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Balancing the responsibilities of being the charming Bruce Wayne by day and the intrepid Bat-man by night leaves precious little time for <keyword id="6372996" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="sleep" source="Orion">sleep</keyword>. To combat fatigue, the caped crusader has mastered the art of power naps throughout the day. And just as bats imparted upon him the art of instilling fear in his adversaries, another "winged" creature might have inspired Batman's peculiar sleep regimen. Researchers have unveiled that chinstrap penguins slumber for more than 11 hours per day. However, there exists an astonishing secret behind this feline-like behavior: they accumulate their sleep over thousands of brief bursts throughout the day, each lasting a mere four seconds on average! These chinstrap penguins (Pygoscelis antarcticus), primarily inhabiting the Antarctic Peninsula and the South Atlantic Ocean Island, are perhaps the most abundant <keyword id="6354605" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="penguin" source="Orion">penguin</keyword> <keyword id="6388594" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="species" source="Orion">species</keyword> on the planet. To verify their bizarre sleep mechanism, researchers implanted electrodes on 14 birds to monitor their brain activity, neck muscle movements, and location as they engaged in their penguin life. The findings revealed that the penguins slept in remarkably short intervals, averaging merely 3.91 seconds each. They accumulated over 10,000 such microsleeps per day, totaling more than 11 hours of sleep. That surpasses the nightly sleep duration of most humans! The researchers posit that, much akin to Batman, these penguins' unique sleep patterns may stem from an adaptation to their demanding lifestyle. During nesting season, single-parent penguins must constantly guard their eggs from predators like skuas while their partners forage for sustenance. These microsleeps allow the penguins to snatch some rest while still maintaining vigilance against danger. Interestingly, the study also revealed that penguins on the colony's periphery slept longer and more soundly than those at the center. This may be attributed to the elevated levels of noise and activity in the colony's center, which would render it more challenging for the innermost penguins to doze off. Whether the microsleeps confer any restorative benefits remains open to question. In humans, fragmented sleep can have detrimental consequences for cognitive function, even elevating the risk of neurodegenerative diseases such as <keyword id="22996" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="alzheimer" source="Orion">Alzheimer</keyword>'s. However, the penguins' successful breeding suggests that this behavior does provide some advantage. The brief interludes of neuronal silence may be sufficient for the penguins to rest and recuperate, implying that what is deemed abnormal sleep in humans may be perfectly normal in other animals, at least under specific circumstances. The discovery of chinstrap penguins' unique sleep patterns underscores the remarkable diversity of the animal kingdom and offers fresh insights into the evolution of sleep. Further research is warranted to fully comprehend the implications of this finding and its potential applicability to other species, including humans.

Penguins employ thousands of microsleeps to achieve 11 hours' slumber daily!

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div><ul><li>A London Tramlink service derailed last year, with fatal results.</li><li>Rail crash investigators released a video reconstruction on Thursday.</li><li>It showed the tram leaving the tracks at 78 km/h in a 20 km/h zone.</li><li>Investigators said driver Alfred Dorris may have been in a "microsleep" at the time.</li><li>Dorris is being investigated by police over a potential manslaughter case.</li></ul> Rail accident investigators have released a video showing exactly how a "catastrophic" tram crash unfolded last year, killing seven people.The UK's Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) published animated footage showing how a London Tramlink service to Croydon derailed on November 9, 2016.It concluded that the driver lost control of the vehicle, and suggested that he might have done so because he was having a "microsleep" - a technical term for a brief period of involuntary unconsciousness.The video shows the tram approaching a tight left-hand curve after leaving a series of connected tunnels in the Sandilands area of Croydon.It approaches the curve at high speed, and starts to tip onto its right side as it proceeds. The tram carriage then tips over completely, and skids to a halt on the other side of the tracks.The impact killed seven people, left 19 people with serious injuries and 43 more with minor injuries. The driver was one of those with minor injuries.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>The tram was travelling at 78 km/h - close to its maximum speed of 80 km/h - when it left the tunnels.At that point the tram ought to have slowed to 20 km/h to successfully navigate. But it kept on at high speed, leading to it spiralling off the tracks.Describing the crash, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/665491/R182017_171207_Sandilands.pdf">the full report said</a>: "This catastrophic accident was the worst to occur on a British tramway for more than 90 years."It concluded that&#xa0;there were "insufficient safety measures" in place, and recommended 15 steps to help prevent future accidents.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>The report did not blame anybody for the accident, a task RAIB officials said is beyond its remit.RAIB said: "A possible explanation for this loss of awareness was that the driver had a microsleep, and that this was linked to fatigue."Although it is possible that the driver was fatigued due to insufficient sleep there is no evidence that this was the result of the shift pattern that he was required to work."Officers from the British Transport Police have questioned the driver, named in the media as 43-year-old Alfred Dorris, on suspicion of manslaughter.A police spokesman told Business Insider they last spoke to Dorris in October. They are compiling a report on the crash, which public prosecutors will use to decide whether to pursue charges against him.<div></div> <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-unhealthy-diet-exercise-politics-2016-10">Everything we know about Trump's unhealthy diet</a></h3> <div> </div> </div></hr>

