timewaster [digital edition]

7/30/2019 Timewaster [Digital Edition]

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TimeWaster


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The timeyou enjoy

wasting isnot

wastedtime.


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First the science bit behind time

itself. We need to understand

time, the way that time works in

relation to space and how space,

time, light and gravity all effect

time. This is in order to see how

time works and what we are really

missing.

When it was rst suggested that

the earth was a sphere in three

dimensions as oppose to a fat

two dimensional plane o sorts the

idea was largely scoed at, until

experimental evidence proved it

to be true. The same can be said

with space-time, albeit with a extra

dimension involved - it was once

thought that space and time where

separate and that the universe

was merely an assortment o

cosmic bodies arranged in three

dimensions. Einstein however

introduced the concept o a orth

dimension time, that meant that

space and time were inexorably

liked. The general theory o relativity

suggests that space-time expands

and contracts depending on the

momentum and mass o nearby

matter. The theory was sound, but

needed proo. The proo came

recently with NASAs gravity probe

B, which demonstrated that space

and time where indeed linked. Four

gyroscopes were pointed in the

direction o distant star and i gravity

did not have an eect on space

and time, they would remain locked

in the same position. However,

scientists clearly observed a rame

dragging eect due to the gravity o

the earth that meant the gyroscopes

were pulled very slightly out o

position. This seems that the abric

o space itsel can be altered and

i space and time are linked then

time itsel can be stretched and

contracted by gravity.

Facts on the Universe

Light speed - Travels at 299,792,448

meters per second or 186,000 miles

per second. The urthest star we can

see is 13 billion light years away. Our

sun is 8.3 minutes away traveling

at light speed. Its 90,968,000 miles

at its shortest and 94,074,000 at its

urthest. It would take us 200 days

to travel there in a space shuttle.

The moon is 238,837 miles way.

There are billions o galaxies in one

universe. I you where to reduce

the universe time line to 24 hours

then human lie would only last or

How time works

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7 seconds. This is due to the act

that the stars play a major part in

time keeping, along with light and

gravity. The most accurate clock in

the world is the universe. It would

be measured by the pulsar rotating

round earth. Imagine us in that vast

sea o stars and as they all rotate,

time is measured by the speed that

other stars rotate around us such as

the pulsar moving round our planet

would enable us to measure time.

As the universe expands, it pulls

time with it as space and time are

linked. Thereore i the universe

started to contract time would move

backwards, such as the big crunch.

Earth is gradually slowing down.

Every ew years, an extra second

is added to make up or lost time.

Millions o years ago, a day on Earth

will have been 20 hours long. It is

believed that, in millions o years

time, a day on Earth will be 27 hours

long. Facts is that A day on Mars

is about hal an hour longer than a

day on Earth. There is no time at the

north/south pole as all time zones all

in to one place making it impossible

to dene the time! Every day is about

55 billionths o a second longer than

the previous day.

768 planets and counting

There are two main ways o

measuring time: dynamic and

atomic time. The ormer relies

on the motion o celestial bodies

(including the earth) to keep track o

time, whether its the rotation time

o a distant spinning star such as a

pulsar, the motion o a star across

our night sky or the rotation o the

earth. However, a spinning star

notwithstanding (which can be hard

to observe), these methods are not

always entirely accurate. The old

denition o a second was based on

the rotation o the earth. As it takes

the sun one day to rise in the east,

set in the west and rise again, a day

was almost arbitrarily divided into 24

hours, the hour into 60 minuets, the

minuets into 60 seconds. However

the earth doesnt rotate uniormly.

In act its rotation decreases at a

rate o about 30 seconds every

100,000 years due to actors such

as tidal riction. Scientists have

devised ways to account or the

changing speed o the earths

rotation, introducing leap seconds

but or the most accurate time you

have to go even smaller.


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This is photography taken at night exploring the spaces that are

normally so busy during the day - that are now empty at night.

The freedom at night is endless as no-one is around. You can fully

appreciate the peacefulness of night-time. The eerie disposition of the

night makes it beautiful and poetic.

The wasted space of night

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Youre tired. You could put your

head down on a desk right now

and fall asleep immediately. You

went to bed late last night, had

trouble falling asleep and woke

up too early. And lets not kid

ourselves: Tonight will be the

same unless well, read on.

