BBC Learning English 6 Minute English A good night's rest
Kate: Hello, Im Kate Colin and this is 6 Minute English. Today I'm joined by Rebecca Byrne and were talking about sleep, or lack of it. Hi Rebecca, I have a question for you to start the programme with - how many hours sleep do you need a night?
Rebecca:
I need on average 7 to 8 hours I think to feel.human at least.
Kate:
That's a good long time. Well, this month is National Bed Month an event which is organised by The Sleep Council. Their aim is to remind us of the importance of getting a good night's sleep. 40 years ago most people got 8 hours sleep a night. But with busy lifestyles today, we're more likely to get around 6, which is not enough for most people. So in todays programme were going to talk about what happens when you dont get enough sleep.
Rebecca:
(yawns) I'm feeling pretty tired already actuallywhy dont you wake me up with the question for this week?
Kate:
Alright then, here we go. What is the longest time someone has managed to go without sleep? a) 20 days b) 11 days c) 3 days
Rebecca:
Answers
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Kate:
Okay, well check your answer at the end of the programme. Not sleeping enough is sometimes referred to as sleep deprivation. To be deprived of something means to not have enough. This is something which unfortunately is beginning to affect many school children today. Listen to the following extract to hear a teacher talking about what happens when her pupils dont get enough sleep. Can you tell me what she says are some of the symptoms of sleep deprivation?
Woman It shows in all sorts of different ways, concentration is poor, behaviour gets worse as the week goes on, as the kids are getting less and less sleep. Rebecca: She said that their concentration is poor. If someones 'concentration is poor it means that they are lees able to think clearly. She also says that they do not behave well, so they may be talking a lot and not able to do much work.
Kate:
Thats correct. In the next extract she mentions 'sleeping in'. This is an expression we use when we can spend longer that usual in bed because we dont have to get up for work or school. Or we can 'sleep in' by mistake, when we fail to wake up when we're supposed to. For example, I was late for work today because 'I slept in'. On to the clip
Woman Over the weekend, they get the chance often to sleep in on Saturday or Sunday and so they can catch up on some of the sleep and so by Friday, tempers are getting very frayed because they're just very stressed, tetchy and sleepy.
Rebecca:
So, she said they get the chance to sleep in at the weekends. She also says as the week goes on, her students get more and more tired. The symptoms of being tired are that tempers are frayed and they are stressed, tetchy and sleepy.
Kate:
Yes, the expression tempers are frayed means to get 'easily angry'.
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Rebecca:
and tetchy is often used when talking about how you feel when you havent had enough sleep, it means easily angered or upset.
Kate:
Next we're going to hear what a sleep expert has to say about the effect of not getting enough sleep. See if you can hear what are the main areas?
Man Where it's damaging (I think there's at least 3 general areas). One intellectually - sleep is important for concentration and vigilance. Another aspect is behavioural. They tend to become tetchy and irritable and hostile during the day.
Kate:
He says there are 3 general areas where which are affected by sleep deprivation. The first was that it can be damaging intellectually. He says that sleep is important for concentration and for vigilance. What do these words mean?
Jackie:
'Concentration' is the ability to think clearly and carefully about one thing in particular. To do mathematics or to read a book for example, requires concentration.
Kate:
..and 'vigilance'?
Rebecca: 'Vigilance' is the ability to pay attention and to notice things, especially possible danger. Kate: He also goes on to say that another negative aspect of sleep deprivation is behavioual. This word relates to how the children are behaving and acting in the classroom. They can be techty, irratible and hostile. We came across the word 'techty' earlier but what do the other words mean?
Rebecca: 'Irritable' means that someone becomes annoyed very easily and 'hostile' means unfriendly and likely to be disagreeable.
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Kate: Man
Exactly, let's listen to the last clip
I think also more worryingly, there's also this association with obesity and the kids getting sleep tend to be the fatter kids. Rebecca: He said that it has an association with 'obesity'. Obesity is when people weigh too much or are too fat for their height. I suppose this much be related to sleep deprivation because when you're tired, you do tend to eat more. Kate: So lets go over some of the vocabulary we came across today: We had sleep deprivation which means to not have enough sleep sleep in, when we spend longer than usual in bed tempers are getting very frayed means to get easily angry tetchy is to be irritable, easily angered or upset concentration is the ability to think clearly and carefully vigilance is the ability to pay attention and to notice things, especially possible danger hostile is unfriendly and likely to be disagreeable obesity is extremely overweight or fat
Finally to the question I asked earlier. What is the longest someone has gone without sleep? Rebecca: I said 3 days.
Kate:
I'm afraid you were wrong. It's actually an incredible 11 days! The record was broken by 17 year old Andy Gardner in 1964. Well that's all we have time for today. I hope we've convinced you to get a good night's sleep tonight.
Both:
Until next time - goodbye!
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