This video shows exactly how a London tram crash killed 7 people after the driver 'had a microsleep'

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Pilots say they're so exhausted they're struggling to stay awake while operating flights.</li><li>Around 75% in a survey of European pilots said they'd taken a "microsleep" in recent weeks.</li></ul>Some European pilots are suffering from exhaustion and taking "microsleeps" while operating aircraft to cope, a new survey reveals.Around 75% of the respondents said that they had had at least one microsleep while operating an aircraft in the four weeks prior, according to a July <a target="_blank" href="https://www.eurocockpit.be/sites/default/files/2023-08/A%20report%20on%20a%20fatigue%20survey%20of%20European%20Pilots_2023_FINAL.pdf">survey</a> conducted by Baines Simmons, an aviation safety consultancy, for the European Cockpit Association. One-quarter of respondents said that they'd had five or more microsleeps, defined as "brief uncontrolled periods of sleep" that can happen with their eyes open or closed, in the four weeks prior to them completing the survey.The report highlights concerns about pilots' fatigue levels and says that airlines should be doing more to manage this, such as making fatigue reporting easier, changing schedules to provide them with more rest time between duties, and improving hotel accommodation if the crew can't sleep well."The cause of this fatigue may be within (e.g. due to rosters) or outside (e.g. due to poor sleep at home) the operation, but the risk sits within the operation, and therefore must be managed," Baines Simmons wrote in its report. The survey included pilots flying passenger, cargo, and charter flights.Less than a quarter of the survey's nearly 7,000 respondents said that fatigue risk was "very" or "mostly" well managed at their airline. Nearly a third said that fatigue risk was not managed well, with pilots flying for UK and Ireland-based airlines most likely to say this."These are worrying signs and clear indications that fatigue safety risks are not well managed in many European airlines," ECA President Otjan de Bruijn said in a statement. "If these are the results we are seeing already in June and July, fatigue levels in August can have gone only one way – upwards."The European Union Aviation Safety Agency warned of fatigue concerns in a <a target="_blank" href="https://ad.easa.europa.eu/ad/2023-05">June safety information bulletin</a>, which noted that staff shortages could lead to crew members experiencing fatigue and potentially cause safety problems.82% of the ECA survey's respondents said they they knew how to submit a fatigue report to their airline, but only 44.1% said the system was easy to access and just over a quarter said they were "quick and easy" to complete. Only 10% of respondents said that fatigue reports "have led to operational changes to improve safety." The survey showed huge differences in pilots' attitudes towards fatigue reports between countries where airlines were based, with Irish and Maltese airlines faring the worst."Without an effective reporting system, the airline is unlikely to have an accurate picture of fatigue in the operation, limiting their ability to manage fatigue risk by implementing effective mitigations," Baines Simmons wrote in its report.Nearly three-quarters of pilots who responded to the survey said that they had "always," "usually," or "sometimes" had insufficient rest to allow them to recover from fatigue between duties over the previous four weeks, which covered the buildup to peak summer travel season.

Pilots are exhausted. A new survey suggests 3 out of 4 European pilots dozed off over the course of a month while flying a plane.