This is the classic not-so-shut-eye

experience o many Americans

who think they are sleep-deprived

and possibly need pills or other

treatment to x their insomnia, teeth

grinding, jet lag, restless or jerky

legs, snoring, sleepwalking and so

orth. Reality is quite dierent.

For instance, insomnia is said to be

the most common sleep disorder,

but these dissatisying sleep

experiences only get in the way o

daily activities or 10 percent o us,

according to the National Institutes

o Health. And in almost hal o those

cases, the real underlying problem

is illness (oten mental) or the

eects o a substance, like coee or

medication.

We sleep better than we

think we do

For most o us, sleep deprivation is

a myth. Were not zombies. The non-

prot National Sleep Foundation

(which takes money rom the

sleep-aid industry, including drug

companies that make sleeping

pills) says the average U.S. resident

gets 7 hours a night and thats not

enough, but a University o Maryland

study earlier this year shows we

typically get 8 hours and are doing

ne. In act, Americans get just as

much sleep nowadays as they did

40 years ago, the study ound.

We need less sleep as we age

Well die without sleep. The details

are sketchy, but research suggests

its a time when we restore vital

biological processes and also sort

and cement memories. Last year,

the World Health Organization

determined that night shit work,

which can lead to sleep troubles,

is a probable human carcinogen.

On the upside, the latest research

suggests we need less o it as we

get older.

Sleep

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You can sleep like a baby

(Or Thomas Edison)

Multiple, shorter sleep sessions

nightly, rather than one long one,

are an option. So-called polyphasic

sleep is seen in babies, the elderly

and other animals (and Thomas

Edison reportedly slept this way). For

the rest o us, it is more realistic and

healthy to sleep at night as best we

can and then take naps as needed.

EEGs show that we are biphasic

sleepers with two alertness dips

one at night time and one mid-day.

So talk to HR about setting up a

nap room, like they have or NASAs

Phoenix mission team members.

Animals exhibit a range of sleep

habits

The three-toed sloth sleeps

9.6 hours nightly. But newborn

dolphins and killer whales can orgo

sleeping or their entire rst month.

However, the latter extreme is not

recommended or humans. We grow

irritable and lose our ability to ocus

and make decisions ater even one

night o missed sleep, and that can

lead to serious accidents driving and

using other machinery.

Get used to being tired,

hit the desk

The bottom line is that a good

nights sleep is within the reach o

most o us i we ollow common-

sense guidelines or sleep hygiene:

Go to bed at the same time nightly

Set aside enough time to hit that

golden 7 hours of sleep.

Refrain from caffeine, heavy or

spicy foods, and alcohol, 4 to 6

hours before bed-time.

Have a pre-sleep routine so you

wind down before you hop in.

Block out distracting lights and

noises.

Only engage in sleep and sex in

bed (no TV-watching, reading or

eating).

Exercise regularly but not right

before bed.

But you already know all this and

you dont do it. So your realistic plan

might be to surrender to the mid-day

desk nap.


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Blind People Dream

People who become blind ater birth

can see images in their dreams.

People who are born blind do not

see any images, but have dreams

equally vivid involving their other

senses o sound, smell, touch and

emotion. It is hard or a seeing

person to imagine, but the bodys

need or sleep is so strong that it is

able to handle virtually all physical

situations to make it happen.

You Forget 90% of your Dreams

Within 5 minutes o waking, hal o

your dream i orgotten. Within 10,

90% is gone. The amous poet,

Samuel Taylor Coleridge, woke

one morning having had a antastic

dream (likely opium induced) he

put pen to paper and began to

describe his vision in a dream in

what has become one o Englishs

most amous poems: Kubla Khan.

Part way through (54 lines in act) he

was interrupted by a Person rom

Porlock. Coleridge returned to his

poem but could not remember the

rest o his dream. The poem was

never completed. Every human

being dreams (except in cases o

extreme psychological disorder)

but men and women have dierent

dreams and dierent physical

reactions. Men tend to dream more

about other men, while women tend

to dream equally about men and

women. In addition, both men and

women experience sexually related

physical reactions to their dreams

regardless o whether the dream is

sexual in nature; males experience

erections and emales experience

increased vaginal blood fow.

