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This is TED Health, a podcast from the TED Audio Collective, and I'm your host, Dr. Shoshana Ungerleiter. Back when I worked the night shift in the hospital, I thought I had mastered the art of running on no sleep. Coffee, adrenaline, and sheer... willpower got me through the early hours, but by the morning my brain felt like it was wrapped in fog.
I'd forget simple things, I'd struggle to focus, and let's not even talk about my reaction time driving home. Sleep isn't just about feeling rested. It's a powerful force shaping memory, mood, and even long-term health. This 24 TED Ed lesson takes us inside the sleep deprived brain, revealing what really happens when we push past exhaustion.
Understanding the science of sleep can help us make better choices, not just for staying sharp today, but for protecting our health in the long run. So before trading shut eye for screen time, you might want to listen to this first. Before we dive in, a quick break to hear from our sponsors. Support for this episode comes from the University of Illinois Geese College of Business Online MBA, known as the IMBA, which provides unmatched flexibility that allows you to put your degree within reach.
Jeff Wayman, a first-year IMBA student, has already seen the impact. My name is Jeff Wayman. I'm an IMBA student at the University of Illinois, Geese College of Business. Currently, I'm head of content strategy for the office of CTO for a tech company. I have a career path that I pretty much understand, but I'm looking to expand my capabilities and move into more senior leadership roles.
And so an MBA was always something that was on my mind. You know, I would consider myself a lifelong learner. You know, I enjoy it. When narrowing it down to a few programs at the East University of Illinois. built a lot of flexibility into what you would focus on within the MBA. And so the ability to sort of target areas I want to focus on in my business education was really important. And that is part of the core, you know, these curriculum.
Fears and hesitations I had in sort of going back to school. I think the biggest thing is, you know, time management. My work is flexible, but at the same time, it's unpredictable. I have a family as well. The program in every way has certainly given me that opportunity for flexibility.
I think that flexibility has been the best part for me. We get home with our family, we eat dinner with our family. I can still do all those things, even if there's a class that day. I probably have 25 to 30 years left at work. A program for me, I look at I'm going to spread that cost over that time. And so, you know, based on that investment, what could I expect from that?
If I can be more competitive when I go to my next role or have my next interview, absolutely that I think I've got a return on that investment. You know, best case scenario, it changes my career path or trajectory. Looking at other students that graduate, other things people have done, it's certainly a possibility. I do not think you will find a program that has put more time and energy and effort into
how they deliver the coursework, how they interact with the students, how they build the curriculum, how they ensure as much flexibility as possible. I don't think you're going to get that other places. So that I think is the real big difference for me. If you're like most professionals, graduate education has to be designed to fit within your busy schedule. Learn more about the courses designed with your career and time in mind at geeseonline.illinois.edu.
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Hive. Know your power. T's and C's apply. Visit hivehome.com. And now your TEDx lesson of the day. You're just one Roman Empire history final away from a relaxing spring break. But you still have so much to study. So you decide to follow in the footsteps of many students before you and pull an all-nighter. When you stay up all night, you're fighting against your body's natural circadian rhythms. These are the cyclical changes that virtually all living things...
But for the moment, you're alert and powering through the rules. Your eyes send signals about the dwindling light to a part of your brain called suprachiasmatic nucleus. This is basically your circadian rhythm's clock. It alerts your pineal gland to start producing melatonin. That's the hormone that helps prepare your body for sleep. and levels start to rise about two hours before your normal bedtime.
At the same time, neurons in the hypothalamus and brainstem release a compound called GABA. This slows down activity in your brain and can have a calming effect. You're approaching your normal bedtime. Since the brain needs to cool down before sleep, your core body temperature starts to drop. Huh, that map kind of looks like a face. Uh-oh, your attention has started to drift.
Throughout the day, your brain has been releasing a waste product called adenosine. The more adenosine latching onto receptors in your brain, the more tired and inattentive you become. Time for a cup of coffee. Caffeine blocks adenosine from binding to receptors which can give you a boost of energy. However, it might also make you jittery and increase your anxiety. You're acing these flashcards. Right now, these dates and names are being stored in an area of the brain called the hippocampus.
Normally, when you go to sleep, memories like these are consolidated and slotted into long-term storage in your brain's neocortex. So it's a good thing you only need to remember this information through tomorrow. Microsleeps are unpredictable. a few seconds and are triggered by sleep deprivation. You stretch in an attempt to stay awake, but at this point your motor skills have also taken a hit.
Studies have found that people who have been awake for 19 hours have similar coordination and reaction times as those who have been drinking. As the sun rises, your pineal gland stops releasing melatonin. You feel a second wind come on. And despite everything, you leave for school in a really good mood. Sleep deprivation can briefly induce euphoria. It's caused a temporary boost in dopamine levels, which can, unfortunately... also lead to poor choices.
