ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Jessa Gamble - Writer
Jessa Gamble writes about sleep and time, showing how our internal body clock struggles against our always-on global culture.

Why you should listen

Jessa Gamble is an award-winning writer from Oxford, who lives in the Canadian Subarctic. Now that humanity has spread right to the Earth's poles and adopted a 24-hour business day, Gamble argues that our internal clocks struggle against our urban schedules. Her work documents the rituals surrounding daily rhythms, which along with local languages and beliefs are losing their rich global diversity and succumbing to a kind of circadian imperialism.

A dynamic new voice in popular science, Gamble was awarded a 2007 Science in Society journalism award from the Canadian Science Writers Association for her first-person account of daily life at the Eureka High Arctic Weather Station. She is the author of Siesta and The Midnight Sun: How We Measure and Experience Time.

More profile about the speaker
Jessa Gamble | Speaker | TED.com
TEDGlobal 2010

Jessa Gamble: Our natural sleep cycle is nothing like what we do now

Jessa Gamble: Vores naturlige søvncyklus

Filmed:
3,071,823 views

I nutidens verden med at balancere skole, arbejde, unger og med mere, kan de fleste af os kun håbe på de anbefalede 8 timers søvn. Ved at efterforske videnskaben bag vores krops indvendige ur, afslører Jessa Gamble det overraskende og væsentlige hvile program som vi bør holde øje med.
- Writer
Jessa Gamble writes about sleep and time, showing how our internal body clock struggles against our always-on global culture. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:16
Let's startStart with day and night.
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Lad os begynde med dag og nat.
00:18
Life evolvedudviklet sig underunder conditionsbetingelser
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Livet udviklede sig under omstændigheder
00:20
of lightlys and darknessmørke,
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af lys og mørke,
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lightlys and then darknessmørke.
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lys og så mørke.
00:24
And so plantsplanter and animalsdyr
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Så planter og dyr
00:26
developedudviklede sig theirderes ownegen internalindre clocksure
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udviklede deres egen interne ur
00:28
so that they would be readyparat for these changesændringer in lightlys.
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så de kunne være klar for ændringer i lyset.
00:30
These are chemicalkemisk clocksure,
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Dette er kemiske ure,
00:32
and they're foundfundet in everyhver knownkendt beingvære that has two or more cellsceller
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og de findes i hver kendt væsen der har to eller flere celler
00:35
and in some that only have one cellcelle.
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og i nogle der kun har en celle.
00:38
I'll give you an exampleeksempel --
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Jeg vil give jer et eksempel --
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if you take a horseshoehestesko crabKrabbe off the beachstrand,
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hvis man tager en dolkehale fra stranden,
00:42
and you flyflyve it all the way acrosset kors the continentkontinent,
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og man flyver den tværs over kontinentet,
00:44
and you dropdråbe it into a slopedskråt cagebur,
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og man sætter den i et skrånende bur,
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it will scramblescramble up the flooretage of the cagebur
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vil den kravle op ad gulvet af buret
00:49
as the tidetidevand is risingstigende
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som tidevandet stiger
00:51
on its home shoreskyster,
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på dens hjemmekyst,
00:53
and it'lldet vil skitterSkitter down again right as the watervand is recedingvigende
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og den vil kravle ned igen som vandet trækker sig tilbage
00:55
thousandstusinder of milesmiles away.
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tusindevis af kilometer væk.
00:58
It'llDet vil do this for weeksuger,
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Det vil den gøre i flere uger,
01:00
untilindtil it kindvenlig of graduallygradvist losesmister the plotgrund.
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indtil den gradvist vænner sig til omstændighederne.
01:03
And it's incredibleutrolig to watch,
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Og det er utroligt at se på,
01:05
but there's nothing psychicpsykisk or paranormalparanormale going on;
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men der foregår ikke noget synsk eller overnaturligt;
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it's simplyganske enkelt that these crabskrabber have internalindre cyclescykler
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det er simpelthen det at disse krabber har interne cyklusser
01:10
that correspondsvarer, usuallysom regel, with what's going on around it.
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der passer sammen, sædvanligvis, med det der sker omkring dem.
01:15
So, we have this abilityevne as well.