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table lead-image-large"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>Microsleep involves brief, intermittent moments of sleep throughout the day, sometimes without you noticing it.</li><li>You can have episodes of microsleep when you're feeling drowsy and performing daily tasks such as reading or driving.</li><li>Microsleep is caused by sleep deprivation, so the best remedy is to get a good night's rest.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.</a></li></ul>If you've ever felt your eyelids droop for just a fraction of a second during some mundane task - like staring at a computer screen or driving down the highway - you've experienced a phenomenon known as "<a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/microsleep">microsleep</a>."<a href="http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/2019/06/18/during-microsleep-youre-asleep-and-awake-at-the-same-time/#.XQvqL9NKi3c">Discover Magazine</a>'s blog The Crux recently spotlighted the experience, which happens when key parts of the brain switch off for a few seconds at a time. This means that, while you're not quite asleep, you're certainly not awake either."It's sort of like being a zombie for a few brief moments - sans the whole 'eating human flesh' part," <a href="http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/2019/06/18/during-microsleep-youre-asleep-and-awake-at-the-same-time/#.XQ0w7dNKhjR">Megan Schmidt wrote for the blog</a>. "And usually, people don't realize it's happening to them."And while this can happen to anyone, the sleep-deprived are consistently most at risk.<h2>The dangers of skipping bedtime</h2>Neuroscientist and sleep expert Matthew Walker previously <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-much-sleep-is-enough-health-risks-dangers-of-sleep-deprivation-2017-11">told Business Insider</a> that "the shorter your sleep, the shorter your life."According to the <a href="http://exchange.aaa.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/AAA-FTS-Drowsy-Driving-Brochure.pdf">AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety</a>, a traffic research and safety organization, around 16.5% of fatal car crashes in the US are caused by microsleep. One of the biggest disasters involving microsleep, reports <a href="http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/2019/06/18/during-microsleep-youre-asleep-and-awake-at-the-same-time/#.XQvqL9NKi3c">Discover Magazine</a>, is the 2009 crash of AirFrance Flight 447 that resulted in 228 deaths. Once investigators listened to recordings from the plane, they found the captain complaining that he was running on just an <a href="https://www.bea.aero/docspa/2009/f-cp090601.en/pdf/f-cp090601.en.pdf">hour of sleep</a>.According to Walker, even losing a single hour of sleep <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-happens-when-you-dont-get-enough-sleep-2017-12">could be harmful</a>. "There is a global experiment that is performed on 1.6 billion people twice a year and it's called daylight savings time," he said. "And we know that in the spring, when we lose one hour of sleep, we see a subsequent 24% increase in heart attacks the following day."In a <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23008180">2012 experiment</a>, subjects were asked to play a 50-minute computer game in which they followed a dot around the screen using a joystick. During that time, researchers monitored eye movement and brain activity, looking for signs of drowsiness. According to the report, subjects experienced an average of 79 episodes of microsleep, with some episodes lasting a full six seconds.The research found that during microsleep, certain parts of our brain "try to restore responsiveness" in the ones shutting off, perhaps triggering the sudden involuntary jolt you feel when your head starts to drop down.<h2>How can microsleep be prevented?</h2>A <a href="https://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-sleepy-wheel-dangerous-microsleep.html">2012 study</a> by the Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety in Australia found that in drowsy drivers, pulling over at the first signs of sleepiness makes a big difference. The tired drivers (operating a computer-simulated car, of course) who didn't pull over were 15 times more likely to crash.In a report by <a href="https://www.qut.edu.au/news?id=52077">Queensland University of Technology</a>, the study's lead investigator, Chris Watling, said, "The most important thing is if you notice signs of sleepiness you should stop straight away. Trying to push through is not a good idea."Some products are designed to shock drivers back into consciousness, but so far there are only a <a href="https://gadgets-reviews.com/review/232-a-review-of-a-driver-alert-sleep-warning-device.html">few on the market</a>, like a bracelet called <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/creativemode/steer-you-will-never-fall-asleep-while-driving">Steer</a> that monitors your pulse and sends an electric shock whenever it senses you dozing off.It seems, however, that the best solution to microsleep is to get an adequate amount of sleep. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/intelligence/digital-health?IR=T&amp;itm_source=businessinsider&amp;itm_medium=ctgr_bii&amp;itm_term=ctgr_subscription&amp;itm_content=health&amp;itm_campaign=digital-health"></a>

Your brain might be taking tiny naps throughout the day, and it can lead to disaster if left unchecked

<ul class="summary-list"><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/biggest-mystery-sleep-is-why-do-we-sleep-neuroscience-2016-2">"Why do we sleep?"</a> has been a notoriously difficult question for scientists to answer, but, "What happens if we don't?" is actually pretty simple — nothing good.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-happens-when-you-dont-get-enough-sleep-2017-12">Not getting enough sleep</a> can make you hallucinate, mess with your thinking and memory, and even lead to organ failure.</li><li>And it doesn't take very long at all for these <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sleep-deprivation-effects-on-your-body-brain-2018-8">negative effects</a> to start occuring. As little as 18 hours, in fact.</li><li>After 72 hours, your perception of reality could be all off. Here's what would happen to your brain and body, day by day, if you <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sleep-myths-debunked-2018-3">stopped sleeping</a>.</li></ul>Following is a transcript of the <keyword id="21654" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="video">video</keyword>.Not getting enough <keyword id="6372996" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="sleep">sleep</keyword> won't just make you cranky. It could kill you. The United Nations even considers <keyword id="72481" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Sleep-deprivation">sleep deprivation</keyword> a form of torture. And the longer it lasts, the worse it'll get. Losing sleep affects people differently, but generally the effects increase as the hours do. Just 48 hours without sleep is considered extreme sleep deprivation, but you'll probably get weird before then.After 18 hours with no sleep, you might feel a little drunk. Staying awake that long is equivalent to having a blood alcohol content of 0.05%, which is what you get with three or four drinks in the span of two hours.24 sleepless hours, that BAC comparison jumps to 0.1%, higher than the legal driving limit in every state. You might feel foggy, less alert, or uncoordinated, almost like you're wearing sleepy beer goggles, including double or blurry vision. That's because sleep deprivation slows down our brain cells' ability to talk to each other. So if you actually are drinking alcohol, drowsiness can increase its effects. And while caffeine could make you feel more alert for several hours, it'll only work up to a certain point.By a day and a half, this could all get worse and then some. Your chances of getting sick are higher than usual because your body can't fight like it normally can, and around this time, your brain and body get so tired that you start experiencing microsleeps, tiny periods of sleep, maybe around 30 seconds, that you might not even notice. Definitely annoying and even dangerous if you're doing something like driving a car. And then there's the potential for hallucinations. Visual distortions are most common. Your water bottle grows to twice its size or moves around the room. But you could also experience sensational or auditory hallucinations, things like feeling someone who's not there tap you on the shoulder or hearing your name being called. [ghostly voice whispering inaudibly]Once you hit 48 hours, it's literal torture, which is why extreme-sleep-deprivation studies are now prohibited by law in most countries. Two days without sleep can cause you to start losing your grip on reality. Hallucinations worsen, and you might even undergo depersonalization. That's the feeling that reality is slipping away, which may or may not include an out-of-body experience. Tack on extreme anxiety, irritability, stress, and fatigue, and it's no wonder the UN doesn't allow this kind of deprivation.After 72 hours, you're not gonna be able to think about anything but hitting the hay. Forget about doing simple tasks. Things like getting dressed or finding a snack could feel overwhelming, partially from fatigue and partially because your ability to regulate emotions is basically out the window. Your hallucinations could get more complex, creating fully formed images like a person, or a bear, or maybe a car you shouldn't drive. And in at least four historical sleep studies, participants reported shared hallucinations, namely something called the hat phenomenon, which is basically a feeling of pressure around your head as if you're wearing a hat. All of this opens the door for paranoia, depression, and delusions.Which brings us to 96 hours or more with no sleep. Say bye-bye to reality, folks. More and worse hallucinations and paranoia could lead to sleep-deprivation psychosis, a total snap from the real world. Historically, women accused of being witches were kept awake long enough to trigger this psychosis. Judges considered their visions and ramblings confessions, leading to the women's convictions. Now, the fifth day is sometimes called the turning point. This is the danger zone. Your mental <keyword id="6354750" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="health">health</keyword> takes a sharp decline, cementing your delusions as your new reality. Eventually, your brain will stop functioning properly in a way that could lead to organ failure and, in rare cases, death.Luckily, recovering from sleep deprivation can be as simple as catching up on sleep, but if you're sleep deprived regularly, you're looking at long-term effects like weight gain, acne, headaches, and high blood pressure, among other things. And it can take weeks to get back on track. According to one study, you need four days to recover from losing a single hour of sleep. Try getting to bed early instead of sleeping in late, or, better yet, avoid the recovery period entirely by getting seven to eight hours of sleep every night in the first place.

