Page 26. Watch the Lecture. Part D. LISTEN FOR DETAILS

Unit three

page 26

watch the lecture

part D: listen for details

How many of you got enough sleep last night?

Huh?! Not so many… Okay; well, that’s what we’re going to cover today; the issue of sleep deprivation, not getting enough sleep.

Now you might say, sleep deprivation, why is this a public health problem…

in fact, there are many serious consequences of not getting enough sleep.

so will first look at the immediate impact, problems that causes in your daily life, and then look at the long-term effects; problems that grow over many months or years, especially concerning our health.

Let’s start with the definition of sleep deprivation.

most adults need 7 to 9 hours of sleep every night; so, if you get less than seven hours of sleep on most nights, you’ll start suffering from sleep deprivation.

lack of sleep has serious effects on the brain, on our ability to think and to function properly.

without a sufficient amount of sleep, we think more slowly; we have trouble making decisions, we make more mistakes and have trouble remembering things.

So, basically anything to do with memory, making decisions, thinking… all of these are affected lack of sleep.

And this is happening to many people.

recent studies show that 40% of adults get less than seven hours of sleep each night.

so that means 4/10 adults are suffering from sleep deprivation.

so let’s talk about the immediate effect of not getting enough sleep and how it can affect us in every aspect of our lives.

for instance, at school, how many of you have stayed up all night to study for a big test?

Well, research shows that in order for us to remember new information, we first need to sleep.

sleep assists our memory; so when we sleep, we consolidate and we strengthen our long-term memory.

so if you don’t sleep enough learning is harder.

In fact, some studies have shown connection between the amount of sleep students get and their grades in school.

students who get less sleep, get lower grades.

Now, let’s think about work; on the job!

sleepy workers cause many workplace accidents; one example is in the medical field.

doctors at hospitals often have to put in long shifts and stay up all night; one recent study looked at doctors who stayed awake all night, working 30 hours shifts.

it showed that these tired doctors were seven times more likely to make mistakes on these long shifts; then on regular shifts when they got enough sleep, seven times!

these mistakes injure people and even kill patients.

another place where the immediate effects of sleep deprivation is illustrated is on the road, in car accidents.

did you know that tired drivers cost 20% of car accidents in the US?

That’s about 1500 deaths and more than 7000 injuries each year.

many of these accidents occur when tired drivers fall into micro sleep, which is falling asleep for several seconds.

these people may look away, their eyes are open, but their brain is asleep, they can’t hear anything around them or see anything.

It may only happen for a few seconds, but that’s long enough to go through a red light, to drive off the highway or to hit another car.

So, those are all immediate day-to-day problems caused by when you’re trying to function you too tired.

but there are also long-term consequences of sleep deprivation, especially to our health.

for example, there is a link between lack of sleep and weight gain.

studies show that people who get less sleep are more likely to be overweight.

When people are tired they actually get hungrier and eat more than when they well rested; they also have more time to eat because they’re awake.

all this adds up to weight gain.

in addition, people who get less sleep are more likely to get sick, and to have serious health problems.

one study concluded that women who sleep less than five hours a night are 40% more likely to have heart problems, compared with women who get eight hours of sleep every night; 40%, that’s a much higher risk.

The scariest thing about sleep deprivation is most people don’t realize that there are dangers; they continue to go to work when they’re tired; or to drive a car when they’re sleepy, and over time they may begin to suffer from serious health problems caused by their lack of sleep; but, they don’t realize the cause.

it’s clear we need stronger health education programs to teach people about this problem; to make them realize that they should get enough sleep each night.

with more sleep, people will do better in school; be safer at work, and they won’t have as many car accidents.

and they’ll be healthier in the long run.

everyone needs this information.

And that’s what I want to look at next; how to educate people about the problem of sleep deprivation.

We’ll look at one educational program that has recently started…