Shadowing Practice: Why you’re so tired - Learn English Speaking with YouTube
C1
Year after year, more of us are quietly asking the internet,
392 sentences
If sentences are too short or too long, click Edit to adjust them.
1
Year after year, more of us are quietly asking the internet,
2
Why am I so tired?
3
Searching for answers to something we all feel but don't really understand.
4
Every morning we're waking up feeling a little bit more worn out than we were the day before.
5
Our afternoon slumps are a little slumpier.
6
So much so that companies make fun of us for this.
7
What's going on?
8
It's a 3 p.m slump selling us meat or cheese
9
or coffee or human grade jet fuel to somehow cure our afternoon energy deficit.
10
Now listen, this isn't a video where I'm gonna tell you to just get more sleep
11
or to stop looking at your phone before bed,
12
which all of those things you should do.
13
But I wanna approach this question a little differently.
14
I wanna look at the bigger reasons why we're all so tired.
15
A lot of those reasons have to do with what's happening right now during the day,
16
like right now while I'm filming this.
17
Things are happening in my brain and your brain that will make us more tired later on today and tomorrow.
18
It'll affect how long and how well you sleep,
19
and whether or not you feel refreshed in the morning.
20
In order to understand why you're so tired,
21
I'm gonna take you back in time to 300,000 years ago.
22
Meet Johnny Caveman.
23
Johnny Caveman kind of has a similar body to ours today.
24
He's a human.
25
His body's a little different.
26
His hips and his head are shaped a little differently.
27
He's got this wider, flatter nose.
28
He's got this big strong brow.
29
But up where it counts,
30
his brain is very similar to our brain today.
31
And yet how he uses his brain is very different.
32
Similar brains, totally different worlds.
33
To show this, let me show you Johnny Caveman's morning routine.
34
As Johnny Caveman begins his day,
35
let's keep an eye on this part of his brain.
36
This is the prefrontal cortex.
37
When you make decisions, this part of your brain is doing most of the work.
38
This morning, Johnny Caveman has a few decisions to make.
39
He has to decide where to get his water today.
40
Should he go out and hunt with his group,
41
or should he spend time picking berries?
42
He just found some mushrooms.
43
Are these mushrooms safe?
44
Should he eat them?
45
Johnny Caveman will likely spend a big chunk of his day just sitting here around this campsite,
46
eating and chatting with his band of other humans.
47
He might go out and gather sticks to build a campfire later.
48
I mean, look at his brain.
49
There's some decisions being made here,
50
but it isn't pinging very much.
51
There's not a ton of action up here in the prefrontal cortex.
52
His day is routine with not a ton of choices.
53
Fairly simple decisions.
54
Okay, but let's transport forward in time now.
55
I wonder what would happen if we put this same Johnny Caveman in the 20th century.
56
Same brain, same body, different world.
57
Ah, yawn.
58
The sun is still waking Johnny Caveman up.
59
Now he's got a few decisions to make.
60
He decides to shave before he goes to work.
61
What's for breakfast?
62
Apples again?
63
I think I'll have a peach.
64
Now off to work.
65
The world's gone through the industrial revolution,
66
so he spends his day at a factory where he's repeating tasks over and over.
67
He's definitely making more decisions than Johnny Caveman was,
68
but the prefrontal cortex isn't pinging a ton.
69
It's not a lot of action up here.
70
Okay, how does Johnny Caveman do in 2024?
71
Did I get enough sleep last night?
72
Where's my phone?
73
Is my kids concert today or tomorrow?
74
Ugh, I need new socks.
75
These don't match.
76
What should I eat for lunch later?
77
Should I cancel with my coworker?
78
Did I have a burrito yesterday?
79
I need to remember to send the receipts to the insurance company.
80
I need to file that expense report.
81
When am I going to change this fish tank?
82
How much gas is this?
83
Should I get an oil change this week?
84
Why is the ice cream so slow again?