What would happen if you stopped sleeping, day by day

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Brian Snyder/ReutersDaylight Saving Time begins on Sunday, Mar 11, 2018</div></div></div><ul><li>Daylight Saving Time begins on Sunday, March 11, 2018.</li><li>Early that morning, most phones and computers will automatically shift an hour ahead.</li><li>The interruption to our internal clocks literally kills people: incidents of heart attacks, strokes, and fatal car accidents all spike around the start of Daylight Saving Time each year.</li></ul> <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/category/daylight-saving-time">Daylight saving time</a> is a killer. The annual ritual in which we trade an hour of morning light for evening brightness may seem like a harmless shift.But each year, on the Monday after this springtime switch, <a href="http://openheart.bmj.com/content/1/1/e000019">hospitals report a 24% spike</a> in heart attack visits around the country.Just a coincidence? Probably not. Doctors see the opposite trend in the fall: on the Monday after we turn back the clocks, heart attack visits drop 21% as people get a little extra pillow time.The reason that springing the clocks forward can kill us comes down to interrupted sleep schedules. This Sunday, instead of the clock turning from 1:59 to 2:00 a.m. as usual, it will jump an hour to 3:00 a.m. <a href="https://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/app.20140100">Researchers estimate</a> we'll all deprive ourselves of an extra 40 minutes of sleep because of this."That's how fragile and susceptible your body is to even just one hour of lost sleep," sleep expert Matthew Walker, author of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-much-sleep-is-enough-health-risks-dangers-of-sleep-deprivation-2017-11">How We Sleep</a>, previously told Business Insider.Walker said this "global experiment" we perform twice a year is a sign of how sensitive our bodies are to the whims of changing schedules: in the fall, the shift is a blessing, and in the spring, it's a fatal curse. The tragic heart attack trend only lasts about a day, but our bodies may not fully recover from the springtime bump <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/daylight-saving-time-dst-alternatives-arguments-against-2017-10">for weeks</a>. We're also prone to make more deadly mistakes on the roads. <a href="https://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/app.20140100">Researchers</a> estimate that car crashes in the US caused by sleepy daylight-saving drivers likely cost 30 extra people their lives over the nine-year period from 2002-2011. "The brain, by way of attention lapses and micro-sleeps, is just as sensitive as the heart to very small perturbations of sleep," Walker explains in his book.The problems don't stop there. DST also causes more reports of <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/record/2009-12532-013">injuries at work</a>, more <a href="https://www.aan.com/PressRoom/Home/PressRelease/1440">strokes</a>, and may <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1479-8425.2007.00331.x/epdf?referrer_access_token=L1OV6WjZSC5vE30cnb2Zcota6bR2k8jH0KrdpFOxC651gRQ4KXOU_WP69zgmsGENUKn__nS8HmAbHhbImljQc4YrLmBmBnb4ilfKmcmvYdg1W1za1F_xaXZoPRbrUOmIARXysQ4_Zy_kGaJT4LiQ4ZL7gB6GZL1dwSe8bc5WE_a2Mp-YIMBOXA4-TecLTwLkoAGaJMU3kaw9fPmAMjGeTtwaTeF_4uXKy5YOqemczDohpc_W2bnWL46D6HlK9IKLwMv_Db8esBkAGKcMXB2e8vHUDk3u3e6eUCs_1O7tSyw%3D">lead to a temporary bump in suicides at this time of year</a>, too. For these reasons, states like Florida and Massachusetts are starting to lobby to ditch the switch, as <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/daylight-saving-time-works-states-ditch/story?id=53580572">ABC News</a> reports. (Hawaii and Arizona already ignore it.) <div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Adam DublinskeWith daylight saving time, we'll gain an hour of evening light, but what will we lose?</div></div></div><h2>Why we 'save' daylight for the evenings</h2>Daylight Saving Time was originally concocted as a way to save energy, and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/why-daylight-saving-time-is-bad-2018-3">implemented during World War I</a> in Germany. More recent research suggests it's <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/why-daylight-saving-time-is-bad-2018-3#dst-may-actually-end-up-costing-us-energy-and-money-instead-of-saving-it-5">probably not saving us any megawatts</a> of power at all, but there's some evidence that the evening light can <a href="http://jenniferdoleac.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Doleac_Sanders_DST.pdf">reduce crime</a> and <a href="https://econ.washington.edu/sites/econ/files/old-site-uploads/2014/06/Economica-R-and-R-2014-Wolff-Makino.pdf">increase the time people spend exercising</a>, at least in certain climates.But fewer than <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/why-daylight-saving-time-is-bad-2018-3">half of the countries in the world</a> participate in this biannual clock-changing ritual, and the tradition inevitably costs some people their lives.So while you might enjoy the extra end-of-day light next week, be extra careful with your heart and your car keys. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/why-case-daylight-saving-time-2016-11">Here's why we should just scrap daylight-saving time already </a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

