1. REDBRICK 1302 / JANUARY 26th Features 11
Weird science A Day in the Life of...
Sweet dreams are made An Olympic hopeful
by Andy Whetstone
of these
Crucial to a student’s life but also When deprived of after the tough session
sleep, you stop thinking the previous day.
mind-baffling, Simon Bishop clearly. You forget, and Before I go to bed I
you fail to apply your- complete 500 press-ups
explores the wonders of sleep self to a given task. It is and sit-ups, usually in
no coincidence that traf- sets of 50.
fic accidents increase I joined Milton
SLEEP, it would seem, is ness and sleep. Though with sleep deprivation, Keynes Athletics Club
Science a bit of an odd concept. you never thank them, with performance com- when I was eleven and
Every night, somewhere you rely heavily on parable to intoxication. was lucky to find a
correspondent comfortable, we surren- melatonin rises at night, It is thought that sleep good coach and have
der all voluntary move- adenosine rises in the is essential for develop- supportive parents who
Simon Bishop ment, shut ourselves off day and circadian ment and the conver- were keen to encourage
from the world and all cycling of a protein sion of temporary mem- me and buy me the
introduces his its hazards, and allow called Period. If it ory to long-term memo- equipment. I started to
our body to build itself. weren’t for a delightful ry. Evidence suggests win the county races on
new section Our temperature control sounding concoction of that the efficiency of both track and cross
goes on strike, growth neurotransmitters your nerves is depend- I STARTED running country. As I pro-
hormone gets released whose names offend ent on their use, so if when I was ten years gressed, the training
UNLESS you really know in abundance and our simplicity, you’d be neglected they will fail old. My local school intensified and in order
your stuff, the world of brains start performing falling asleep at any to function correctly. held a cross country to lower my times I now
scientific research is a very oddly indeed. given moment. Random nerve firing race and I had never have to consider other
scary and impenetrable Sleep occurs in a It is a hard thing to during sleep is a mecha- just run without stop- areas of my lifestyle
place. Of course, mate- number of stages, from pin down the sleeping nism to ensure memory ping before. I won the which can affect my
rial should always be the drowsy Stage 1 to pattern of the average circuits are maintained, race. Now, here I am, training and success:
challenging, but there the deep sleep of Stages student. In one corner including pathways eleven years later, a my diet, going out with
comes a point when the 3 and 4. Through these are the early birds, the with motor components first year student at friends, drinking, and
bar is raised too high, stages, brain patterns ‘larks’, and in the other during REM sleep. Birmingham, with the the amount of sleep I
and the general public slow down, changing the ‘owls’, coming alive What, then, are prospect of being a get, amongst a variety
has no interest in from the high frequency at night and sleeping dreams? Freud once competitor in the 2012 of other things, are all
standing on top of one alpha and beta waves of through the day. claimed them to be “the London Olympics. taken into account. To
another to pull it down wakefulness to slow Whichever end of symbolic expression of My training regime this day I still have not
again. delta waves. We spend the spectrum you occu- frustrated desires rele- varies each day. I train managed to create the
Science is the most six days a week, Friday perfect balance
interesting of the sub- being the day I rest. A between training and
jects. It has the power good day’s training my social life. Once I do
to delve deep and consists of an early I will start improving
quench our ineluctable morning run, of around my times and reaching
desire for knowledge. 35-50 minutes. qualification times for
Where it cannot answer In the evening I train the Commonwealth
it inspires people to with other runners in Games and hopefully
find out, and it matters the University Athletics the 2012 Olympic
at every level of socie- Club. A track session Games in London, when
ty. The only thing it may be a 15 minute I will be 26.
lacks is a consistent warm up run, some- I am enjoying my
public platform. Over times followed by a ses- training and am cer-
the next term, I have sion of 800 metres (two tainly not alone in my
organised some bud- laps of the track). I run daily routine. Our uni-
ding scientists and two laps, then jog half a versity has good facili-
writers to offer to the lap then run another ties and a great bunch
Redbrick readership a two laps. This contin- of athletes to train
selection of diverse and ues until I have run six with.
interesting snippets repetitions of 800 Back home I was the
from the enormous sci- metres. This method is fastest at my club so it
entific multiverse. known as interval train- is nice to come to uni-
Using as few long ing. versity and have lots of
words as possible, we The winter is cross talented runners to
will take you from the country season and the train with like Frank
smallest of cells to the sessions tend to be Tickner, Sam Perkins
limits of the Earth. If at I wonder what she’s dreaming of... Photo: Anna Samuel more endurance based and Chris Gallagher. We
any moment you find to prepare us for all help each other in
yourself distracted by up to 55% of the night in py, it’s probably fair to gated to the subcon- 10,000m plus of run- sessions and pull each
the possibilities of Stage 2, where brain say you’ve nodded off scious.” But then Freud ning. I do not really other along. There is a
knowledge implied, activity oscillates with in the middle of a lec- would. It is possible enjoy running for this great feeling of team
then we have done our high frequency ‘spin- ture or two. that they are just the long but endurance spirit in the group
jobs. dles’ and high voltage ‘K Imagine not being consequence of random training is necessary which has a lot to do
Within the reign of complexes’. able to control when memory replay, or an for strength and to with our coach, a leg-
Queen Elizabeth II, Rapid Eye Movement you fall asleep. What if amalgamation of memo- build a strong base for end in the athletics
mankind had no idea (REM) is a paradoxical you entered REM while ries being processed. the summer. world, Bud Baldaro.
what a gene was. kind of sleep, some- still awake, resulting in Perhaps the forebrain In summer my ses- I have been contact-
Surprising though it times referred to as a paralysed conscious- assembles memory in a sions speed up as the ed by a university in
may sound that some- Stage 5, where brain ness known as cata- logical, fictional order majority of races are New York that is inter-
thing so intrinsic was patterns resemble the plexy, unable to speak to compensate for paral- won on the last lap or ested in me going there
only recently so elu- awake state and all mus- or move but aware of ysis. in a sprint finish. In after my time at
sive, we must not for- cles become paralysed everything around you? In a world of dead- order to be successful Birmingham for a year’s
get that science is far except those needed to This is narcolepsy, the lines, social responsibil- it is essential to have a scholarship and to fur-
from over. We have keep you alive. REM and third most prevalent ity and 24-hour electric- quick burst of pace to ther my training. I aim
much left to discover non-REM stages alter- sleep-related disease ity, it is all too easy for surprise other athletes. to keep working hard in
and explain – even the nate throughout the affecting around one in our sleep patterns to At the end of a ses- order to bring my times
things we take for night. Such descriptions 2000, caused by a loss drift and turn us into sion we do a 15 minute lower each year.
granted. This is where are all very interesting, of hypocretin neuro- caffeine-dependent jog to warm down and Hopefully, I will then be
our journey begins, in but they cannot tell us transmitter. Only rest- zombies. We may not then some stretches. ready for the 2012
the realm of the what sleep actually is less legs syndrome - understand why we do On some days I have Olympics, to contest
unknown and on the and what it is for. where pins and needles it, but one thing is for weights sessions and for a medal in the 800
cusp of imagination. Scientists have long keep patients awake - sure: sleep is essential. steady runs to relax metre or the 1500
Why, fellow reader, do known of chemical and sleep apnoea are and stretch the muscles metre event.
we sleep? changes during wakeful- more common.