The final starts off well. It's all multiple choice, but then you get to the essay portion. It's thought that during sleep, our brains process ideas and draw connections between new memories and old ones. So your sleepless brain might be able to regurgitate fact. but you're finding it more difficult to find patterns or problem solve. You stare at the blank.
you head up to your room anxious and irritable your amygdala the part of the brain involved with processing emotion is going haywire your prefrontal cortex usually keeps your amygdala in check but it still isn't firing on all cylinders. Your bed has never felt so sweet. After one sleepless night your body and brain bounce back pretty quickly. Which is a good thing, since we can't always control how much sleep we get. But going for long periods without a good night
sleep or constantly changing your bedtime can take its toll. Regularly getting less than seven hours of sleep each night is linked to all sorts of health issues from diabetes to stroke to chronic pain. It also leaves you more vulnerable to developing mental health issues like depression. Your sleep schedule can even affect your grades.
Studies have shown that college students who keep regular sleep hours have, on average, a higher GPA than students who don't. So the next time you're thinking of pulling an all-nighter, remember that Rome wasn't built in a day. Or, for that matter, one night. Must remember, do not forget. Remind me to bring photo ID. Reminder set. Babe, can you make sure I don't forget my photo ID when I vote? All right, love.
However you remember, you'll need photo ID to vote on the 1st of May. Don't have ID? Apply for free voter ID now. Find out more at electoralcommission.org.uk slash voter ID. Since when did pride in your country become prejudice? Co-op members now get prices matched to Audi. Okay then, so co-op members now get Everyday Essentials price matched to Aldi. Sign up and start saving. Co-op. Owned by you, right by you. I wasn't expecting that.
Co-op member prices matched versus comparable products at Aldi GB. Co-op membership required. Co-op group food stores only. See co-op.co.uk slash Aldi price match. That was TED-Ed. I will never forget the night I almost fell asleep at the wheel. It was the end of a grueling 30-hour shift during my medical residency. I was exhausted, but I blasted the AC.
the windows, I turned up the radio, anything to stay awake. But as I pulled onto the freeway, my eyelids got heavier. My head started to nod and suddenly I felt the jolt of my tires hitting the rumble strip. I had drifted into another lane. shook me. I had just spent 30 hours making life or death decisions for critically ill patients. But here I was putting my own life at risk simply because I was too sleep deprived to drive safely.
Sleep deprivation doesn't just make you tired. It impairs judgment. It slows reaction time and can be just as dangerous as driving drunk. Yet in medicine and in so many other professions, pushing through exhaustion is worn like a badge of honor. We praise the all-nighter, the grind, the ability to function on little to no sleep. But what if we've got it all wrong? Let's talk about what sleep deprivation is really doing to us.
In 1964, a 17 year old named Randy Gardner set a world record by staying awake for 264 hours. 11 days as part of a high school science fair project. Researchers from Stanford University monitored him closely. At first, he was just tired, but soon he became irritable. He struggled to concentrate and had trouble forming sentences.
A few days in he started hallucinating. By the end he was paranoid and couldn't remember simple facts. His cognitive and emotional functioning had deteriorated significantly. Afterward, he slept for 14 hours straight and recovered, at least as far as we know. But scientists still don't fully understand the long-term consequences of extreme sleep deprivation.
And it raises an important question. If this is what happens after just 11 days, what kind of damage are we doing to ourselves when we routinely skimp on sleep? Let's start with the heart. If you consistently sleep less than seven hours a night, your risk of high blood pressure skyrockets, with people sleeping less than four hours having an 86% higher risk of it.
Sleep loss also speeds up the buildup of plaque in our arteries, a major predictor of heart attacks and strokes. And then there's the brain. A long-term study found that sleeping six hours or less per night in middle age increases your risk of dementia by 30%. Because when we sleep, the brain clears out waste products including the toxins linked to Alzheimer's disease. Without enough sleep, those toxins build up, increasing the risk of cognitive decline.
And what about metabolism? If you're trying to lose weight but skimping on sleep, you're making it significantly harder. One study found that people on calorie-restricted diets who slept less than five and a half hours a night lost 55% less fat, and instead their body started breaking down muscle. Sleep deprivation also increases cravings for junk food, making it harder to resist unhealthy choices.
And let's not forget our emotions and decision-making. Poor sleep makes us more anxious, reactive, and even impulsive. It impairs our ability to weigh risks. making us more likely to engage in reckless behavior. Studies have even shown that sleep-deprived judges hand out harsher sentences the day after losing an hour of sleep due to daylight savings time.