85
Should I be upgrading to a different insurance company?
86
Should I move to the couch?
87
It's 8.30 in the morning and I've already made a ton of decisions,
88
way more than Johnny Caveman,
89
or the Johnny from the 20th century.
90
These decisions are complex, they are abstract, they are high stakes.
91
My prefrontal cortex is going bananas.
92
One estimate I read said that modern humans make 35,000 decisions every day.
93
We make more than 200 decisions about food alone.
94
Okay, okay, I get it.
95
Modern life is full of a lot of decisions,
96
but like, I'm not running from tigers anymore.
97
Like, I don't have to like scavenge and hunt for my food.
98
Shouldn't I be less tired?
99
I'm using my brain instead of my body.
100
And I'm doing way less physical work.
101
I mean, we've got washing machines and dishwashers and automatic head massagers and at-home spas.
102
And damn it, we even have lazy boys.
103
Shouldn't I feel more rested because of all of this?
104
Okay, and here's where we come to the answer to the question,
105
which is we gotta look at that prefrontal cortex again
106
and see what's actually going on when you make all of these decisions.
107
It's a part of a war that is happening between you and the modern world.
108
This war is being fought on two different battlefields, daytime and nighttime.
109
Day man, ah, fighter of the night man,
110
ah, champion of the sun.
111
So we're in this daytime battlefield and you're making a bunch of decisions.
112
We've talked about that.
113
Let's see what's happening here in the brain.
114
When you're making decisions, there's an electronic signal,
115
like a pulse, that is traveling between regions of the brain along these wires called neurons.
116
You've got like almost 100 billion of these things and they all are forming this giant network,
117
tons of connections, and they all send signals to each other.
118
That is what decisions and actions are.
119
But in order to send these signals between the different parts of the brain,
120
you need a very important chemical called glutamate.
121
Glutamate makes all of this happen.
122
It's a neurotransmitter.
123
It helps everything talk to each other.
124
But look, after you make the decision,
125
the glutamate kind of sticks around.
126
And as you make more and more decisions,
127
glutamate starts to build up and it starts to clog the system,
128
which new research suggests makes decisions harder because the whole system is clogged,
129
which makes you feel fatigued.
130
Make a bunch of decisions,
131
you feel tired, even if you didn't lift a finger.
132
It's like as if your brain were a big city.
133
All of these roads are the neurons and synapses that you use to make decisions.
134
It's all functioning nicely, everyone can flow,
135
But the more decisions you make,
136
the more trash you produce.
137
And the trash starts to pile up.
138
Trash collectors will eventually move this trash out,
139
but if you're producing a ton of trash,
140
it starts to pile up.
141
And it eventually starts to block the streets,
142
making it much harder for the cars to move along.
143
Meaning for your brain activity to do what it's supposed to do for you to make decisions.
144
This is what it looks like when you're really tired.
145
It's 11.30 a.m here at my desk,
146
and I've made so many decisions.
147
I haven't done any strenuous work,
148
but I'm drowning in glutamate and feeling tired.
149
By the way, this is like brand new research from the Paris Brain Institute,
150
and it is still being worked out how this works or exactly what it looks like.
151
You can check my sources to fact check everything I say in this video,
152
but look at this paper specifically.
153
It's pretty interesting.
154
So I'm gonna jot this down on my list of why we're so tired.
155
I'll be making this list and the solutions on what we can do about it.
156
A lot of cultures have a solve for this.
157
It's called biphasic sleep, which is just a cool sounding name for a nap in the afternoon.
158
People usually around like the Mediterranean take naps from the hours of like two to five.
159
They rest, they reset.
160
Research found that people who take siestas have increased brain functioning and are 37% less likely to die of heart disease.
161
But here in the United States,
162
we pledge to not sleep on the job.
163
We will never take naps like those failing socialist countries in the Mediterranean.
164
No. The hustle never stops here in America.
165
Sorry, I recently watched Top Gun.
