In a small but exciting step, the #GetSleeping social media sign has arrived and it looks amazing. The idea is simple; during my travels in
Between 11 and 17th September 2021 Mark attempted to break the Guinness World Record for the Longest Marathon Lecture. The existing record is 139 hours 42 minutes and 56 seconds and amazingly Mark spoke for 140 hours and 42 seconds. He is now waiting to hear from Guinness whether his attempt has been validated. During the attempt Mark raised almost £13k for Barnardo’s, engaged with schools around the world through some prepared lesson plans and worked with sleep scientists to explore the impacts of extreme sleep deprivation. The attempt pushed Mark to his psychological limit as he suffered memory loss and hallucinations having just had 3 hours sleep across the 140 hours.
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The one hour lecture starts by looking at the science of sleep and the circadian rhythm, the daily cycle that regulates the sleep cycle and repeats roughly every 24 hours. It highlights that, whilst everyone’s rhythm does indeed vary regularly over 24 hours, they all peak and trough at different times making us predisposed to be morning larks or night owls.
The lecture continues to investigate how children’s circadian rhythm shifts and how understanding this can help children to get better sleep and develop a better understanding of their sleep habit. We look at the importance of sleep across a human life and how long term, poor sleep habits can lead to increased chances of dementia to weight gain, heart attack, cancer and diabetes. The lecture goes on to look at the stages of sleep from NREM sleep to REM sleep, at how our bodies are paralysed during dream sleep and at the other physiological processes that happen when we slumber. He looks at the way in which our mind and body is effected by lack of sleep from memory loss to hallucinations which Mark experienced during his world record lecture.
At the end Mark recalls the attempt itself and what he experienced during the dark hours of sleep deprivation that took him to the edge of his physical and psychological capabilities.
Book This LectureMark is developing his new podcast called ‘Sleep Talking’, an interview based podcast all about sleep. What is sleep? Why do we dream? Does every creature on Earth sleep? How do mobile phones and different types of light impact the quality of our sleep? Mark will investigate many more questions as he explores the fascinating world of sleep.
Check back here soon for updates
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