Dreams Prevent Psychosis

In a recent sleep study, students

who were awakened at the

beginning o each dream, but

still allowed their 8 hours o

sleep, all experienced diculty

in concentration, irritability,

hallucinations, and signs o

psychosis ater only 3 days. When

nally allowed their REM sleep

the students brains made up or

lost time by greatly increasing the

percentage o sleep spent in the

REM stage.

Sweet dreams

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We Only Dream of What We Know

Our dreams are requently ull o

strangers who play out certain

parts did you know that your mind

is not inventing those aces they

are real aces o real people that

you have seen during your lie but

may not know or remember? The

evil killer in your latest dream may

be the guy who pumped petrol in to

your Dads car when you were just a

little kid. We have all seen hundreds

o thousands o aces through our

lives, so we have an endless supply

o characters or our brain to utilize

during our dreams.

Not Everyone Dreams in Colour

A ull 12% o sighted people dream

exclusively in black and white. The

remaining number dream in ull

color. People also tend to have

common themes in dreams, which

are situations relating to school,

being chased, running slowly in

place, sexual experiences, alling,

arriving too late, a person now

alive being dead, teeth alling

out, fying, ailing an examination,

or a car accident. It is unknown

whether the impact o a dream

relating to violence or death is more

emotionally charged or a person

who dreams in color than one who

dreams in black and white.

Dreams are not about what they

are about

I you dream about some particular

subject it is not oten that the dream

is about that. Dreams speak in a

deeply symbolic language. The

unconscious mind tries to compare

your dream to something else, which

is similar. Its like writing a poem and

saying that a group o ants were like

machines that never stop. But you

would never compare something to

itsel, or example: That beautiul

sunset was like a beautiul sunset.

So whatever symbol your dream

picks on it is most unlikely to be a

symbol or itsel.

Quitters have more vivid dreams

People who have smoked cigarettes

or a long time then give up the habit

have reported much more vivid

dreams than they would normally

experience. Additionally, according

to the Journal o Abnormal

Psychology: Among 293 smokers


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abstinent or between 1 and 4

weeks, 33% reported having at least

1 dream about smoking. In most

dreams, subjects caught themselves

smoking and elt strong negative

emotions, such as panic and guilt.

Dreams about smoking were the

result o tobacco withdrawal, as 97%

o subjects did not have them while

smoking, and their occurrence was

signicantly related to the duration o

abstinence. They were rated as more

vivid than the usual dreams and were

as common as most major tobacco

withdrawal symptoms.

External Stimuli Invade our Dreams

This is called Dream Incorporation

and it is the experience that most

o us have had where a sound rom

reality is heard in our dream and

incorporated in some way. A similar

example would be when you are

physically thirsty and your mind

incorporates that eeling in to your

dream. My own experience o this

includes repeatedly drinking a large

glass o water in the dream which

satises me, only to nd the thirst

returning shortly ater this thirst

drink thirst loop oten recurs until I

wake up and have a real drink.

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Not all animals sleep. It does

not depend on what size or

species of animal it is to how

much sleep they need therefore

some scientists have questioned

whether it depends on the

animals brain or what they do,

such as if they live challenging

lives.

Facts on the Universe

Other animals do dream and

have nightmares like humans

and obviously other animals do

sleep - thereore there must be

a reason or it- not just that we

are lazy and incompetent, that is

why it is a wonder why animals

dont. Scientists have questioned

whether it is to do with recuperation,

learning, resting, as an evolutionary

response, conserve energy or as

brain therapy.

Nocturnal Animal

Nocturnal animal species like sea

turtles or sea birds visit breeding

sites at night to reduce the risk

o predation. This enables them

to protect themselves, as well as

their ospring, in the course o

their liespan. Otherwise diurnal,

nocturnal animals are also most

active during the twilight hours.

Nocturnal animals have highly

developed senses o hearing,

sight and smell which are specially

adapted to make the most o night-

illumination. Some nocturnal animals

have vision that is easily adapted

to night and day illumination, while

bush babies and bats are able to

remain active only at night. Many

nocturnal animals have special eye

cells called rods that enable them to

capture light when it is dark, more

than humans or other animals can in

the same environment.

