Hey parents, welcome back to Orbit 1 Favor to ask.
Could you leave us a review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts?
It helps other parents know that Orbit is safe, fun, and valuable
for their families. Thank you.
Now let's get into the episode. Who goes there?
Oh, hey there, orbiters. Sorry you had to see that.
I was sound asleep. And my favorite axle waddle
pajama pants snuggled up with my dog Hank.
And my favorite stuffed animal, a squishy rabbit named Sir
Fluffington the 4th. Whatever you do, don't ask Hank
what happened to Sir Fluffington the first, second, and third.
You know, right before I woke up, I was having the weirdest
dream. I dreamed I was floating through
space in a giant bubble bath wearing a scuba suit.
The rubber duckies were astronauts giving me directions.
For some reason one of them kept shouting.
To Infinity and scrub. Beyond Anyways, there's a lot I
don't understand about dreams and about sleep and about
astronaut rubber duckies. You orbiters have some pretty
interesting questions too. What happened to the and we are
sleeping? Why do we sleep, why do we
dream, and why do some dreams get like kind of scary and bad?
And we have just the expert to help us out.
We're joined by Doctor Danny, who is a pediatric neurologist
at Texas Children's Hospital. That's a fancy way of saying
he's a medical Doctor Who knows a lot about children's brains.
We'll meet Doctor Danny in a few minutes.
But first, let's check in with our pal Milam.
Mr. Milam, here we go. Welcome back to orbit.
Mr. Milam is doing karate moves. Milam, are you in karate?
I was in karate class when I was 2.
Oh, you were you were a martial artist when you were two, but
not anymore. Hey Milam, what's been what's
been going on lately in life? I learned how to make Mac and
cheese. Wow, this sounds very
sophisticated. So Milam is officially a chef?
How do you make Mac and cheese? Teach me.
You boil water and then get add pasta and then drain it and add
buttermilk and cheese and then add back in the pasta.
Oh very interesting. Was this your first time making
Mac and cheese? No.
No, you've done this. You're like, you're a Mac and
cheese expert. Yes.
Can you imagine opening a Mac and cheese restaurant?
No. What are some What are some
weird ingredients that we can put in Mac and cheese?
Bacon. OK, bacon inch worms.
Inch worms. That is a weird ingredient.
What are what are some other weird ingredients?
We could put pineapple. Pepperoni.
Oh, pepperoni kind of sounds good.
What about anchovies or tuna? That would be weird.
Stinky socks. Stinky.
Socks. Stinky socks.
OK, so we're going to put myelom stinky socks and inchworms and
pepperoni and and your Mac and cheese.
Yucky. Yucky, yucky.
What's the single most delicious part of Mac and cheese?
All of it. It's like a it's like a cheese
flavor explosion in your mouth, Yes.
I love. It and what kinds of noodles do
you use the little macaroni noodles or are these like
spaghetti? I like spaghetti.
Spaghetti Mac and. Cheese because I think it tastes
better whenever it's something weird to make Mac and cheese
with. Oh, so my love has essentially
cheesy spaghetti with pepperoni and bacon.
So. Well, I can't.
I can't wait to try it. Hey Milam, Well today we are
going to talk with Doctor Danny about our brain and body when we
sleep. What do you think about that
topic? I think it's good because I
don't know much about it. What are some of the questions
that you have? What is my brain doing when I'm
asleep? Yeah.
What do you think? What do you think your brain is
doing? Making up the dreams.
Yeah, it's probably like thinking about things.
Anything else that you want to learn about dreaming?
Have you sleepwalk? That's a great question and
we're definitely going to learn about that.
Well, hey, Doctor Danny is from Texas Children's Hospital.
You want to welcome Doctor Danny to the podcast.
Hi Doctor Danny, welcome to orbit.
What do you do for work? Hello.
Hello, Orbiters. My name is Doctor Danny Davila
Williams. I'm one of the pediatric
neurologists that work at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston,
TX. Neurologists are usually doctors
that are in charge of studying how our brain works.
Our brain is a very important organ of our body as it's the
Control Center that controls everything that we do when we
move what we think. So at our hospital we take care
of children and adolescents that may have any issues with the way
their brain works. Hey, Doctor Danny, what were you
like as a kid? So I would describe myself as a
child, as a very curious kid. I was always trying to find
explanations, trying to find a way that things were working.