Daylight Saving Time is literally killing us

<div></div>Psychologist Richard Wiseman, the author of "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/59-Seconds-Change-Under-Minute/dp/0307474860?tag=bisafetynet-20" target="_blank">59 Seconds: Change Your Life in Under a Minute</a>," has a simple test to determine if you're not getting enough sleep.Wiseman describes the test in the&#xa0;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YtD86bio5U" target="_blank">YouTube video</a>&#xa0;above, which is part of his "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/In59seconds" target="_blank">In 59 seconds</a>" series.If you're suffering from a lack of sleep, then you might experience very short blackouts called "micro-sleeps," according to Wiseman. These are episodes where you involuntarily doze off for a few seconds and are not aware of what's happening around you. (This would be a considerable nuisance at work, but could be potentially dangerous if you're, say, driving.)To see if you're under-slept, Wiseman asks viewers to watch an animated clip where a scene changes after a few seconds and then flips back to the original scene.If you don't spot certain things - like a bus switching from blue to green or disappearing buildings - then you might be sleep deprived, he says.We're not sure how valid this test is for sleep-deprivation since a well-known Harvard psychology test, known as the "<a href="http://www.theinvisiblegorilla.com/gorilla_experiment.html" target="_blank">gorilla experiment</a>," found that our minds tend to miss a lot of obvious things going on around us (even a giant gorilla strolling into the middle of a basketball game), without even knowing it.At any rate, Wiseman provides some other useful ways to determine if you need more sleep. If you need an alarm clock to wake up, fall asleep within 5 minutes of getting into bed, or drink a lot of coffee during the day, then you should consider getting more shut-eye.&#xa0; <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trains-planes-cheaper-fares-london-sheffield-berlin-2016-2">This British teen found a brilliant way to save money on a train ticket home - and see Berlin at the same time</a></h3> <div> <div> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="gyaWdtMDE62EQ8niDkncg-tOGK4H-g_y" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> </div> </div> </div>

