The Human Sleep Project

The Human Sleep Project


Because people are losing sleep more now than ever before, we should eliminate effects of poor sleeping patterns. Negative effects include insomnia and social jet lag. Till Roenneberg’s “Sleep Project” offers us the best understanding of sleep behavior by logging sleep patterns better than those studies conducted in laboratories. Roenneburg conceptualizes human circadian rhythms as it applies to sleep habits by logging the ineffectiveness of a complete 8 hours of sleep, and observing the benefits of napping to improve productivity, health, and quality of life.

Insomnia, a relatively common sleep disorder, is one effect of poor sleeping patterns. Those with the disorder to tend to have trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, or both, thereby resulting in poor-quality sleep. Acute, short-term, insomnia can be triggered by stress, severe pressure or traumatic events, typically lasting a few days or weeks. On the other hand, chronic, long-term insomnia lasts months for months or even longer. Most forms of chronic insomnia are the symptom of another problem, that can often be triggered by medical conditions, medicines or other sleep disorders. 

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A different effect of poor sleeping patterns is a phrase known as “social jet lag.” Social jet lag is a term coined by Till Roenneberg that explains some of the problems inherent in our current sleep schedules. Roenneberg says that switching sleep schedules is similar to switching time zones. In one of Roenneberg’s studies, it was found that with social jet lag people are at a greater risk of being obese and engaging in unhealthy habits like drinking alcohol and smoking. Social jet lag is caused by the discrepancy between our sleep schedules and the body’s biological clock. In modern society, people pay more attention to their work and what their boss tells them than getting enough sleep. This WebMD article explains the difference between travel jet lag and social jet lag. In travel jet lag, you arrive in a new place and the sun is rising and setting at a different time, but your body can reset its own clock. However, with social jet lag, a person stays in the same place and basically lives their life in a different time zone in comparison to their biological clock.

In order to fully understand sleeping habits and patterns, it is helpful to understand the term biological clock. Biological clock refers more broadly to circadian rhythm. Circadian rhythm is essentially living organisms’ adaptations to solar related rhythms. A circadian rhythm is any biological process that is self-sustained, and can be adjusted. For humans, ours is typically around 24 hours. A circadian rhythm can change according to external cues, the most important being sunlight. Both plants and animals show yearly, monthly, daily, and other rhythmic changes that appear to be innate. The most obvious circadian rhythm can be seen in humans and sleep.

Most people have preconceived notions of the “right” type or amount of sleep. Such notions include sleeping at least 8 hours each night. However, the well-known idea of getting 8 hours of sleep a night is not necessarily the most beneficial sleep strategy. It has become apparent that napping is actually an extremely valuable sleep approach when needed. Studies have shown that as little as 24 minutes napping can improve cognitive functioning. This source is important because it challenges the current opinions on sleep, and provides insight into alternative options for productive sleep patterns.

Adolescent sleep is also helpful in understanding sleeping patterns. Teenagers need, on average, 8 ½ to 9 ¼ hours of sleep each night. Yet, due to school start times and current activity levels, students are only getting around 7 hours of sleep each night. This resource is important because it explains the negative side of not getting enough sleep, and the importance of sleep studies that can help clarify the most effective way to gain sleep.

Understanding sleep habits is crucial to understanding how humans function most effectively, but there are several withdrawals of sleep studies performed in labs, which is why many of the studies are not ideal. Sleep is vulnerable to subjective error. Some of the measurements, such as the EEG, have established the divergence between subjective and objective evaluations of sleep. This source is relevant because it verifies the issues with sleep studies done in laboratories.

Till Roenneberg, a chronobiologist at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, thinks a global “human sleep project” could solve some of the mysteries and problems people have with sleep. Roenneberg points out that part of the reason scientists can’t say for sure how much sleep we need or when we need it is due to the fact that most sleep studies are done in laboratories. His radical solution involves a $30 million global human sleep project that would include online logs of the sleep habits of millions of volunteers as well as DNA tests to derive the origin of those habits.

An article on the human sleep project, as defined by Till Roenneberg delves into the details of the reasons why the sleep project is needed and how we are affected by loss of sleep. On average people are getting 1-2 hours less of sleep each night as opposed to their ancestors 50-100 years ago. Additionally, a graph displays the issue of losing sleep in that many people oversleep on free days and under-sleep on workdays, which causes them to experience “social jet lag.” 

With an internet-based platform, the human sleep project would allow for more realistic data since factors typically held constant in a lab would now be revealed. The problem, Roenneberg explains, is that $30 million for an undervalued field is a large amount of money to obtain. Yet, many benefits could come from a world-wide sleep project, as proposed by Till Roenneberg. People would be outfitted with a number of different sensors to track their sleep patterns in real-time, and as an added bonus the participants would be given feedback from their own data. This would encourage more people to participate, which would make for a more accurate study. This study would truly capture real-life behaviors, not just studies done in laboratories.

Due to the amount of sleep people are losing, it is crucial that we eliminate the effects of poor sleeping patterns like social jet lag and insomnia. The best current idea for understanding sleep behavior is Till Roenneberg’s “Sleep Project,” since sleep studies conducted in laboratories are less than ideal. By accurately logging sleep patterns, Roenneberg would conceptualize humans’ circadian rhythm as it applies to sleep habits, the ineffectiveness of a complete 8 hours of sleep, and the benefits of napping in order to improve productivity, health, and quality of life.

















Sources:

"Chronobiology: The Human Sleep Project." Nature (2013): n. pag. 26 June 2013. Web. 12 Oct. 2013.

"Funders and Founders Notes." Funders and Founders Notes. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Oct. 2013.