I remember that whenever my parents will give me any
presents, there would usually be something to do, an experiment
or discover something new, or something that I could use my
hands to work on. Hey Milo, you ready to get
started to learn about sleep? Uh huh.
Oh yeah. OK, I think that means yes.
Let's let's jump into the episode.
Hey parents, do you have a curious little one who wants to
send questions for episodes? It's free to participate, just
visit the link in the show notes Cumbre kids.org/questions and
fill out a form. We'll add you to a WhatsApp
group where we notify you of the upcoming episode topics so that
you can send your kids questions.
OK, let the learning begin. Take it away, orbiters.
Hello, my name is Josh and I'm three years old and I live from
Houston, TX. My question is why did he go to
sleep? Hi, I'm Maya and four years old
and I live in Minneapolis. Is I want to ask why do we
sleep? Hi Orbit, my name is Iglit
Monstajo. I live in Santa Cruz, Bolivia.
I'm nine years old and my question is why do we need to
sleep? Thank you.
Bye. Orbiters, that's a great
question. I mean, it's a question that we
as doctors ask ourselves a lot. So sleep is basically the
special state in which our brain and our body rests.
So after a day when we're very busy working and learning, we
need that rest. So our brain takes charge and
tells the rest of our body that it's time to sleep.
Even when we sleep, our brain continues to work, but in a more
silent way. That sounds very interesting.
I bet we'll learn more about the work that our brain is doing in
a little bit, but for now, we should remember that sleep is a
state in which both our brain and our body rest.
Hello my name is Sylvia I'm 8 years old and I'm the same and
my question is why we feel tired?
That is such an interesting question.
I don't think I've ever asked myself that.
Hey, Doctor Danny, why do we feel tired?
Why aren't we just always super energetic?
So Eria, the reason that we feel tired before we sleep is because
we spend the whole day burning, moving, doing stuff with our
brain. So by the time the night comes,
our brain has an internal clock that goes through the whole day.
And this clock is called the irricadium rhythm.
This clock then sends a signal to the rest of our body to tell
us that it's time to sleep, take a nap or just rest.
It's almost like we're running out of battery by the end of the
day and we just need to recharge.
Hold up a second. There was a big word in there,
actually 2 words. Circadian rhythm.
Can you say that with me on the
count of 3123? Circadian rhythm.
Nice job. Your circadian rhythm is kind of
like a 24 hour clock inside your brain.
Don't worry, it's not a real clock.
But just like a clock, your circadian rhythm keeps track of
your day. It helps your body know when to
wake up, when to feel sleepy, how much energy you have, and
even when to digest your food. One super cool thing is that
sunlight is very important for your circadian rhythm, which is
why most of us wake up when the sun comes up and we start to
feel tired when it goes down. Pretty awesome, right?
Hey Doctor Danny, what happens when our internal clock says
it's time to go to sleep? We breathe slower.
Our heart rate gets slower, our muscles relax, our eyes get
droopy. So all of that in combination
that basically tells our body it's time to get.
Some rest Isn't that cool, Orbiters?
Did you know that when you're getting ready to sleep, all
those things are changing in your body, like your breath,
your heartbeat and your muscles? Hi, my name is Victoria, I'm
four years old. My question is why when people
go to sleeping when I go to sleep they can't have lights on?
Great question, Victoria. I think there are several things
that could help us fall asleep. There are things within our body
and there are things outside of our body.
I would say that within our body, in our brain, there's a
special substance that is called melatonin.
And that substance or hormone basically tells us that we need
to be more calm, we need to be relaxed, and we need to get
ready to get some rest. So a substance in our brain
called melatonin sends a mysterious signal to our body to
say, hey, quiet down there, it's time to get some sleep.
And then outside of our body, there are certain things in our
environment that can make us fall asleep.
Some of those are being in a quiet place, being in a dark
place, having cold temperature, actually having our routine
before we go to sleep and making sure we're not exposed to
screens or very bright lights several hours before going to
sleep. I'm just jotting down some notes
here to help me sleep better, make sure I'm in a quiet place,
turn out the lights, keep the temperature cool, do my nightly
routine of reading a bedtime story to Hank and my stuffed
rabbit, Sir Fluffington the 4th. Hi, my name is Victoria.