A simple test can determine if you're not getting enough sleep

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"> REUTERS/Eric ThayerMetro-North engineer William Rockefeller Jr. is loaded into an ambulance after a derailment in the Bronx borough of New York December 1, 2013.</div></div></div>NEW YORK (AP) -- It's sometimes called highway hypnosis or white-line fever, and it's familiar to anyone who has driven long distances along a monotonous route.
Drivers are lulled into a semi-trance state and reach their destination with little or no memory of parts of the trip. But what if it happened to an engineer at the controls of a speeding passenger train?
A man driving a Metro-North Railroad commuter train that went off the rails Sunday in New York, killing four passengers, experienced a momentary loss of awareness as he zoomed down the tracks, according to his lawyer and union representative, who called the episode a "nod," a "daze" or highway hypnosis.
Their accounts raised questions about just how widespread the problem is in the transportation industry and what can be done to combat it.
At the time of the crash, the train was going 82 mph into a sharp turn where the speed limit drops to 30 mph. That's when the engineer says he snapped out of it and hit the brakes, but it was too late. The train hurtled off the tracks, leaving a chain of twisted cars just inches from a river in the Bronx.
While the term highway hypnosis has been around for decades, there's no technical definition of it and scant specific medical study of it, although multiple studies have found that long driving times on straight roads can cause people to lose focus.
Some experts equate highway hypnosis with a sort of autopilot state - performing a task, usually competently, without awareness of it. Sleep experts say the daze could really be a doze, especially if a driver has undiagnosed sleep problems.
Whatever it is, nearly every bus or train driver has experienced the feeling of being momentarily unaware while driving long hours, said Larry Hanley, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union.
Hanley, who spent eight years driving a bus in New York, recalled spending a week on the midnight-to-8 a.m. shift and sometimes stopping to pick up passengers who weren't there.
"You find yourself stopping, and you open the doors, and all you see is a mailbox," he said, adding that fatigue and work schedule changes play a role.
The National Transportation Safety Board, which has yet to determine the cause of the crash, concluded talking with the engineer Tuesday. Investigators continued interviewing the train's other crew members.
Investigators have said the engineer, William Rockefeller, had enough time off for a full night's rest before the crash, but they were looking at his activities in the previous days.
Highway hypnosis doesn't show up often in medical literature, but numerous researchers have looked at the effect that monotonous driving can have on alertness and reaction time.
In one early paper on the phenomenon, published in 1962, retired Rutgers University psychologist Griffith Wynne Williams wrote that the modern superhighway's smooth, uninterrupted stretches of concrete could put people in a daze.
"Driving under these conditions makes little demand on the driver's orientation to reality," he wrote. "The distracting stimuli are few."
It's the "Where did those 10 miles go?" sensation of realizing you've been driving apparently without paying attention to the road or yourself, said Stephen J. Morse, a professor of <keyword id="6355470" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Law">law</keyword> and psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania.
Many sleep experts see highway hypnosis as micro-sleep, a phenomenon often attributed to fatigue or sleep deprivation.
Most people don't even realize when they've been micro-sleeping - for example, "resting their eyes" for a few seconds, said Dr. James Maas, a sleep expert and retired Cornell University psychology professor.
"Many of those times you were asleep. You're just not going to remember it," he said.
Transportation safety advocates also have long been concerned about fatigue in all modes of transportation.
In 2008, the operator of a transit train was killed after she fell into a micro-sleep and collided with another train in Newton, Mass. Fatigue also was a factor when two trains collided in Red Oak, Iowa, in 2011, killing two crew members.
A survey of transportation workers last year by the National Sleep Foundation found 26 percent of train operators said sleepiness affected their job performance at least once a week, compared with only 17 percent of non-transportation workers. About 18 percent of train operators reported having a "near miss" at work because of fatigue, and 44 percent of train operators said their work schedule did not allow enough time for sleep.
Rockefeller's schedule, which had recently switched from the afternoon shift to the day shift, could be a cause for concern about fatigue, said Patrick Sherry, executive director of the National Center for Intermodal Transportation at the University of Denver, which studies national transportation issues.
"Did he make an appropriate transition from his previous shift to this new shift?" Sherry said.
How long that transition takes is highly individual - think jet lag, which levels some people while others adjust easily, said Dr. Clete Kushida, a neurologist and sleep specialist at Stanford University Medical Center.
Federal investigators would not comment on Rockefeller's level of alertness. The NTSB had found no problems with the brakes or rail signals. Alcohol tests on crew members were negative, and investigators are awaiting the results of drug tests.
The NTSB has issued more than 200 recommendations addressing fatigue, including scheduling problems that disrupt sleep patterns, Chairman Deborah Hersman said Wednesday in a telephone interview.
Hersman said positive train control technology, which can slow or stop a train that's speeding or otherwise not being operated correctly, might have forestalled the derailment. Railroads are facing a congressional deadline to install such systems by December 2015.
"This is the type of accident that positive train control is designed to prevent," Hersman said.
As for how to avoid micro-sleeping, a 10- to 20-minute nap or a cup of coffee can help in a pinch, suggested Kushida.
But experts agree there's no substitute for getting good sleep.
Truck driver Alex Gordon agrees. He drives for no more than 10 hours at a time and makes sure to get enough sleep, and he says he's never experienced highway hypnosis.
"I drive 10 hours, sleep 11," the Miami-based Gordon said Wednesday during a break at a truck stop in Kearny, N.J. "You just can't" put people in danger, he said.
In case of an engineer becoming incapacitated, the train's front car was equipped with a dead man's pedal, which must be depressed or the train will automatically slow down.
Trains also can have alarms, sometimes called alerters, which sound if the operators' controls haven't been moved within a certain timeframe. If an engineer does not respond, often by pressing a button, brakes automatically operate. But the train that derailed didn't have such a system, a Metro-North spokeswoman said.
Rockefeller, 46, has worked for the railroad for 15 years and has been an engineer for 10.
Crews are rebuilding the damaged track where Rockefeller's train crashed. One of three tracks on the affected line reopened Wednesday, and commuters said they were grateful service was restored fairly quickly.
"We don't get to complain," said Elite Rubin, who does marketing for an accounting firm. "We weren't on that train where people died."
---
Hananel reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Jim Fitzgerald, Meghan Barr and David B. Caruso in New York, Katie Zezima in Kearny, N.J., and researcher Rhonda Shafner contributed to this report.