Since the air is still at night and

scents linger in the air it becomes

easier or nocturnal animals to pick

up and track scents, and nd ood.

Their sharp hearing ability enables

them to locate their prey as the latter

fee over allen leaves and twigs.

The bodies o nocturnal animals

have special adaptations to enable

them to survive the dark. Nocturnal

animals like lemurs have special

eyes, while bats use echolocation.

Echolocation reers to the bats

ability to emit a high-pitched

sound which bounces o objects

within range and gives the animal

inormation about the shape,

distance and direction o the object.

Animals vs. Humans

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Animals Duration of sleep Duration of sleep

(% of 24 hours) (hours/day)

Giant Amadio 75.4% 18.1h

North American Opossum 75% 18h

Python 75% 18h

Owl Monkey 70.8% 17h

Human (inant) 66.7% 16h

Tiger 65.8% 15.8h

Tree Shrew 65.8% 15.8h

Squirrel 62% 14.9h

Western Toad 60.8% 14.6h

Ferret 60.4 14.5h

Three Toed Sloth 60% 14.4h

Golden Hamster 59.6% 14.3h

Platypus 58.3% 14h

Lion 56.3% 13.5h

Gerbil 54.4% 13.1h

Rat 52.4% 12.6h

Cat 50.6% 12.1h

Cheetah 50.6% 12.1h

Mouse 50.3% 12.1h

Rhesus Monkey 49.2% 11.8h

Rabbit 47.5% 11.4h

Jaguar 45% 10.8h

Duck 45% 10.8h

Dog 45% 10.8h

Bottlenose Dolphin 43.3% 10.4h

Baboon 42.9 10.3

Hedgehog 42.2 10.1

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Squirel Monkey 41.9% 9.9h

Chimpanzie 40.4% 9.7h

Pig 39.2% 9.4h

Human (adult) 33.3% 8h

Guppy 29.1% 7h

Grey Seal 25.8% 6.2h

Goat 22.1% 5.3h

Cow 16.4% 3.9h

Asian Elephant 16.4% 3.9h

Sheep 16% 3.8h

Arican Elephant 13.8% 3.3h

Donkey 13% 3.1h

Horse 12% 2.9h

Girae 5.8% 1h


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The record or the longest period without sleep is 18 days, 21 hours, 40

minutes during a rocking chair marathon. The record holder reported

hallucinations, paranoia, blurred vision, slurred speech and memory and

concentration lapses.

Its impossible to tell i someone is really awake without close medical

supervision. People can take cat naps with their eyes open without even

being aware o it.

Anything less than ve minutes to all asleep at night means youre sleep

deprived. The ideal is between 10 and 15 minutes, meaning youre still tired

enough to sleep deeply, but not so exhausted you eel sleepy by day.

A new baby typically results in 400-750 hours lost sleep or parents in the

rst year

One o the best predictors o insomnia later in lie is the development o bad

habits rom having sleep disturbed by young children.

The continuous brain recordings that led to the discovery o REM (rapid eye-

movement) sleep were not done until 1953, partly because the scientists

involved were concerned about wasting paper.

REM sleep occurs in bursts totalling about 2 hours a night, usually beginning

about 90 minutes ater alling asleep.

Dreams, once thought to occur only during REM sleep, also occur (but to

a lesser extent) in non-REM sleep phases. Its possible there may not be a

single moment o our sleep when we are actually dreamless.

REM dreams are characterised by bizarre plots, but non-REM dreams are

repetitive and thought-like, with little imagery - obsessively returning to a

suspicion you let your mobile phone somewhere, or example.

Intriguing Facts

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Certain types o eye movements during REM sleep correspond to specic

movements in dreams, suggesting at least part o the dreaming process is

analogous to watching a lm

No-one knows or sure i other species dream but some do have sleep

cycles similar to humans.

Elephants sleep standing up during non-REM sleep, but lie down or REM

sleep.

Some scientists believe we dream to x experiences in long-term memory,

that is, we dream about things worth remembering. Others reckon we dream

about things worth orgetting - to eliminate overlapping memories that

would otherwise clog up our brains.

Dreams may not serve any purpose at all but be merely a meaningless by

product o two evolutionary adaptations - sleep and consciousness.