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Så, vi har også denne evne.
01:17
And in humansmennesker, we call it the "bodylegeme clockur."
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Og i mennesker, kalder vi det "kroppens ur."
01:20
You can see this mostmest clearlyklart when you take away someone'snogen er watch
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Man kan set det mest tydeligt
når man tager nogens ur fra dem
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and you shutlukke them into a bunkerbunker, deepdyb undergroundunderjordisk,
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og man lukker dem inde i en bunker, dybt under jorden,
01:26
for a couplepar of monthsmåneder. (LaughterLatter)
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i et par måneder. (Latter)
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People actuallyrent faktisk volunteerfrivillig for this,
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Mennesker melder sig faktisk frivilligt til dette,
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and they usuallysom regel come out
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og de kommer typisk ud
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kindvenlig of ravingrablende about theirderes productiveproduktiv time in the holehul.
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og taler i vildelse om deres produktive tid i hullet.
01:34
So, no matterstof how atypicalatypiske these subjectsfag would have to be,
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Så, uanset hvor atypiske disse testpersoner måtte være,
01:37
they all showat vise the samesamme thing.
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viser de alle den samme ting.
01:39
They get up just a little bitbit latersenere everyhver day -- say 15 minutesminutter or so --
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De står lidt senere op hver dag -- cirka 15 minutter --
01:42
and they kindvenlig of driftafdrift all the way around the clockur like this
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og de driver rundt på denne måde døgnet rundt
01:45
over the courseRute of the weeksuger.
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i løbet af ugerne.
01:47
And so, in this way we know that they are workingarbejder on theirderes ownegen internalindre clocksure,
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Så, på denne måde ved vi at de arbejder
ifølge deres egne interne ure,
01:50
ratherhellere than somehowen eller anden måde sensingsensing the day outsideuden for.
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i stedet for, på en måde, at fornemme dagen udenfor.
01:54
So fine, we have a bodylegeme clockur,
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Så okay, vi har et ur i kroppen,
01:56
and it turnsdrejninger out that it's incrediblyutroligt importantvigtig in our livesliv.
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og det viser sig at det er utrolig vigtigt for vores liv.
01:59
It's a hugekæmpe stor driverchauffør for culturekultur
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Det er en kæmpe drivkraft i kulturen
02:01
and I think that it's the mostmest underratedundervurderet forcekraft on our behavioropførsel.
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og jeg mener det er den mest undervurdere kraft i vores adfærd.
02:07
We evolvedudviklet sig as a speciesarter nearnær ved the equatorækvator,
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Vi har udviklet os som art nær ækvator,
02:09
and so we're very well-equippedveludstyret
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så vi er meget godt rustet
02:11
to dealdel with 12 hourstimer of daylightdagslys
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til at håndtere 12 timers dagslys
02:13
and 12 hourstimer of darknessmørke.
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og 12 timers mørke.
02:15
But of courseRute, we'vevi har spreadsprede to everyhver cornerhjørne of the globeglobus
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Men selvfølgelig, vi har spredt os til alle jordens hjørner
02:17
and in ArcticArktis CanadaCanada, where I livelevende,
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og i Arktisk Canada, hvor jeg bor,
02:19
we have perpetualevig daylightdagslys in summersommer
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har vi evig dagslys om sommeren
02:21
and 24 hourstimer of darknessmørke in wintervinter.
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og 24 timers mørke om vinteren.
02:24
So the culturekultur, the northernnordlige aboriginalaboriginal culturekultur,
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Så kulturen, den nordlige aboriginal kultur,
02:27
traditionallytraditionelt has been highlymeget seasonalårstidens.
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har traditionelt set været utrolig sæsonpræget.
02:29
In wintervinter, there's a lot of sleepingsovende going on;
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Om vinteren, bliver der sovet meget;
02:32
you enjoygod fornøjelse your familyfamilie life insideinde.
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man nyder familielivet indenfor.
02:34
And in summersommer, it's almostnæsten manicmaniske huntingjagt
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Og om sommeren, er det næsten manisk jagt
02:37
and workingarbejder activityaktivitet very long hourstimer,
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og man arbejder mange timer,
02:39
very activeaktiv.
