Shadowing Practice: Why Can’t You Sleep When Work Seems to Be Going Fine? - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Have you ever been getting everything done at work, but lately you're having trouble staying asleep?
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You go to bed exhausted, but a few hours later, you're awake.
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Your mind starts moving through tomorrow's responsibilities, and you find yourself working out a problem you had every intention of leaving until the morning.
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Then morning comes, you get dressed, you show up, and you do what needs to be done.
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But you may feel tired, but your work is still good.
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So when you think about how you're handling the pressure, you're telling yourself that you're managing.
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Changes in your sleep can be an early indication that the stress is affecting you even while your performance remains steady.
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You may notice the strain at night before it becomes obvious in your work.
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I'm Dr. Tracy Marks, a psychiatrist, and I teach practical neuroscience that helps high performers stay sharp under pressure.
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Today, I'm talking about how work stress can affect your sleep
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and how to recognize the pattern without turning sleep into another thing to worry about.
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When you're accustomed to being capable and dependable, getting the work done can become your main way of deciding whether you're okay.
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And during a demanding stretch, you may find ways to keep doing it.
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You concentrate harder, you give yourself extra time, or you rely on skills you've practiced for years.
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So you can still be doing good work, even when it takes more out of you than usual.
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Changes in your sleep can give you another clue about how you're doing.
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It's a little like a check engine light.
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It doesn't exactly tell you what's going on, but it's a reason to take a closer look.
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And the trouble isn't always waking up in the middle of the night.
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Have you ever felt completely exhausted in the evening and then by the time you get in bed and lie back, you're fully awake?
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It's very frustrating when your sleep doesn't follow the schedule that you set for it.
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Stress can leave you too alert to sleep, even when you're exhausted, But there's something else that helps explain why this happens more easily in some people than others.
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It's called sleep reactivity.
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It means how easily stress disrupts your sleep.
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Some people go through a demanding stretch and their sleep barely changes.
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For other people, it becomes harder to fall asleep
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or they wake up during the night and have trouble getting back to sleep.
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How do you know if this is you?
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Think about what usually happens to your sleep when something important is coming up.
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Maybe you have a meeting tomorrow that you've prepared for.
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You know what you're going to say, and you're not expecting it to go badly.
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But when you get into bed, you're still going over it, and it takes much longer than usual to fall asleep.
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Or you have a difficult conversation in the afternoon.
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You work it out, you finish your day, and you watch a couple of episodes of Silo, and by the time you go to bed, you feel fine.
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You're not even thinking about the conversation anymore.
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But then you lie in bed for an hour, unable to fall asleep.
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You may remember a similar pattern in your past, like having trouble sleeping before exams or waiting for an important decision.
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Your sleep was more disrupted whenever you had a lot going on.
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That kind of history can suggest that your sleep is more reactive to stress.
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One bad night doesn't tell you that.
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We're talking about a tendency that you've noticed across different situations.
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And you can have this tendency even when you usually sleep well.
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You might sleep fine for weeks and go through a demanding period and then suddenly have trouble.
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The sensitivity may not be obvious until something challenges your sleep.
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We're also talking specifically about how your sleep responds to stress.
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It doesn't necessarily mean that you're someone who feels anxious all day or reacts strongly to everything.
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You don't have to feel panicked or describe yourself as overwhelmed for stress to affect your sleep.
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In fact, you may feel focused, responsible, and very busy.
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And then when you look at those demands individually, they can seem reasonable, even as they take up more of your day and more of your attention.
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This is where comparing yourself to a coworker can lead you in the wrong direction.
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Say you're both working on the same deadline.
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You're putting in similar hours and you're both doing good work.
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They mention that they went home and slept through the night.
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Meanwhile, you are awake at three, thinking about the problem with the project.
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It's easy to hear that and think, why can't I handle this as well as they can?
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But you don't know that they're handling the work better.
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One possible difference is that their sleep is less sensitive to stress.
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They may be just as concerned about the deadline without having the same sleep trouble.
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There can be other differences too, but their ability to sleep doesn't tell you how much pressure you should be able to tolerate.
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If your sleep has changed, that's worth paying attention to, even if the person working beside you seems fine.
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Now, sleep reactivity and worrying can overlap.
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They're not the same thing, but repeatedly going over a problem in your mind can make sleep more difficult,
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particularly when your sleep is already sensitive to stress.
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Imagine you wake up and remember something that you need to do tomorrow.
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You start working through it.
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Then you look at the clock and realize how long you've been awake.
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Now you're thinking about the project and wondering how you're going to get through tomorrow with so little sleep.
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And after a few nights like that, you may start worrying about your sleep even before you get in bed.
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And anticipating another bad night can make it harder to settle down.
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So now you've got your baseline work -related thing to worry about on top of worrying about sleep.
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I'll come back to getting help with that in a minute.
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But first, it's worth looking at whether something in your workday has changed.
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Think back to when your sleeping troubles began.
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Were you taking on more responsibility?
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Had you started catching up on work at night because you couldn't get enough uninterrupted time during the day?
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Maybe you checked tomorrow's schedule before bed, then open a document, notice that something needs fixing, and then start making changes.
