I did a sleep deprivation study, and it sucked
Hi, my name is Joel, and I’ve been awake for 24 hours.
By Joel Werner
Throughout October, the ABC’s Reboot Your Life project has looked at the importance of good sleep for mind and body. So a couple of my editors (real bright sparks) thought it would be a good idea to flip the script.
They signed me up for a sleep deprivation study at the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research. Me — a new dad! A particularly cruel and unusual choice of reporter. Thanks team!
I thought that being the dad of a six-month-old I’d have an advantage while sleep deprived.
Boy, was I was wrong. I was average at best.
I arrived at the institute at 7pm. On first impressions, it’s what you’d expect of a sleep research building; there’s lots of random rooms full of beds and cameras equipment — it’s a little creepy.
On arrival, sleep technician Eliza immediately started gluing electrodes all over my head, face, and chest. These were connected to a box on my chest that fed into a unit on the wall.
The wires transmit information about my brain’s electrical activity, heart rate, eye movement and jaw activity (whether I’m grinding my teeth) to the sleep lab’s Mission Control, where Eliza monitors the output.
Eliza was great. She spends the whole night either monitoring people who are sleeping, or helping people who are trying not to sleep stay awake.
If anyone in the sleep dep study starts to nod off, she sings to them over the PA. Song of choice? Green Day’s Wake Me Up When September Ends. She reckons she’s done 1,000 studies like the one she did on me.
Anyway, the electrode glue was super uncomfortable — whenever I moved it ripped my chest hair out. It took me three or four hair washes to get it out of my hair the next morning.
At first I was excited, and everything ran smoothly. The first set of tasks they got me to do lasted about 10 or 15 minutes each.
I started to realise what I’d got myself into when it came to the driving test; an hour-long driving simulation set on a country road at night. A dark, lonely country road. Occasionally you come up behind a truck and have to brake.
And that’s it. That’s all that happens. For an hour.
It’s way more boring than actually driving. It’s intense. The controls are crap — the steering wheel doesn’t steer properly, and the pedal is unresponsive. You struggle to keep the car on the road.
I finished the first drive at 11pm and felt like falling asleep straight away. But sleep wasn’t an option. I had to do another drive at 2am. Daunting!
After the second drive I was wrecked, an absolute mess.
I totally underestimated how hard the study would be. The tasks are super draining — they’re designed to be boring, to put your attention to the test.
On top of that, the room lighting is kept dim to make you feel as tired as possible. It works.
Motivation plays an interesting role in performance. Driving a simulator at 2am, I was way less motivated to drive well than I would’ve been if I was actually driving a car.
I started to think, “Why do I care, it’s just a test.” Which is a terrible attitude, but hey, it was two in the morning.
Sleep deprivation has a much bigger impact than I thought it did, especially on tasks that require a lot of concentration.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to bed. Goodnight!