I am five years old. I live in Mexico and my question
is what happens to living while we are sleeping?
Thank you. Hello, I'm Carolina from New
Mexico, Albuquerque. I have six years old and I want
to know what happens tomorrow break in our body when we sleep.
Hi my name is Luna, I live in New York and I am six years old
and my question is why are are our bodies stillwell free?
Orbiters, there's an awesome question.
Both our brain and our body need to rest.
So what happens in our brain while we sleep is that it stays
active. It's more like a quiet, active
phase. There's several things that
occur while we're resting. One of them is that our brain
cleans up after working all day. There's some waste products that
accumulate, so we want to make sure that the cells in our brain
clean those up. So it's kind of like your room
after you play with your toys. Toys everywhere.
Then you go to sleep and your brain organizes the toys,
vacuums the floor and takes out the trash.
Also, as we learn throughout the day, we need our brain to
organize those memories and put them in our big backpack.
We secrete hormones and special substances that help us repair
and grow. And finally, we also dream,
which is an important part of sleep.
So the brain is also organizing our memories while we sleep.
And then in our body, we also need to relax, and that may
include other organs like our hearts, our lungs, our muscles
and bones. So when we are in the sleep
state, our heart gets slower, our breathing can get slower,
our muscles relax and became more stable.
And all of this is so they can grow, they can repair, and they
can be ready for the next day. Cool, so the whole body is
recovering and that helps us grow strong and healthy.
I asked Doctor Danny why our body doesn't move while we
sleep. He said that our muscles need to
relax in order to recover and to keep us safe while we dream.
For example, if I'm dreaming about hopping through a field
alongside Surf Luffington the 4th, it's probably a good thing
that my body is still. Otherwise I'd probably hop
straight into a wall or something.
Hey Doctor Danny, I have another question.
I heard that we have different types of sleep during the night.
Is that true? So far we've identified 4
different stages throughout the night.
We go through this sleep stages 4 to 6 times per night.
The four stages are Light sleep, bed level sleep, deep sleep and
what we call REM sleep. That stands for Rapid Eye
Movement Sleep. OK Orbiters, Dr. Danny said
there are 4 stages of sleep. Do you remember what they are?
Here he is again. Pay super close attention.
The four stages are light sleep, bed level sleep, deep sleep, and
what we call ran sleep. That stands for rabid eye
Movement Sleep. Doctor Danny told me that light
sleep is right when we fall asleep and we can still wake up
really easily in mid level sleep, he said we're moving from
light sleep into deeper sleep. Then in deep sleep our muscles
relax a lot and we enter the deepest most restful part of
sleep. And finally, in REM sleep or
rapid eye movement sleep, our brain becomes very active and
this is when we dream. Here's a fun fact, it's called
rapid eye movement sleep because while we're dreaming, our eyes
are zooming back and forth super fast under our eyelids while our
eyes are still closed. Isn't that cool?
Let's learn more about dreams. But first, how about we stretch
a little bit and guess the mystery sound?
We'll play it three times. You can move around and wiggle
when you think about what the sound is.
Think you got it. I'll give you a hint.
It's a type of bird. Do you think it's an eagle, a
macaw, or a goose? Stick around to the end for the
answer. OK.
More questions please. Hello buddy beans I have Robbie
by Columbia. I have digestion.
My question is why do we live with we sleep?
Hello my name is Marceline and and and I live in Houston, TX
and and my question is what is dreams?
Dreams are just so important because it's the way of our
brain to communicate with us while we sleep.
We are in a very deep state of sleep.
Our brain continues to be active and can use dreams to organize
our memories, process our emotions, and even solve
problems. So when we're dreaming, our
brain is actually hard at work storing our memories and
processing the emotions that we felt during the day, like
excitement or anger or sadness. OK, Margaret has a super
important question. Hello, my name is Margaret, I'm
seven years old and I live in North Carolina.
My question is why do we dream and why do some dreams get like
kind of scary and bad? I'm glad you asked, Margaret.
The other day I had a nightmare where a giant carrot was chasing
me and Sir Fluffington the 4th. I was terrified.
Why does that happen, Doctor Danny?