166
I'm just feeling really patriotic right now.
167
That's right.
168
I am dangerous.
169
So our brains, which are the same as Johnny Caveman's brains,
170
aren't totally set up to make all of these decisions without feeling very tired.
171
I mean, it kind of makes sense.
172
We've got these caveman brains living in 2024.
173
This is called evolutionary mismatch.
174
Our brains haven't caught up with our lifestyle,
175
with our world and all of the decisions that we are required to make to just be normal, modern humans.
176
So what do we do about this?
177
Well, you can take siestas,
178
which is like not something I can do in my life.
179
I'm just not set up for it here, sorry guys.
180
But that would be a way to clear out some glutamate and reset.
181
But the biggest takeaway for me is just limit how many decisions I have to make every day,
182
which is not easy, but there definitely are ways to do it.
183
I've started choosing the outfits that I'm gonna wear for the week on Sunday,
184
so that in the morning when I wake up,
185
I'm just like, oh, the outfit's already chosen.
186
Or you could go full Steve Jobs,
187
Mark Zuckerberg style and just wear one thing,
188
so that you can have a closet that looks like this, which...
189
Meal planning, that's another one.
190
On a Sunday, we've started writing down every meal we're gonna have during the week,
191
and that makes life way easier when you're at the end of a day of work and you are feeling tired.
192
A big theme in today's video is information.
193
How much information our brains are met with these days.
194
And even as a journalist,
195
it's my job and I get stressed out by the amount of information out there.
196
One of the tools we use to sift through all of this is actually the sponsor of today's video.
197
Ground News is a website and an app
198
that takes news stories from all around the world and aggregates them into one place.
199
And then gives you a ton of information about that story and its sources.
200
Instead of an algorithm, you are in control with Ground News.
201
This tool allows you to see what political bias exists in the different articles,
202
how reliable each source is,
203
who owns these different publications,
204
a whole other level of transparency that allows you to feel confident in the news you're reading.
205
One of my favorite parts about Ground News is it helps you keep an eye on your own reading habits.
206
It gives you this dashboard where it shows you some insights,
207
like the top sources that you rely on and how reliable they are.
208
And my favorite of these insights, the Blindspot Feed.
209
When you're navigating so much information,
210
it's hard to remember that sometimes you are in a very different news bubble than everyone else.
211
The Blindspot Feed helps you see this by giving you articles that you wouldn't naturally click on or be exposed to,
212
helping you fill in your perspective, challenge your biases.
213
I value this kind of thing so much as a critical thinker
214
and as someone who is worried about echo chambers and bias in today's news landscape.
215
So if you are tired of letting social media companies and sensational headlines decide what you click,
216
Ground News might be for you.
217
It's a great way to sharpen your critical thinking skills and to stay informed while doing it.
218
If you wanna try this out,
219
you can get a big discount if you click the link in my description.
220
It's ground.news slash Johnny Harris.
221
You can also use this QR code on screen if that's more convenient.
222
This will allow you to get 40% off the Vantage plan,
223
which is all of these tools I've talked about today.
224
So thank you, Ground News, for sponsoring today's video.
225
With that, let's dive back in to why we are so tired.
226
There's one more chemical we have to talk about for this daytime battle,
227
and it's called adenosine.
228
It is this very clever evolutionary feature of our brain that's basically like a signal to our brains
229
that tells us when it's time to rest.
230
As you go throughout your day thinking and doing things,
231
this adenosine builds up, and it kind of signals to your brain that you're tired.
232
It signals that you should feel sleepy and hopefully makes you go to sleep.
233
But being industrious humans focused on progress,
234
we found a substance that will block the buildup of adenosine.
235
It's called caffeine.
236
Making caffeine the most popular drug in the world.
237
It blocks adenosine, this natural signal of you should be tired and sleep,
238
and allows us to keep operating as if the adenosine doesn't exist.
239
But guess what?
