Why you need a good night's sleep ⏲️ 6 Minute English — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:07Hello, this is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English.
2. 0:11I'm Georgie and we're ready to start,
3. 0:14Phil... Phil?
4. 0:18Sorry Georgie, I was just catching 40 winks, you know,
5. 0:22getting some shut eye, dozing, taking a nap. I was sleeping...
6. 0:27Sleeping at work?
7. 0:29Phil, how could you?
8. 0:30I know, I know. Sorry, I, I didn't sleep well last night.
9. 0:34I'll forgive you this time, but make sure you go to bed early tonight,
10. 0:37because getting a good night's sleep is incredibly important.
11. 0:41For example, did you know that people who get enough sleep live about five
12. 0:46years longer than people who don't?
13. 0:48Wow, so a good night's sleep can lengthen your life.
14. 0:52In this programme, we'll be finding out more about the benefits of sleep and
15. 0:55as usual, learning some useful new vocabulary as well.
16. 0:59But first, now that you've woken up, I have a question for you.
17. 1:03Do you know how much of the average person's life is spent asleep?
18. 1:08Is it a) a half? b) a quarter? or c) a third?
19. 1:13I think we spend about a third of our lives sleeping.
20. 1:17OK, well, I'll reveal the correct answer at the end of the programme.
21. 1:22The question of why humans sleep is not easy to answer.
22. 1:26In terms of evolution, why would it make sense to go unconscious every night,
23. 1:30leaving yourself vulnerable to danger?
24. 1:33It can only mean that the benefits gained from sleep are huge.
25. 1:37Here, science journalist Ginny Smith explains some of these benefits
26. 1:41to BBC Radio 4 programme, Inside Science.
27. 1:45So we've probably all experienced this,
28. 1:46that if you've had a bad night's sleep and then you try and do some work,
29. 1:49you just can't concentrate.
30. 1:51Your brain isn't in the right state to take in new information.
31. 1:54But we also need to sleep after we've learnt new things,
32. 1:57because that's when our brain consolidates the information -
33. 2:00takes it from short-term storage to long-term storage,
34. 2:03fits it in with other things we already know,
35. 2:06that old adage of if you've got a problem, sleep on it -
36. 2:08your brain does actually work on things during the night,
37. 2:11and you can often wake up and have solved the problem in your sleep.
38. 2:14When we sleep,
39. 2:15our brains refresh, leaving us feeling rested in the morning.
40. 2:19But after a bad night's sleep, it's more difficult to concentrate -
41. 2:23we can't take in, or understand, new information.
42. 2:27We also have the saying if you've got a problem, sleep on it. To sleep on
43. 2:31it means to delay making a decision until you've had time to think about it.
44. 2:35But that also turns out to be true, scientifically speaking.
45. 2:39During sleep, your brain really can work out problems and find solutions.
46. 2:44But what about the other side of the story?
47. 2:46What happens when you get too little sleep or none at all?
48. 2:50Here's Ginny Smith again, talking to BBC Radio 4 programme, Inside Science.
49. 2:56Sleep deprivation is a form of stress,
50. 2:58and we know that when you are stressed, your sort of
51. 3:01fight-or-flight response is activated and that causes all these changes
52. 3:04in your body that focus on immediate survival over long-term health.
53. 3:09But if we are chronically stressed,
54. 3:12money worries or a stressful job or something that's going on forever,
55. 3:16or life in general, chronic sleep deprivation
56. 3:19that's causing that level of stress,
57. 3:20then you might constantly have a damped down immune system,
58. 3:23which can then lead to all these knock-on problems.
59. 3:26Having none or too little of something important is known as deprivation.
60. 3:31Sleep deprivation is stressful for the body,
61. 3:34so stressful that it activates a fight-or-flight response,
62. 3:39changes in the human body in response to a life threatening situation,
63. 3:43which make us either stay and fight the threat or run away from it.
64. 3:48As well as a fight-or-flight response,
65. 3:50the stress of not getting enough sleep over a longer period
66. 3:54also creates problems including heart disease and a weakened immune system.
67. 3:59Lack of sleep has these knock-on effects -
68. 4:02it causes other things to happen, but not directly.
69. 4:05Now, do you see why it's so important to get a good night's sleep, Phil?
70. 4:09Plus, it will stop you sleeping at work again.
71. 4:12Right. I think it's time to reveal the answer to my question.
72. 4:16Yes. You asked me how much of the average person's life is spent asleep,
73. 4:21and I said it was about a third.
74. 4:23Which was... the correct answer.
75. 4:27Assuming you sleep eight hours a day,
76. 4:29the average person will sleep for 229,961 hours in their lifetime,
77. 4:36or around one third of their life.
78. 4:39OK, let's recap the vocabulary we've learned,
79. 4:42starting with the phrases catch 40 winks, get some shut eye, doze,
80. 4:47and take a nap, all of which mean to sleep.
81. 4:50When someone takes in information, they understand it.
82. 4:54If you have a problem and you sleep on it,
83. 4:56you delay making a decision until you've had time to think about it.
84. 5:00Deprivation is an absence or too little of something important,
85. 5:04such as food or sleep.
86. 5:06The fight-or-flight response describes changes in the human body
87. 5:10in response to a dangerous situation, which make us either stay
88. 5:14and fight the threat or run away from it.
89. 5:17And finally,
90. 5:18if something has a knock-on effect, it causes other results indirectly.
91. 5:23Once again, our six minutes are up, but remember to join us again next time
92. 5:28for more trending topics and useful vocabulary here at 6 Minute English.
93. 5:32Goodbye for now. Bye.
94. 5:42Learn English from the news with BBC Learning English.
95. 5:49One big story every week,
96. 5:51three news headlines and all the vocabulary
97. 5:54you need to understand the story in English.
98. 5:58Plus, you can download a free worksheet on our website for every episode.
99. 6:04Search Learning English from the News on your podcast app
100. 6:07or visit BBCLearningEnglish.com.