours and then our children's cries are keeping us up late into the nights, how would anyone manage to function like a rational human being?
So I am loving Alex's comment, and say "amen" to that. Sleep deprevation is a common problem amungst CMU studcents and probably students around the world as well. I was in a lecture once here where the professor insisted that we get the correct amount of sleep (at least 7 hours a night) and he gave an entire lecture on how we can be happy, primarily by eating right, and most importantly sleeping! Well how funny is it that his class is a MAIN CAUSE of sleep deprivation for students. Thank you Mr. Kosbie.
Sleep deprivation is a common problem within the world. We tend to break it down to CMU, and further to just School of Drama, because that's what we know. But, truth be told, I have met a lot of adults who work in not only theatre, but other industries as well, who just don't know when to call it a night. There's always going to be an excuse to stay up for "just another hour." There's always going to be more work you COULD do. And, yes, maybe you are filled with regret for not having started on that project earlier. I find that most people actually don't have huge problems with time management, they just hinge themselves on their failures. And then their failures freak them out, so they end up spiraling into a whole week of late nights so they can feel more ahead, even if the next things aren't due tomorrow. It's usually not worth it, either. As long as you aren't constantly missing deadlines, missing one isn't going to be the end of the world. You'll do better on the assignment and feel better about yourself if you go to bed.
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