240
The caffeine doesn't last forever.
241
It eventually wears out.
242
And all of this adenosine that had built up comes flooding into your brain,
243
like a megaphone saying, hey,
244
you're really tired, and we're finally able to tell you.
245
This is called the afternoon crash.
246
My solution to this is like the greatest thing in the world,
247
and it's called a coffee nap.
248
When you nap, your body gets rid of the adenosine.
249
It's like the adenosine clearing hour.
250
And if you drink caffeine,
251
then you get this like multiplier effect where all the adenosine is gone
252
and the caffeine just comes in and doesn't have to block any adenosine and it's just ready to like hype you up.
253
Drink a quick coffee, lay down for just 15 minutes.
254
It's amazing.
255
Coffee naps, add it to the list.
256
The other option is to drink your coffee a little bit like later than you would.
257
Like don't drink it right as you wake up.
258
Drink it between the hours of 9 and 11 a.m so
259
that it lasts until you're done with work and then you can have your coffee crash.
260
Okay, so that is our daytime battle.
261
Glutamate builds up because we make so many decisions.
262
Adenizine builds up because we don't let it clear out and we block the signals because of caffeine.
263
And our modern world doesn't like us naturally clearing these things out,
264
so we feel really tired.
265
Now let's get to the nighttime battle.
266
Everyone says we should get 700 hours of sleep,
267
but when you go to bed and when I go to bed is probably different.
268
Back in the Johnny Caveman days,
269
groups of humans couldn't leave their camp unattended at night,
270
so we evolved to have different sleep times so
271
that some of us could stay awake and guard the camp and others could sleep,
272
and then we could switch off.
273
Today what that looks like is that I go to bed at 10.30 and I wake up at 6.30.
274
You may be a night owl and you wanna go to bed at one in the morning,
275
or you may wanna go to bed at nine a.m.
276
These are called the chronotypes,
277
and there are roughly four of them,
278
Everyone has a slightly different interpretation of what it means,
279
but the fact is, we're not all the same when it comes to when we go to bed.
280
And yet, we all live in a society that wants us to be the same.
281
Our standard work day, nine to five,
282
was constructed for like the average person,
283
but you may not be that person.
284
You have a job that requires you to be there at 9am,
285
and you're a night owl who wants to sleep until 10.30?
286
Too bad.
287
Capitalism says no. Researchers say that our chronotype is in our genes.
288
Like this is like we are naturally coded to have an optimal time when we are sleeping.
289
And that may not work with your life.
290
Evolutionary mismatch once again.
291
So I'm gonna write chronotypes down on my list.
292
What's the solution here?
293
Find out what your chronotype is.
294
You probably already know what it is.
295
Take this test online.
296
I'll give you a QR code here.
297
You can scan this, take a test.
298
Maybe aligning your lifestyle with your chronotype could help you get sleep during the time when your sleep is most optimal,
299
which will help make you feel less tired.
300
Okay, finally, in a video that you clicked on about why you're so tired,
301
finally we're talking about sleep.
302
Sleep definitely matters.
303
And I think there's actually a lot of great videos and literature,
304
books, whatever, on sleep and how to optimize sleep.
305
Our brains catalog all these memories.
306
All the sensory input and memories from the day get cataloged.
307
Our muscles and our circulatory system,
308
they all get to relax and take a break, which is super vital.
309
And, as we talked about earlier,
310
we clear out a lot of the byproducts from living life,
311
the glutamate, the adenosine, all of the kind of toxins and byproducts that we accumulate from a day.
312
This is all super important that not all sleep is created equal.
313
And what we do in the hours leading up to bed can make a big difference.
314
So let's see what this looks like using an example.
315
As we're following along, let's track my chemical levels.
316
I get home around 8 p.m.
317
I whip up some of my famous macaroni
318
and cheese before sitting down to my desk because I've got a little more work to do.
319
Now, my chronotype is the lion,
320
which means I kinda wanna go to bed like at 10.