Which brings me to one of the biggest unintentional sleep experiments we run every year. According to a study of hospital admissions across Michigan, Losing one hour of sleep led to a 24% increase in heart attacks on the Monday following the switch to daylight savings time in the spring. And gaining an hour reduced heart attacks by 21% on the Tuesday following the return to standard time in the fall. Just one hour. Imagine what chronic sleep loss is doing to us over a lifetime.
I've actually always been a lover of sleep, but during my medical training, that love had to take a backseat. After enduring the grueling hours of residency, I took a job as a nighttime hospitalist. which meant flipping my schedule entirely, working through the night while the rest of the world slept, and then trying to get enough rest during the day before doing it all over again. And at first, I didn't think much of it.
I loved the work, the quiet intensity of the hospital at night, the deep focus it required of me. and the way the team came together to handle emergencies without the usual daytime chaos. There was something about the stillness, the hushed tones in the hallways that made the work feel even more meaningful to me.
But over time, I felt the effects. My energy lagged. My mood was unpredictable. My memory just wasn't as sharp. And I found myself feeling foggy, even when I thought I'd slept enough during the day. My body just never fully adjusted. And I struggled with headaches and digestive issues and a persistent feeling of being out of sync.
Even though I love the work, I eventually made the difficult decision to change my schedule. I knew I needed to prioritize my health and well-being, so I transitioned to a daytime role. And the difference was nearly immediate. My energy improved. My focus sharpened. And I felt like myself again. And the research supports what I experienced. Sleep is an investment in better health, a sharper brain, and ultimately a longer life.
So here's my challenge to you. Track your sleep for a week. Pay attention to how much rest you're actually getting and how you feel throughout the day. Notice if your energy, your mood, or your focus changes. Then for the next week, try making sleep a priority and see what happens. Start small, set a bedtime and stick to it, just like you might do for a child. Cut back on caffeine late in the day and limit screen time before bed to see if that makes a difference.
Try a simple wind-down ritual, whether it's reading, stretching, or deep breathing, to signal to your body that it's time to rest. Because the science is clear. Sleep deprivation isn't just making us tired. It's making us sicker, more forgetful, more reactive, and even shortening our lives. And this isn't just about personal exhaustion.
Sleep loss affects our society. It impacts our health systems, our workplaces, and even the safety of our roads. When we treat rest as a luxury instead of a necessity, we all pay the price. The good news? We have the power to change this, not just for ourselves, but for the culture we create. It starts with small choices. One night.
And that's it for today's episode. Thank you so much for listening. TED Health is part of the TED Audio Collective. This episode was produced by me, Dr. Shoshana Ungerleiter, and Jess Shane, edited by Alejandra Salazar, and fact-checked by Vanessa Garcia-Wood. Special thanks to Maria Lages, Farrah Degrunge, Daniela Balarezo, Constanza Gallardo, Tansika Sung Marnivong, and Roxanne Hilash. If you enjoyed today's episode, rate and review the show on your favorite platform.
And I'd really love to hear your feedback. Send me a message on Instagram. Support for this episode comes from the University of Illinois Geese College of Business MBA program known as the IMBA, which provides the environment and resources that empower you to make your mark and put your purpose into practice. Kara Kasner, a graduate of the program, can... Hi, my name is Kara Kasner. I am a 2023 graduate of the IMBA program at the University of Illinois Geese College of Business.
I am currently the director of digital marketing at Kendall Corporation, which is a provider of senior living and aging services. So when I started, I The biggest change was when I found out I was pregnant and I knew I didn't want to stop the program. I wanted to keep going. but I was able to take a summer off. To have the baby and to spend time with the baby, and because the program is flexible, it really had no adverse effect on me at all.
I was able to just pick it back up when I was ready to and finish. There's a network here that's really unmatched. It's huge. It's global and you're going to find someone in your field. You're going to find someone in your function. You're going to find people that have commonalities with you, but you're also going to find so many people that aren't. I think that's really unique to Geese.
I think you're going to get a high quality education. You're going to meet a lot of people and you're going to do that at a really affordable price. I think what surprised me the most is how quickly I was able to take what I learned and just take it right to work with me. I had been kind of reaping the benefits the whole way along. really from that first class I took, I was able to exhibit that in my work. I definitely think that my
team at work has noticed and has seen me bring these things to play. I got pulled into more things than I would have if I hadn't done this program. I'm glad I went this route. I think it was the best choice for me. And I think it's a good choice for many people that are in similar situations to me as well. No matter what your career path, Guy's College of Business Online MBA has a curriculum that gives you the right mix of practical and leadership learning to meet your specific career goals.
and be more competitive on the job market. Learn more at gisonline.illinois.edu. Since when did pride in your country become prejudice? Our thoughts exactly The Telegraph We speak your mind And then there's super digging. There's food. And then there's Baker's Superfoods. Made with selected natural ingredients and tasty chicken. There's food. And then there's Baker's Superfoods.