Dr. Matt Walker

It's not really very challenging.

But you have to pay attention.

And that perfectly mimics in some ways, but we don't do it for two or three minutes.

We'll have you do it for 10 minutes.

And my goodness, is it mind numbing.

I mean, it's kind of just, but it mimics very well.

Think about, you know, just even a one hour road trip at 10 o'clock in the evening.

and you're on the motorway, the freeway, all you've got to do is just focus on the road and the white lines are coming and there's nothing much to do.

And you've got to attend and focus not for 10 minutes, but for 60 minutes.

When you are under slept, one of the dangers, the big problems with a lack of sleep is that you don't know you are sleep deprived when you are sleep deprived.

And we know this because when I'm tracking your performance objectively, it's going down and down and down.

when I'm asking you subjectively, how do you think you're doing in terms of your performance?

You say, I'm hanging in there.

So far, I'm good.

So subjectively, you think you're fine, but objectively, you're not.

The analogy would be a drunk driver at a bar.

They've had seven or eight beers, they've had six shots, and they pick up the car keys and they say to you, look, I'm fine to drive home.

And your response is, no, I know that you subjectively think you're fine to drive, but trust me, objectively, you're not.

I'll just call you a taxi.

Don't worry, it's fine.