June 15, 2008
The Science Of Sleep
Lesley Stahl Explores The Latest Findings In Sleep Research
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Play CBS Video Video Science Of Sleep Part 1 Scientists are discovering that sleep is far more critical to human health than previously believed and have linked sleep deprivation to serious problems such as diabetes, obesity and heart disease. Lesley Stahl reports.
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Video Science Of Sleep Part 2 Scientists are discovering that sleep is far more critical to human health than previously believed and have linked sleep deprivation to serious problems such as diabetes, obesity and heart disease. Lesley Stahl reports.
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(CBS)
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Interactive Sleep Tight Having trouble sleeping? Get some dozing hints here and take our sleep quiz.
During a normal night, we cycle through different stages of sleep, progressing from light into deep sleep, then into REM (Rapid eye movement), or dream sleep, and back again. As we age, though, the amount of time we spend in deep sleep decreases.
Van Cauter and Tasali are investigating a novel theory that some of the health problems we typically associate with old age may in fact be caused by the loss of deep sleep.
"We lose deep sleep at a very early age. So a young, healthy person may have 100 minutes of deep sleep, and at 50 years old it may be as little as 20 minutes. So it really… goes down very quickly," Van Cauter explains.
Tasali's goal is to turn 19-year-old Jonathan, sleep-wise, into a 70-year-old.
The next morning - 346 sounds later - it's time for testing. Now Jonathan's going to have fat extracted from his body for analysis, go through a PET scan to see how his brain is metabolizing sugar, and between procedures, he’s answering questions about how he feels. His doctors assure 60 Minutes that Jonathan will be fine once he goes back to his normal sleep routine, but after four nights without deep sleep they have found that, like prior study subjects, he is hungrier, less alert, and most importantly, his body is no longer able to metabolize sugar effectively, putting him temporarily at increased risk for Type 2 diabetes.
"We usually think of diabetes as something that's a disease of old age. But really it may be a disease of sleep deprivation," Stahl remarks.
"I would say that sleep deprivation may be a new risk factor for diabetes," Van Cauter says. "Not just aging, not just being overweight or obese, not just having a family history of diabetes, which are the three major risk factors. But this is an added one. And we have really an epidemic of diabetes now. And Type 2 diabetes is now occurring in children, in adolescents. And, you know, adolescents and children too are also being sleep deprived. Maybe high schoolers are amongst the most sleep deprived individuals in our society, because they have an enormous sleep need - nine to ten hours. Yet they sleep less than seven hours per night."
She says this research proves we all need to rethink what we consider essential for good health - that the diet and exercise formula also has to include sleep.
So if lack of sleep impacts our appetite, our metabolism, our memory, and how we age, is there anything it doesn't affect? How about sex? Scientist Scott McRobert at St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia is asking that very question, studying fruit flies.
Stahl watched as McRobert used a bizarre contraption to suck a male drosophila (fruit fly) out of a vial and put him into a little dish with a female.
McRobert gave Stahl a play-by-play of the action. "Okay. So now, the female's walking around the outside of the chamber," McRobert explains. "And the male's in the center. And you see he's orienting toward her, everywhere she goes."
"He's following her. If you watch closely, he'll touch her with his front legs. It’s hard to see, but he will. And he’ll sing. Here comes the song," McRobert says.
Flies sing, he tells Stahl, by lifting one wing to the side and vibrating it up and down.
McRobert is doing a study to see whether sleep-deprivation in fruit flies affects mating. The two flies in the dish had regular amounts of sleep. "And when he's in the presence of a sexually attractive female, he's just courting and doing almost nothing else," he says.
Eventually, the flies did mate.
Produced By Shari Finkelstein
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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See all 97 CommentsI also believed that videos like this one and others related to sleep are supposed to be shared with students in the classroom, in a sleep awareness week or once a year, mandatory.
Khristine415
Please help uncover this abuse.
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Treatment options include CPAP (continuous positive air pressure delivered through a tube and nose mask) and oral appliances that maintain the lower jaw in a forward position.
More information is available at www.snoringisntsexy.com and www.quietsleep.com.
Dr. Barsh
(Producers: If you plan to follow this excellent show with one that discusses sleep breathing problems, I would be happy to talk with you about dentistry''s expanding role.)
Treatment options include CPAP (continuous positive air pressure delivered through a tube and nose mask) and ora appliances that maintain the lower jaw in a forward position.
More information is available at www.snoringisntsexy.com and www.quietsleep.com.
Dr. Barsh
(Producers: If you plan to follow this excellent show with one that discusses sleep breathing problems, I would be happy to talk with you about dentistry''s expanding role.)
5 days on 2 days off 2nd shift
then 5 days on 2 days off graveyard
then 5 days on 4 days off day shift
I declined the job because of the sleep rotation but can we trust our Nuclear safety to this type of (forced) depravity on the operators?
My life changed after that day. My anxiety, paranoia, and OCD decreased greatly & I lost 45 lbs in 10 wks without exercise. My EXTREME cravings for carbohydrates had dropped to a small rumble. My mental stability was much better; life was not as bleak. Every day life was easier to handle and I no longer felt that my life (and mind) was completely out of control.I will probably always be sleep deprived due to the Fibro, especially while in the workforce. I cannot take the nec. dose of sleep meds during the wk because it''s hard to wake up. I go to work tired. To date, I have NEVER said that I have woken up feeling "refreshed."
I think it is so important that people realize how much sleep is necessary for a well-balanced life and I am very happy that this problem is being focused on. Keep up the good work.
I have tried time and again to move and the same problems. My health has gotten so bad that I am shoved into depressions that last for months now. It has literally been years since I have gotten anything close to a good nights sleep. For me, my art when I can still focus is my only happiness and I tire of endlessly having to fight for my home.
I mean, I can''t even hardly fill out the registration here - and I used to own a computer shop!!! Endless frustration... (sorry).
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