REM sleep may help developing brains mature. Premature babies have 75

per cent REM sleep, 10 per cent more than ull-term babies. Similarly, a

newborn kitten puppy rat or hamster experiences only REM sleep, while a

newborn guinea pig (which is much more developed at birth) has almost no

REM sleep at all.

Scientists have not been able to explain a 1998 study showing a bright light

shone on the backs o human knees can reset the brains sleep-wake clock.

British Ministry o Deence researchers have been able to reset soldiers

body clocks so they can go without sleep or up to 36 hrs. Tiny optical bres

embedded in special spectacles project a ring o bright white light (with a

spectrum identical to a sunrise) around the edge o soldiers retinas, ooling

them into thinking they have just woken up. The system was rst used on US

pilots during the bombing o Kosovo.


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Seventeen hours o sustained wakeulness leads to a decrease in

perormance equivalent to a blood alcohol-level o 0.05%.

The 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill o Alaska, the Challenger space shuttle

disaster and the Chernobyl nuclear accident have all been attributed to

human errors in which sleep-deprivation played a role.

The NRMA estimates atigue is involved in one in 6 atal road accidents.

Exposure to noise at night can suppress immune unction even i the sleeper

doesnt wake. Unamiliar noise, and noise during the rst and last two hours

o sleep, has the greatest disruptive eect on the sleep cycle.

The natural alarm clock which enables some people to wake up more

or less when they want to is caused by a burst o the stress hormone

adrenocorticotropin. Researchers say this refects an unconscious

anticipation o the stress o waking up.

Some sleeping tablets, such as barbiturates suppress REM sleep, which

can be harmul over a long period.

In insomnia ollowing bereavement, sleeping pills can disrupt grieving.

Tiny luminous rays rom a digital alarm clock can be enough to disrupt the

sleep cycle even i you do not ully wake. The light turns o a neural switch

in the brain, causing levels o a key sleep chemical to decline within minutes.

To drop o we must cool o; body temperature and the brains sleep-wake

cycle are closely linked. Thats why hot summer nights can cause a restless

sleep. The blood fow mechanism that transers core body heat to the skin

works best between 18 and 30 degrees. But later in lie, the comort zone

shrinks to between 23 and 25 degrees - one reason why older people have

more sleep disorders.

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A night on the grog will help you get to sleep but it will be a light slumber

and you wont dream much.

Ater ve nights o partial sleep deprivation, three drinks will have the same

eect on your body as six would when youve slept enough.

Humans sleep on average around three hours less than other primates like

chimps, rhesus monkeys, squirrel monkeys and baboons, all o whom sleep

or 10 hours.

Ducks at risk o attack by predators are able to balance the need or sleep

and survival, keeping one hal o the brain awake while the other slips into

sleep mode.

Ten per cent o snorers have sleep apnoea, a disorder which causes

suerers to stop breathing up to 300 times a night and signicantly

increases the risk o suering a heart attack or stroke.

Snoring occurs only in non-REM sleep

Teenagers need as much sleep as small children (about 10 hours) while

those over 65 need the least o all (about six hours). For the average adult

aged 25-55, eight hours is considered optimal

Some studies suggest women need up to an hours extra sleep a night

compared to men, and not getting it may be one reason women are much

more susceptible to depression than men.

Feeling tired can eel normal ater a short time. Those deliberately deprived

o sleep or research initially noticed greatly the eects on their alertness,

mood and physical perormance, but the awareness dropped o ater the

rst ew days.


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Diaries rom the pre-electric-light-globe Victorian era show adults slept nine

to 10 hours a night with periods o rest changing with the seasons in line

with sunrise and sunsets.

Most o what we know about sleep weve learned in the past 25 years.

As a group, 18 to 24 year-olds deprived o sleep suer more rom impaired

perormance than older adults.

Experts say one o the most alluring sleep distractions is the 24-hour

accessibility o the internet.

The extra-hour o sleep received when clocks are put back at the start o

daylight in Canada has been ound to coincide with a all in the number o

road accidents.

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Editor

Joel Brcher

Austin Weight

Creative Director

Joel Brcher

Photography

Austin Weight

Illustrations

Austin Weight

PaperEvercolor, 90 gsm

Printed by

Dittopress Ltd.

www.dittopress.co.uk

Time

Waster


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