NY Train Wreck Could Be A Case Of Highway Hypnosis

Psychologist Richard Wiseman, the author of "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/59-Seconds-Change-Under-Minute/dp/0307474860" target="_blank">59 Seconds: Change Your Life in Under a Minute</a>," has a simple test to determine if you're not getting enough sleep.
Wiseman describes the test in a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YtD86bio5U" target="_blank">YouTube video</a>, as part of his "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/In59seconds" target="_blank">In 59 seconds</a>" series.
If you're suffering from a lack of sleep, then you might experience very short blackouts called "micro-sleeps," according to Wiseman. These are episodes where you involuntarily doze off for a few seconds and are not aware of what's happening around you. (This would be a considerable nuisance at work, but could be potentially dangerous if you're, say, driving.)
To see if you're under-slept, Wiseman asks viewers to watch an animated clip where a scene changes after a few seconds and then flips back to the original scene. If you don't spot certain things - like a bus switching from blue to green or disappearing buildings - then you might be sleep-deprived, he says.
We're not sure how valid this test is for sleep-deprivation since a well-known Harvard psychology test, known as the "<a href="http://www.theinvisiblegorilla.com/gorilla_experiment.html" target="_blank">gorilla experiment</a>," found that our minds tend to miss a lot of obvious things going on around us (even a giant gorilla strolling into the middle of a basketball game), without even knowing it.
At any rate, Wiseman provides some other useful ways to determine if you need more sleep. If you need an alarm clock to wake up, fall asleep within 5 minutes of getting into bed, or drink a lot of coffee during the day, then you should consider getting more shut-eye, he says.
Find out if you're sleep-deprived in the video below, posted to YouTube:

A Simple Test Can Determine If You're Not Getting Enough Sleep

If you are feeling a little tired this Monday morning, imagine how you would feel after days of not sleeping.
<a href="http://laughingsquid.com/asapscience-explains-what-would-happen-if-you-stopped-sleeping/" target="_blank">Laughing Squid</a> directed us toward a video from <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNhDkKAvxFk" target="_blank">ASAPScience that took a stab at trying to understand sleep</a>. The video is embedded below. The reality is we don't know enough about <keyword id="6372996" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="sleep">sleep</keyword> to fully understand why we need it or how much we really need. It takes about three days for a lack of sleep to cause hallucinations, and this is also when the body starts shutting down - the immune system stops working well, meaning it's more difficult for our body to fight off infection. 
The longest anyone's been known to go without sleep is 11 days, the video says. Supposedly that person suffered no lasting health effects. But if you are staying up that long, you are likely also taking stimulants like caffeine and energy drinks, which have their own health effects. 
But, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/scary-reality-of-what-happens-if-you-go-weeks-without-sleep-2013-6" target="_blank">others report going much longer without sleep</a>, weeks to months, even. Likely these people have been experiencing "microsleeps."
They point to cases of the incredibly rare disease Fatal Familial <keyword id="27538" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="insomnia">Insomnia</keyword> as an example of how long you can really go without sleep. The disease kills within about 18 months as sufferers slowly lose all ability to sleep and their organs shut down. 
In the Michael Jackson trial an expert claimed that the performer had gone 60 days without REM sleep, because he had been put into a coma-like state nightly as a "treatment for his insomnia."<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/scary-reality-of-what-happens-if-you-go-weeks-without-sleep-2013-6"> Charles Czeisler of Harvard Medical School testified</a> that this lack of REM sleep would have killed Jackson soon, if an overdose of the coma-inducing Propofol hadn't.