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meget aktivt.
02:42
So, what would our naturalnaturlig rhythmrytme look like?
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Så, hvordan ville vores naturlige rytme se ud?
02:44
What would our sleepingsovende patternsmønstre be
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Hvordan ville vores søvnmønster være
02:47
in the sortsortere of idealideel sensefølelse?
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i den ideelle form?
02:50
Well, it turnsdrejninger out
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Jamen, det viser sig
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that when people are livinglevende
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at når mennesker bor
02:54
withoutuden any sortsortere of artificialkunstig lightlys at all,
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uden nogen form for kunstigt lys overhovedet,
02:56
they sleepsøvn twiceto gange everyhver night.
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sover de to gange hver nat.
02:58
They go to bedseng around 8:00 p.m.
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De går i seng ved 20 tiden,
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untilindtil midnightmidnat
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indtil midnat
03:02
and then again, they sleepsøvn
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og igen, de sover
03:04
from about 2:00 a.m. untilindtil sunrisesolopgang.
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fra cirka 2 tiden til solopgang.
03:07
And in-betweenmellem, they have a couplepar of hourstimer
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Og i mellemtiden, har de et par timer
03:09
of sortsortere of meditativemeditative quietrolige in bedseng.
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med en form for meditativ stilhed i sengen.
03:12
And duringi løbet af this time,
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Og i denne tid,
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there's a surgebølge of prolactinprolaktin,
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er der en bølge af prolactin,
03:16
the likeskan lide of whichhvilken a modernmoderne day never seesser.
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hvis lige ikke bliver set i den moderne tid.
03:19
The people in these studiesundersøgelser
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Personerne i disse studier
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reportrapport feelingfølelse so awakevågen duringi løbet af the daytimedagtimerne,
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udtaler at de føler sig så vågne i dagtimerne,
03:23
that they realizerealisere
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at de bliver klar over
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they're experiencingoplever truerigtigt wakefulnessvågenhed
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at de oplever ægte vagtsomhed
03:27
for the first time in theirderes livesliv.
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for første gang i deres liv.
03:29
So, cutskære to the modernmoderne day.
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Så, se på nutiden.
03:31
We're livinglevende in a culturekultur of jetJet laglag,
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Vi lever i en kultur af jetlag,
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globalglobal travelrejse,
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global rejsen,
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24-hour-time businessforretning,
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24 timers virksomheder,
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shiftflytte work.
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skiftearbejde.
03:41
And you know, our modernmoderne waysmåder
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Og I ved, vores moderne skikke
03:43
of doing things
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med at gøre tingene
03:45
have theirderes advantagesfordele,
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har deres fordele,
03:47
but I believe we should understandforstå the costsomkostninger.
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men jeg mener vi bør forstå omkostningerne.
03:50
Thank you.
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Tak.
03:52
(ApplauseBifald)
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(Bifald)
Translated by David J. Kreps Finnemann
Reviewed by Line Hansen

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Jessa Gamble - Writer
Jessa Gamble writes about sleep and time, showing how our internal body clock struggles against our always-on global culture.

Why you should listen

Jessa Gamble is an award-winning writer from Oxford, who lives in the Canadian Subarctic. Now that humanity has spread right to the Earth's poles and adopted a 24-hour business day, Gamble argues that our internal clocks struggle against our urban schedules. Her work documents the rituals surrounding daily rhythms, which along with local languages and beliefs are losing their rich global diversity and succumbing to a kind of circadian imperialism.

A dynamic new voice in popular science, Gamble was awarded a 2007 Science in Society journalism award from the Canadian Science Writers Association for her first-person account of daily life at the Eureka High Arctic Weather Station. She is the author of Siesta and The Midnight Sun: How We Measure and Experience Time.

More profile about the speaker
Jessa Gamble | Speaker | TED.com