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What happens when we don't sleep?
B275 minsNew. New: checked automatically for level, grammar, facts and originality; a teacher's review is still to come. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.healthsciencesleeplifestyle
Video: What would happen if you didn't sleep? – Claudia Aguirre
About this lesson
A B2 lesson on sleep and what happens without it, built on a TED-Ed animation. Students learn phrases for talking about tiredness and its effects, predict what happened to a teenager who stayed awake for 11 days, then find out how the brain clears itself out while we sleep.
- Learn eight phrases for talking about sleep, tiredness and their effects.
- Predict what happened in a famous sleep experiment, then correct the false statements.
- Watch how lack of sleep affects the body and how the brain cleans itself at night.
- Discuss sleep habits, school start times and life without enough rest.
- Use the language to talk about real situations and sum up the lesson.
Target vocabulary
cope without somethingstruggle to concentratea lack of somethinga minor inconveniencebuild upmake up for somethingplay a role in somethingbe linked to something
Lesson activities
Let's get started with a warm-up
1
Your sleep
Discuss the questions.
- How many hours do you usually sleep on a school or work night? Is it enough?
- What is the latest you have ever stayed up? What kept you awake?
- How do you feel and behave the day after a bad night's sleep?
- Do you think people today sleep less than people did fifty years ago? Why/Why not?
- Which jobs mean that people have to work through the night?
- Why do you think humans and animals need to sleep at all?
Let's learn some vocabulary!
2
Tired and wired
Read the sentences and match the phrases in bold with the correct meanings below.
a)My phone broke on holiday, so I had to cope without it for a whole week.
b)The neighbours' party went on until 3 a.m., so I struggled to concentrate in my exam.
c)By the end of the week, hospital staff on night shifts often suffer from a lack of sleep.
d)Losing your umbrella is a minor inconvenience; losing your passport is a real problem.
e)If I don't answer my emails every day, they build up and I can never catch up.
f)I had a late night on Friday, so I went to bed early on Saturday to make up for it.
g)Luck played a role in her success, but mostly it was years of hard work.
h)In many cities, the rise in rents is linked to the growth of short-term holiday lets.
MEANINGS:
- do something good to replace something you lost or missed
- gradually increase in amount
- be connected with something, often as a possible cause
- manage in a situation when you don't have something you usually need
- a small problem that is annoying but not serious
- be one of the things that affects or causes something
- find it very difficult to keep your attention on something
- not having enough of something you need
3
Talking about tiredness
Complete the gaps with the phrases from ex. 2. Then, choose four questions to ask your partner.
You may need to change the form of the verb.
a)If your phone stopped working today, how long could you before you bought a new one?
b)When do you most: early in the morning, after lunch or late in the evening?
c)Do you know anyone who suffers from sleep? What keeps them awake?
d)Is a delayed train just for you, or can it ruin your whole day?
e)Do you deal with small jobs straight away, or do you let them ?
f)After a late night, how do you the lost sleep?
g)How much do you think luck at school or at work?
h)Do you think the food we eat ? Why/Why not?
Now, we'll put it into practice!
4
Running on empty
Look at the four photos. Then, discuss the questions, using the phrases in the box.
A
B
C
Dcope without somethingstruggle to concentratea lack of somethinga minor inconveniencebuild upmake up for somethingplay a role in somethingbe linked to something
- Who do you think got the best night's sleep? Who might be suffering from a lack of sleep? Why?
- Which person is probably struggling to concentrate right now? What might have kept them awake?
- Which of these situations is just a minor inconvenience, and which could become a real problem?
- Choose one photo and describe what happened before it was taken, using at least two of the phrases.
5
Compare your answers
Look at the questions in ex. 3 again and discuss the points below with a new partner.
- Which of your partner's answers surprised you most?
- Who in your group could cope without a phone for longest?
- Which ways of making up for lost sleep did your group mention? Do they really work?
6
Eleven days awake
Watch to 02:00
Read the statements about a famous sleep experiment and decide if they are true or false. Then, watch the first part of a video [https://youtu.be/dqONk48l5vY] (to 02:00) and check your answers. Correct the false ones.
a)In 1965, Randy Gardner stayed awake for 11 days to see how he would cope without sleep.
b)By the end, Gardner was struggling to concentrate, but his memory was fine.
c)After the experiment, Gardner had serious health problems for the rest of his life.
d)Teenagers need more sleep a night than adults do.
e)In the United States, more adults than teenagers regularly don't get enough sleep.
f)According to the video, a lack of sleep has been linked to diabetes.
