BBC 6 Minute English 2018 Is modern life making us tired
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hello and welcome to 6 minute English
I’m Alice and I’m Neil so Neil did you
sleep well last night
yes thanks why do you ask today we’re
talking about how much sleep we need ah
I like a good eight hours myself 10 at
the weekend how about you no 6 is enough
for me
but did you know this humans sleep
around 3 hours less than other primates
like chimps who sleep for about 10 hours
so you’re a chimp Neil at the weekends
at least are you ready for the quiz
question ok
I’ll assume that means yes right what’s
another word for sleepwalking is it a
narcolepsy be restless legs syndrome or
see some numb you ilysm I will go for be
restless leg syndrome since there’s a
connection with the legs well we’ll find
out whether you’re right or wrong later
on in the show so what keeps you awake
at night Neil not much to be honest I
usually sleep like a log and that means
very heavily indeed but sometimes my own
snoring wakes me up and then I can find
it hard to get back to sleep snoring for
those of you who don’t know means
breathing in a noisy way through your
mouth or nose while you’re asleep like
that how are you very good yes well
that’s quite ridiculous anyway for me
it’s drinking too much coffee during the
day it’s the caffeine in the coffee a
chemical that makes you feel more awake
which can stop you from sleeping at
night but there are so many things that
can keep us awake these days
oh yes radio TV techy stuff like 24-hour
internet computers smart phones I love
my phone it’s never far from me well
let’s hear what professor Jerome Siegel
from the University of California found
when he studied the sleep habits of
three different hunter-gatherer
communities who have very little
with modern society they don’t have
artificial light electricity batteries
or any of the gadgets that we rely on
today their sleep was not that different
from ours the range of sleep period was
about 6.9 to 8.5 hours if you actually
measure sleep in current populations in
the United States or in Europe they’re
definitely at the low end of what’s been
reported they certainly don’t sleep a
lot less than we do but they clearly
don’t sleep more professor Jerome Siegel
found that people in these communities
don’t go to bed until several hours
after sundown just like us but one big
difference is that very few of them
suffer from insomnia which means having
difficulty falling asleep and staying
asleep now I don’t have a problem with
insomnia and hunter-gatherers people who
live by hunting animals and gathering
plants to eat don’t either
probably because they take a lot of
physical exercise during the day yes
that’s right taking exercise is an
important factor in sleeping soundly or
well at night but these days our minds
can be so active that it becomes very
difficult to fall asleep let’s listen to
Professor Kevin Morgan from Loughborough
University here in England talking about
how cognitive behavioral therapy can be
used to help people with insomnia if you
have a train of thoughts which would
otherwise keep you awake one way of
dealing with this is to block those
thoughts what I’d like you to do it
repeat the word the in your mind at a
regular interval the the the the the the
what you’ll find it at the mind space
required to do this blocks out almost
everything else
so professor Kevin Morgan suggests
saying one word over and over again at
irregular intervals irregular in this
context means not spaced out evenly
doing it can help to block out the
thoughts that are stopping you from
getting to sleep it sounds like a very
simple solution wonder if it works
hmm there’s one way to find out Neal try
it yourself I will okay and cognitive
behavioral therapy by the way is a
treatment for mental health problems
that tries to change the way you think
well I usually count sheep if I can’t
get to sleep do you do that Alice no
okay I think it’s time for the answer to
our quiz question I asked what’s another
word for sleepwalking is it a narcolepsy
be restless leg syndrome or see some
number ilysm and I said be restless leg
syndrome hmm sorry Neal it’s actually
see some Namba lism the roots of this
word come from latin somnus means sleep
and angular a means walk narcolepsy is a
condition where you can’t stop yourself
from falling asleep especially during
the day the Hep C hmm and restless leg
syndrome is a condition that makes you
desperate to move your legs around
especially when you’re sitting quietly
or trying to get to sleep go to sleep
wake up oh hello alone can we hear
today’s words again please oh okay yeah
sleep like a log
snoring caffeine insomnia
hunter-gatherers soundly irregular
cognitive behavioral therapy well that
just about brings us to the end of this
edition of 6 minute English we hope
you’ve enjoyed this program please do
join us again soon bye bye
six news English from the BBC
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