Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of I Heart Radio, Hey brain Stuff, Lauren bogobam Here. Since n every odd numbered year, sailors from around the world have gathered in France for a wildly arduous race the Mini trans At. They hop into their many six fifty yachts, which are tiny boats at a maximum of twenty one feet that is six point five meters long, and then head west as fast as they can, hoping to be the first to reach Lamarine Bay Martinique in the Caribbean, some four thousand watery
miles away that's about six thousand, four hundred kilometers. The race has two legs, France to the Canary Islands and the Canary Islands to Martinique. Race is set to begin on September. But the biggest catch the eighty odd sailors who undergo this journey must do it alone. But how does sailors complete an endurance race that lasts three to four weeks and that prevents them from sleeping for more
than twenty minutes at a time during it? And that's the question behind a study conducted by researchers of the University of Bologna in Italy. The scientists wanted to better understand how sailors manage their sleep cycles and whether certain people have inherent biological advantages that aid them during this physically demanding race. Their results were published in May in
the journal Nature and Science of Sleep. In the weeks leading up to the race, researchers asked forty two of the sailors to document their training In preparation, they also recorded crucial data like sleep quality, desire for sleep, and their chronotype, which essentially means whether they're early morning types, night owls, or somewhere in between. Only half of the sailors consciously prepared sleep strategies. Professor Gazeppie Plazi, the study coordinator,
said in a statement, expert skippers often make this choice. Indeed, expert sailors with a track record of miles and miles of offshore sailing are more mindful of the importance of sleep management. Of those with a strategy, a little more than half opted to sleep more before the race in hopes of banking sleep, knowing that they'd have to make
serious withdrawals from that account soon. About a quarter opted for polyphasic sleep instead, hoping that short cat naps throughout the day would get them through the last chose a gradual descent into sleep deprivation, with the idea that even though they'd be exhausted by the end, they could hold on for the finish line. The sailors, by the way, use autopilot to keep their vessels on track while they
take these naps. Prototype data showed that about forty of the sailors were morning people, early to rise and early to bed. The other sixty were hummingbirds, those who fall in the middle ground. There were zero night owls, who may be at a disadvantage in these types of endurance competitions. According to the researchers, the sailors who were early birds were less likely to use a pre race sleep management
strategy than the hummingbirds. Regardless of their sleep strategies or lack thereof, The researchers found that there were no real differences in arrival times for either leg of the race. Applause said, our next step will be to closely monitor sleep wake cycles both during the training and during the race. In this way, we'll be able to devise increasingly effective and precise sleep management strategies. Today's episode is based on
the article how do You Sleep when Sailing? Solo for four thousand miles on how stuff works dot Com, written by Nathan Chandler. Brain Stuff is production of by Heart Radio in partnership with how stuff Works dot Com, and it's produced by Tyler Klang. Four more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Two