Great question, Margaret. And we really still don't
understand how all of these work and why Some are fun and some
can be scary, but that's basically what nightmares are,
right? Are scary or sad dreams?
What is the way that our dreams kind of deal with all of these
emotions that we could have? And emotions again, could be
sadness, they could be scary, and that's why we could also
have nightmare. Oh, so maybe I had a strong
emotion during the day and the nightmare was my brain trying to
process it. OK, go ahead, orbiters.
Hello. Hey.
I'm Grace Mario. I am 5A.
Question is what happens if if we don't sleep?
Hello, Orbit. My name is Amica.
I am 8 years old. I live in Venezuela.
And my question is what happen if we don't sleep?
Thank you. Goodbye.
Doctor Danny taught us that sleep is super important for
remembering things. Kind of like putting books in
the right place in a library so that we can find them when we
need to. But sleep doesn't stop there.
It also helps our body grow strong and healthy.
So if we don't sleep, unfortunately some of these
important functions are not completed.
So by the next day when you wake up, you may feel tired.
You may feel like you have to pay more attention in order to
concentrate. You may feel like you want to
take a nap all day. And that decreases overall our
happiness. It decreases the way we work and
it decreases the way we learn at school.
Hey, Doctor Danny, you sure know a lot about sleep.
How do scientists study sleep? Scientists have developed
different ways to study their brain while we sleep.
We currently have one tool that is called polysomnogram or an
easy way to put it. It's called sleep study where we
have different sensors that we connect to all body parts
involving sleep. Remember, these are the brain,
our muscles, our heart, and our lungs so we can monitor all of
those things while a kid or an adolescent is asleep.
One of the coolest parts of science is how scientists use
technology. So if you're an orbiter who
likes tinkering or building things, or maybe you like
computers, maybe someday you can design the machines that
scientists use, like the polysomnogram.
You know, Doctor Danny told me a super cool story about a
scientist. But to learn, we have to hop in
our super orbiter time machine. I'm bringing Sir Fluffington the
4th with me this time. OK, 321,
I would love to tell you the story about Doctor Nathaniel
Cleatman. He was a doctor back in the
1930s who is known as the father of Sleep Medicine.
He wanted to understand why people think that our brain
shuts down when we sleep. He actually thought that our
brain was active. If my brain were not active, how
did I dream about unicorns made of gum drops?
Playing the violin last night. So he gathered a bunch of his
own. Students, hey students, everyone
get into this room and lie down. It's nap time.
While they were sleeping, he recorded their brain activity
and discovered that our brain is actually very active while they
were sleeping. Eureka.
Their brain is active even though they're asleep.
I bet they're dreaming about gumdrop unicorns too.
After these, several of the students and other colleagues,
other scientists continue to make great discoveries in Sleep
Medicine to the point that we know what we know today.
That is so cool. I love how Doctor Kleitman's
discovery started with his curiosity.
One more question. Hi Orbit, my name is Leonel, I'm
from Mexico. And that's my question, why some
people who speak when they're sleeping goodbye?
Our friend Milam said he sleepwalks too.
Why do some people sleepwalk and sleep talk?
Doctor Danny. There are several studies and
lots of people want to understand the reason why some
people can sleepwalk. Some of the literature says that
people can walk while they're still asleep.
They can have their eyes open, but their brain is in a sleep
state. So they can walk, they can talk,
they can move around, but we don't have a specific reason as
to why this happens. Doctor Danny also told me that
sleepwalking runs in families, which means if your mom and dad
walk in their sleep, it's more likely that you will too.
Interesting, right? Maybe one of you curious
orbiters can figure out why someday.
Hey, let's go check in with our pal Milo.
Hey Milam, you ready to take a break and move around a little
bit? Yes.
We're going to want a couple things from you to help our
audience move around. Let's start with a part of your
body. Finger.
OK, which finger? I've got 10.
Anyone. Any one of them.
All right, so I'm going to choose my left ring finger.
And what is a shape that listeners should make?
Spiral. That's a fun shape.
And how should they do it? Like a robot.
Like a robot like Start Stop Start Stop start start.
So. And if this is their second or
third time listening to the episode, how should orbiters
change it up? Running or dancing?
What kind of dancing do you want to do?