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And what was supposed to be a quick look becomes another half an hour of work.
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If that's happening, one adjustment to try is moving your review earlier in your evening.
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Before you finish work, make a brief note of what still needs attention and when you'll return to it.
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That gives you a place to pick up tomorrow without doing another round of problem solving just before bed.
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You're trying to give yourself some time to settle after work.
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It isn't a guarantee that you'll sleep well that night, so you don't want to turn this into something that you're checking each night to see whether or not it worked.
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And if working until bedtime is the only way you can get everything done, take a look at why.
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Is there more work than can reasonably fit into your day?
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Are interruptions making it harder to finish things?
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It could be some of both.
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Working in the evening can feel easier because you finally have some uninterrupted time.
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You actually get things finished.
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But if that becomes your regular way of keeping up, it's worth looking at what you need to change during the day,
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especially if you've noticed that your sleep is worse when you work late.
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I don't want you to assume that every sleep change is caused by work stress.
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Medications, alcohol, pain, hormonal changes, and other conditions can affect sleep.
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If the problem continues or affects how you function during the day, talk with a healthcare professional.
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Loud snoring or waking up gasping also deserves an evaluation.
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And if worrying about your sleep has become part of the problem, that's something that you can get help for too.
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For chronic insomnia, Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Insomnia, or CBTI it's called, is a recommended first -line treatment.
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It addresses the habits and the thoughts that keep insomnia going, including worrying about sleep itself.
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You don't have to resolve every problem at work before getting help for your sleep.
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So here's the takeaway message.
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If you've been judging how you've been doing mainly by whether or not you're getting your work done, include what's happening at night.
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You don't want to wait until your work starts slipping to take note of your sleep patterns.
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Thanks for watching today.
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See you next time.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “Why Can’t You Sleep When Work Seems to Be Going Fine?”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: sleep, stress, bed, trouble. This video has 103 sentences and 1477 words to shadow. The speech runs for 7:54. The speaker talks fast, about 187 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 89% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| distress noun | /dɪˈstɹɛs/ | Physical or emotional discomfort, suffering, or alarm, particularly of a more acute nature. |
| awake verb | /əˈweɪk/ | To become conscious after having slept. |
| insomnia noun | /ɪnˈsɒmniə/ | A sleeping disorder that is known for its symptoms of unrest and the inability to sleep. |
| exhaust verb | /ɪɡˈzɔst/ | To draw or let out wholly; to drain completely. |
| reactivity noun | /rɪˈakˈtɪvɪti/ | responsiveness to stimulation |
| uninterrupted adjective | Continuing with no interruption. | |
| disrupt verb | /dɪsˈɹʌpt/ | To throw into confusion or disorder. |
| tendency noun | /ˈtɛn.dən.si/ | A likelihood of behaving in a particular way or going in a particular direction; a tending toward. |
| deadline noun | /ˈdɛdˌlaɪn/ | A time limit in the form of a date on or before which something must be completed. |
| dependable adjective | [dɪˈpɛndəbəɫ] | Able, or easily able to be depended on. |
| frustrate verb | /ˈfɹʌsˌtɹeɪt/ | To disappoint or defeat; to vex by depriving of something expected or desired. |
| hormonal adjective | /hɔɹˈmoʊnəl/ | Pertaining to hormones. |
| interruption noun | /ˌɪntəˈɹʌpʃən/ | The act of interrupting, or the state of being interrupted. |
| neuroscience noun | The scientific study of the nervous system. | |
| overwhelm verb | /ˌoʊ.vɚˈwɛlm/ | To engulf, surge over and submerge. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| wake up verb | /ˌweɪk ˈʌp/ | To stop sleeping; to awake. |
| go through verb | To travel from one end of something to the other. | |
| going over noun | An inspection, examination, review, or investigation. | |
| come up verb | To emerge or become known, especially unexpectedly. | |
| get back to verb | Return to (an activity) | |
| get through verb | /ɡɛt ˈθɹu/ | To overcome; to endure. |
| keep up verb | To maintain; to preserve; to prevent from deteriorating or falling. | |
| lie back verb | To lie down by moving in a posterior direction, ending up supine. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- How do you know if this is you?
- You're not even thinking about the conversation anymore.
- One bad night doesn't tell you that.
- Were you taking on more responsibility?
- Is there more work than can reasonably fit into your day?
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — an action that started earlier and is still going on | Have you ever been getting · you've been judging |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | you've practiced · Have you ever felt · you've prepared |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | be done · is caused |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 55 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, you've, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: interruption /ˌɪntəˈɹʌpʃən/, indication /ɪndɪˈkeɪʃən/, anxious /ˈæŋkʃəs/, medication /mɛdɪˈkeɪʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: reactivity /rɪˈakˈtɪvɪti/, dependable [dɪˈpɛndəbəɫ], interruption /ˌɪntəˈɹʌpʃən/, psychiatrist /ˌsaɪˈkaɪ.ə.tɹɪst/, anticipate /ænˈtɪs.ɪ.peɪt/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like distress, awake, insomnia.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.