This is Tech

Sixty Minutes is running a feature on the Science of Sleep. They give an overview of the state of research related to sleep and sleep depravation. Median sleep levels are apparently around 6.7 hours per night, down from 8 hours a night in 1960. For those of us that consistently get less than the median level, this is an area of research to watch closely.

60 Minutes focuses first on the effect sleep has on cognitive function, highlighting a University of Pennsylvania study showing the link between sleep, learning and memory. Not surprisingly, subjects given memory tests remembered information better then next day than those without sleep. What was interesting, however, is that the subjects that underwent the memory tests late in the day followed by a good night sleep remembered the information they memorized better than they had when tested on the day they tried to memorize it. Tests similarly showed sleep’s positive effects on reaction time and ability to think quickly.

Besides making you slower and dumber, lack of sleep was shown to cause people to act less rationally and lose a degree of control over their emotional responses. The story also discusses a potential link between sleep and diabetes, indicating that lack of sleep effects production of a hormone called leptin that tells your brain when you are full. This is said to contribute to obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure and stroke.

So is the trade-off worth it? It never seems like there are enough hours in the day to get everything one wants accomplished, but are there hidden costs. We may not know the effect our generation’s lack of sleep will have until it is too late.

Embedded Video Below Courtesy of 60 Minutes:

Part 1:

Part 2:

Title Picture from Fofurasfelinas.