Any kind? My favorite kind of dancing is
salsa dancing. Do you have a favorite kind of
dancing? No, Sir.
No. Well, maybe we can put on some
salsa music for Orbiters to dance to.
And while we're making spirals and dancing salsa, let's recap
what we have learned. Sleep is a special state where
both the brain and the body rest, clean up, and recharge, so
we're ready for the next day. Our internal clock, called the
circadian rhythm, helps us know when to feel sleepy or to wake
up. We also learned that a quiet,
dark, cool environment makes it easier to fall asleep.
While we sleep, the brain organizes memories, processes
emotions, and creates dreams. And while our brain does this,
our body slows down so it can grow and repair itself.
Finally, we learn that scientists study sleep using
tools like sleep studies. And they've learned that sleep
is essential for learning focus and feeling happy.
Hey, Doctor. Danny, thanks so much for
answering our questions today. Absolutely.
It's been such a pleasure and a joy to share some of my
knowledge about sleep and then about how our brain works.
There's so much to discover, so much to study, so I will
encourage each of one of you to continue learning and maybe one
day you'll be able to discover what is currently unknown and we
can work together. Hey, parents.
Doctor Denny's full name is Doctor Danielle Davila Williams.
He's a pediatric neurologist at Texas Children's Hospital and an
assistant professor of pediatric neurology and developmental
neuroscience at Baylor College of Medicine.
He also serves as the medical director of the Pediatric Stroke
Center and sees patients in the Neurology Epilepsy Center and
Pediatric Stroke Clinic. Doctor Davila Williams is a
great expert for things like pediatric stroke and
neurovascular disorders, neurocritical care, and
pediatric epilepsy care and diagnosis.
If you would like to get in touch, we'll leave his web page
for Texas Children's Hospital in the show notes.
OK Orbiters, before we wrap up, I bet a few of you are curious
about the mystery sound. Do you remember it?
If you said it's a macaw, you were right.
Way to go. Let's go check in with Milo one
last time. Hey Milo, did you enjoy learning
with Doctor Danny? Yes.
OK, let's test your knowledge. I'll give you 3 true and false
statements and you respond OK. OK.
True or false, your brain stays active while you sleep.
True, the brain is leaning up, waste organizing memories and
more. Ding Ding, Ding, Ding, Ding.
Well done Milam. He's one for one.
All right, Second question, True or false?
There are 7 stages in the sleep cycle.
What do you think, Orbiters? Orbiters, what do you think
Mylan is saying? False.
Why is it false Mylan? Therefore, therefore light
sleep, mid level sleep, deep sleep and REM sleep.
Do you remember what REM sleep means?
Just. Sleep really, really, really,
really hard, yeah. It means rapid eye movement
sleep, and that's where we dream.
OK, true or false, scientists already know everything there is
to know about sleep and the brain.
Let's see, False Doctor Danny said.
Scientists are still trying to understand things like dreams
and how the body falls asleep. Meow.
Me, me, me, me, me, me, me. Me, me, me.
Is that Is that the sound you make when you're sleeping?
Me, me, me, me, me, me. Or maybe that's the sound that
your little brother makes when he's asleep.
No, I do. It.
Oh, you do. It is your brother.
Is your brother quiet when he sleeps to let you sleep?
No, it's so annoying to hear him snore.
He's like just. I'm not sure Wells is going to
agree with that. All right, Milo, Well, this has
been a ton of fun. Any last messages for our
audience? I have no.
No. Should they remember to brush
their teeth? Yes.
Don't forget to brush your teeth right?
Yes. OK, all right, we'll catch
everybody later. Bye, bye bye.
This episode is also available in Spanish on our sister
podcast, Cranio Santia Para Ninos Curiosos.
Orbit is a podcast produced by Cumbre Kids.
This episode was written by me, Robert Carpenter.
The producer is Catherine Aguilar.
Artwork for the episode by Moises Monsale and Jorge Wake.
And don't forget to check out our podcasts in Spanish, Cranio,
Siencia para Ninos, Curiosos, Maleon, animales, baraninos,
Curiosos, and buenas noches cranio.
We'll see you in the next episode of Orbit.
The next one is all about rocks. It's going to be so fun.
Ciao the. Important thing is not to stop
questioning Albert Einstein. The end.