7
What sleep does for the brain
Watch from 02:00
Watch the second part of the video (from 02:00) and answer the questions.
a)What happened to a football fan in 2014?
b)What does 'four and a half times' refer to?
c)What does the video say about the small number of people with a rare inherited condition?
d)What happens to our need for sleep as one of the brain's chemical waste products builds up during the day?
e)How does caffeine keep us awake?
f)What does the brain's clean-up system do, and when does it work hardest?
g)What else may play a role in clearing out the brain's daily waste?
Let's talk!
8
React to the video
Discuss the questions.
- Which fact from the video surprised you most? Why?
- Gardner was only 17 when he stayed awake for 11 days. Should experiments like this be allowed today? Why/Why not?
- The video says two out of three American teenagers don't get enough sleep. Why do you think young people find it so hard to sleep enough?
- Some schools now start later in the morning so that teenagers can sleep more. Is this a good idea? What might the drawbacks be?
- Many people drink coffee to stay alert. Is that a sensible habit, or does it just hide the problem?
- In some workplaces, sleeping very little is seen as a sign of hard work. Is this attitude changing?
- Scientists still don't fully understand why we sleep. What else would you like them to find out?
9
Short of sleep
Choose two of the people below. Then, discuss the questions with a partner, using the phrases in the box.
A student who stays up all night before every exam.
A new parent whose baby wakes up every two hours.
A nurse who works night shifts three weeks a month.
A gamer who plays online with friends in other time zones until 3 a.m.
A sales manager who flies across time zones every week.
A football fan who wants to watch every match of a World Cup on the other side of the world.
cope without somethingstruggle to concentratea lack of somethinga minor inconveniencebuild upmake up for somethingplay a role in somethingbe linked to something
- How well do you think this person can cope without a full night's sleep?
- What might they struggle to do during the day?
- Is their lack of sleep a minor inconvenience or a serious problem? Can they make up for it? Why/Why not?
- What practical changes could help them, and what makes those changes hard?
10
Sum it up
Summarise what you learnt in the lesson using some of the points below and the phrases in the box.
cope without somethingstruggle to concentratea lack of somethinga minor inconveniencebuild upmake up for somethingplay a role in somethingbe linked to something
- what happened to Randy Gardner during his experiment
- what the video says lack of sleep does to the body
- how the brain clears away waste while we sleep
- one thing about your own sleep habits you would like to change, and why
Spotted a mistake in this lesson?· tell us the exercise and item
Glossary
The 8 words and phrases this lesson teaches, in one set.
Talking about sleep and its effects
- cope without something
- manage in a situation when you don't have something you usually need
- I don't know how people coped without mobile phones.
- struggle to concentrate
- find it very difficult to keep your attention on something
- After a noisy night, I struggled to concentrate in the meeting.
- a lack of something
- not having enough of something you need
- Many students suffer from a lack of sleep during exam season.
- a minor inconvenience
- a small problem that is annoying but not serious
- A cancelled bus is a minor inconvenience if you live near work.
- build up
- gradually increase in amount
- If I don't open my post every day, it builds up very quickly.
- make up for something
- do something good to replace something you lost or missed
- I slept until noon on Sunday to make up for a busy week.
- play a role in something
- be one of the things that affects or causes something
- Good teachers played a big role in my love of science.
- be linked to something
- be connected with something, often as a possible cause
- Rising prices are often linked to bad harvests.
Also in the video
Other words and phrases you'll hear, to help you follow the video. The lesson doesn't practise them.
- paranoid
- wrongly believing that other people are trying to harm you
- hallucinate
- see or hear things that are not really there
- shuteye
- an informal word for sleep
- adenosine
- a chemical in the body that builds up while we are awake and makes us feel sleepy
- melatonin
- a chemical the body produces when it gets dark, which helps us sleep
- a light doze
- a short, light sleep
- non-REM sleep
- the stages of sleep without rapid eye movements, which include our deepest sleep
- replenish
- fill something up again or bring it back to its earlier level
- sleep-deprived
- not getting enough sleep, often over a long period
- inflammation
- a painful, red or swollen area in or on the body
- an untimely death
- a death that happens much too early
- a genetic mutation
- a change in a gene that can be passed from parents to children
- fatal familial insomnia
- a very rare inherited condition that makes it impossible to sleep and gets worse over time
- byproduct
- something produced in addition to the main thing, often as waste
- sleep pressure
- the growing need to sleep the longer we stay awake
- the urge to sleep
- a strong need to sleep
- the glymphatic system
- a system that cleans waste out of the brain, mostly while we sleep
- cerebrospinal fluid
- the clear liquid around the brain and spinal cord
- flush away
- remove something by washing it away with liquid
- lymphatic vessels
- tiny tubes that carry fluid and cells that fight infection around the body
- slumber
- a literary word for sleep
- sanity
- the ability to think and behave in a normal, reasonable way