Here's What Would Happen If You Stopped Sleeping

<div class="image-container center" style="width:800px"><div class="image">Phil Walter/Getty Images</div></div>An expert witness in the <keyword id="4952" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Michael-Jackson">Michael Jackson</keyword> trial said Thursday that <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/michael-jackson-didnt-sleep-2013-6">the musician had gone 60 days without REM sleep</a>, which inevitably lead to his <keyword id="6355784" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="death">death</keyword>.
He was being treated for his <keyword id="27538" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="insomnia">insomnia</keyword> with the anesthetic propofol which put him into a coma-like <keyword id="6372996" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="sleep">sleep</keyword>, but deprived him of REM sleep. An overdose of the drug killed the singer. 
Dr. Charles Czeisler, of Harvard Medical School testified that Jackson's lack of REM sleep would have killed him soon, if the drug hadn't, <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/21/showbiz/jackson-death-trial/index.html?utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_topstories+%28RSS%3A+Top+Stories%29" target="_blank">according to CNN</a>. 
Most of us have gone a night or two with little or no sleep, but to go weeks or months without sleep seems unimaginable.
Lack of sleep can cause confusion, dizziness, headaches, and in extreme cases, death.
Real people without sleep
In <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/1fmzai/reddit_whats_the_longest_youve_gone_without_sleep/">a reddit thread</a>, <a href="http://www.reddit.com/user/1fmzai">1fmzai</a> asked, "what's the longest you've gone without sleep?". Here are some of the answers from normal people about how it felt to not sleep for extreme amounts of time.
Reddit user <a href="http://www.reddit.com/user/retloc11tee">retloc11tee</a> says he went <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/1fmzai/reddit_whats_the_longest_youve_gone_without_sleep/cabuj0k">without sleep for almost a month</a>:
Almost a month. Had insomnia for no reason I could figure out. Luckily Fight Club and American Beauty had just come out on VHS tape. I watched them both about 20 some times. I was unemployed at the time so I just kinda laid on the couch in a zombie like haze. I started to get really mad and frustrated about the whole thing toward the end of the month. I decided I was going to drink myself to sleep. It worked, I slept for about a day and a half. The next night I slept normally. I haven't had another incident since. It's been about 12 years.
Another user <a href="http://www.reddit.com/user/pattop">pattop</a> says <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/1fmzai/reddit_whats_the_longest_youve_gone_without_sleep/cac06on">he looked like a zombie</a> after a few weeks of insomnia:
I had insomnia when I was going through a separation. I slept but only about 15-20 minutes a day of real sleep. Lasted about 3-4 weeks. Some people said I looked like death others just did a double take stare like they saw a zombie. My mind would race and I would start questioning my whole worthiness as a human. Then when that passed I would just get pissed that I couldn't sleep. Throw bed sheets and pillows around. Swear at the way the human mind f*cks with you. It was a great time. Finally went to the doctor for some meds. Found that xanax and a couple drinks works better than actual sleep aids. Although I also learned that you either sit or lay down after you gobble the xanax down. Got in an argument once with the ex wife 30 minutes after popping 2 xanax and having several drinks. Managed to fall up the steps. The way the movie Insomnia is done gives you an accurate uneasiness and mania feeling that comes with is actual Insomnia.
Breaking records
Some people have stayed up even longer. 
Tyler Shields, a LA-based photographer documented his experiment to go without sleep for 40 days. He was trying to set a world record, but Guinness wouldn't recognize his feat because it was too dangerous and too hard to prove.
<a href="http://www.tylershields.com/tag/tyler-shields-record-for-not-sleeping/">He claims he trained for months</a> to perform the feat, and was under 24 hour watch.
He also doesn't sleep as much as normal people even when he's not trying to break a record.
"A lot of people say, 'This is impossible, you can't do this,'" <a href="http://www.aolnews.com/2010/10/23/the-ultimate-all-nighter-man-tries-to-stay-awake-for-40-days/">Shields told AOL News</a> in 2010, when he performed his feat. "If I was a normal person that slept every night, then I would agree with those people. But in my normal life, I only sleep one to two nights a week — that's my normal. That's my every day."
He experienced bad fevers, leg numbness, severe headaches, eye aches, and had to pee a lot, according to AOL News. His usually sharp memory was frazzled.
"It's not even a struggle to stay awake — it's that everything else is a struggle," he told AOL. "I took a shower this morning and it was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. When the water was hitting me, I felt like I was being stabbed. I have to think about breathing, I have to think about moving."
Though he might have slept for small amounts of time during his feat — called microsleeps – he definitely didn't get any REM sleep. When he finally did go to sleep it took him 8 hours to fall asleep.
When insomnia is fatal
When sleep loss is at its extreme, it can definitely lead to death.
A condition called Fatal Familiar Insomnia, which <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatal_familial_insomnia">according to Wikipedia</a> "involves progressively worsening insomnia, which leads to hallucinations, delirium, and confusional states like that of dementia. The average survival span for patients diagnosed with FFI after the onset of symptoms is 18 months." The disease affects only about 100 people.
“Extended periods of wakefulness are associated with poor <keyword id="6354750" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="health">health</keyword> outcomes, and animals subjected to <keyword id="72481" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Sleep-deprivation">sleep deprivation</keyword> have resulted in death… There is a disorder called Fatal Familial Insomnia. As part of the progression of the disorder, the person is not able to sleep and death usually occurs within a few months to a few years,” sleep physician <a href="http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/science/sleep-ngoc-thai-tony-wright-randy-gardner-david-blaine-2855.html">Vikas Wadhwa told the Epoch times in 2008</a>.
The disease has four stages, taking 7 to 18 months to run its course:
<ol>
<li>The patient suffers increasing insomnia, resulting in panic attacks, paranoia, and phobias. This stage lasts for about four months.</li>
<li>Hallucinations and panic attacks become noticeable, continuing for about five months.</li>
<li>Complete inability to sleep is followed by rapid loss of weight. This lasts for about three months.</li>
<li>Dementia, during which the patient becomes unresponsive or mute over the course of six months. This is the final progression of the disease, after which death follows.</li>
</ol>
It isn't known what was causing Michael Jackson to lose sleep, but he definitely would have felt the effects of his insomnia after 60 days.

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