Do You Have Trouble Sleeping?

Shankar Vedantam (0:00)

This is Hidden Brain. I'm Shankar Vedantam. Across the world, many countries are experiencing a sleep crisis. In the United States, 50 to 70 million Americans have sleep disorders. In India, almost 60% of adults get less than 6 hours of sleep every night.

Sleep deprivation can make us groggy and irritable. Chronic sleep deprivation can rewire our brains and wear down our bodies. It can change how we parent, how we work with others, even what we value.

This week on Hidden Brain and in a companion episode on Hidden Brain Plus, what happens when a basic human need is jeopardized by an always on culture, and techniques to help you get a restful night of sleep.

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Shankar Vedantam (2:38)

We all know that sleep matters, and we all know what happens when we miss a night of sleep.

At the University of Washington, sleep researcher Chris Barnes has studied what happens when the need for rest and the need to work collide. He says the consequences of not getting enough sleep extend far beyond what most of us imagine. Chris Barnes, welcome to Hidden Brain.

Chris Barnes (3:00)

I'm happy to be here, Shankar.

Shankar Vedantam (3:03)

Chris, you've studied the effects of sleep deprivation for many years. One story in particular has stayed with you. It involves a man named William Rockefeller. Can you tell me his story?

Chris Barnes (3:14)

So William Rockefeller was a train engineer in New York, and he had a route that started early in the morning from Poughkeepsie, headed to New York City.

Shankar Vedantam (3:32)

So the reason William Rockefeller ended up in the news one day was because of something that happened as he was making this train journey. Tell me what happened, Chris.

Chris Barnes (3:42)

So as he was operating this train early in the morning, he sped through a section of the track in which he could go 70 miles an hour, ended up going a little faster than that, closer to 80 miles an hour, and continued that speed as it came to a curve. This curve had a speed limit of 35, but he did not slow his train down to that speed fast enough to avoid a disaster.

Shankar Vedantam (4:16)

I understand that he hit the break, but just not in time?

Chris Barnes (4:20)

Yes, it was too little, too late, and the train derailed, four people were killed and 60 were injured.

Shankar Vedantam (4:31)

So when investigators looked into the source of the problem, tell me what they found.

Chris Barnes (4:36)

Well, initially, the train conductor's statement was that he felt like he entered a state of being sort of dazed or mesmerized while he was operating the train. Later, it came out that likely he actually fell asleep while he was operating the train, and then woke up too late to slow the train down to an appropriate speed for that curve. So, essentially, he fell asleep and that led him to crash the train.

Shankar Vedantam (5:03)

So, as the train came roaring up to this curved section of the track, presumably he woke up and he hit the brakes, but that was too little too late.

Chris Barnes (5:13)

Exactly.

Shankar Vedantam (5:25)

I understand this train operator also suffered from sleep apnea, Chris?

Chris Barnes (5:30)

Yes, he had a history of sleep apnea, which is a sleep disorder that is very disruptive to people's sleep. Essentially, when you have sleep apnea, your airway closes off and you stop breathing, and then usually you choke yourself awake, and this might happen as many as hundreds of times per hour. So it is quite disruptive to people's sleep. And even if you think you're getting a lot of sleep while you have sleep apnea, the quality of that sleep is poor, and the amount of sleep is usually much less than people think.