321
I'm getting kind of tired.
322
So I pour myself a cup of coffee to fight off all the adenosine that has been building up in my brain.
323
Okay, I finish up my work.
324
It's two hours past when I normally go to bed,
325
but I need some time to wind down.
326
Here I am making more decisions on Netflix.
327
And look, even though it's nighttime outside,
328
this giant TV screen is emitting light.
329
My brain thinks this is the sun.
330
It thinks it's daytime.
331
So it blocks the release of melatonin.
332
Melatonin's a chemical that we need to shift our brain from wakefulness to sleep.
333
Finally, after some Netflix, I feel like I've wound down and I'm gonna go to bed.
334
It's 2 a.m.
335
I turn off the TV and I get a little bit of melatonin,
336
but not nearly enough to feel tired.
337
I've got a ton of adenosine in my brain, but it's not registering.
338
I should be feeling tired,
339
but all of this adenosine is blocked by the caffeine I had earlier.
340
One more look at my phone to set my alarm.
341
Gotta check Instagram really quick.
342
Eventually the caffeine wears off,
343
the adenosine comes flooding in,
344
and I fall right asleep.
345
But it's now 3 a.m.
346
My body goes through the important process of clearing out all these chemicals.
347
It's a slow process.
348
I need time to do this.
349
My body's making great progress, and then...
350
It's been five hours, which is just not enough time for our bodies to take out all the trash.
351
My brain still kinda looks like this.
352
I'm gonna start my day with all of the residual glutamate
353
chemicals swirling around in my brain as I start to make new decisions and accumulate more glutamate,
354
more adenosine that I'm gonna block with caffeine.
355
So I guess I'm gonna add the obvious one to my list.
356
Get enough sleep and wind down without caffeine or alcohol,
357
the things that kind of kill your ability to get good sleep.
358
Now let me just say there's a lot more to say on sleep.
359
It's very well documented.
360
There's a lot of like pop science books about sleep.
361
I didn't wanna go into those now because I feel like they're easily accessible,
362
but you should definitely check out my sources
363
if you want to learn more about preparing for good sleep and having good sleep and why it matters.
364
So, this is my list.
365
Here it is.
366
Why we're so tired and what we can do about it.
367
It's not exhaustive,
368
but it includes the lesser covered aspects of fatigue
369
that I have found very compelling and that have affected how I approach my day-to-day life.
370
In short, it's not just because we look at our phones before bed that we're so tired.
371
There's a lot more going on.
372
And a lot of it has to do with life,
373
modern life, and these brains that we have that were evolved for a very different time.
374
There's a lot of upside to the fact that we don't live in caves next to campfires hunting for our food.
375
But one of the downsides is that we feel this very specific kind of fatigue.
376
It's often mental fatigue.
377
And now I understand why.
378
I'm not going to dramatically change my life because of these findings,
379
but I now at least have a list of a few things
380
that I can tweak to maybe feel a little less tired.
381
like an early idea um
382
and i'm just curious i want to hear from from you all most people have left by now
383
and so it's just a few of you
384
so just like leave a comment if you have heard this
385
and uh let me know i also wanted to make sure
386
that everyone knows about our new channel called search party not
387
so new it's about a year old now
388
but it is started by my old colleague sam ellis it is a focus on geopolitics
389
and global sports it's a fantastic channel very concise beautiful videos
390
that I learn a lot from and you should go check it out.
391
Thanks so much for watching.
392
I'll see you in the next one.
Download App
AI scoring for every sentence you speak
TRENDING
Popular
Context & Background
In the video titled "Why you’re so tired," the speaker delves into a common concern that many individuals face—chronic fatigue. By exploring the historical context of human existence and decision-making, the speaker highlights how our modern lives differ significantly from those of our ancestors. Through the character of "Johnny Caveman," we gain insight into the simpler processes of decision-making from 300,000 years ago, juxtaposing it with the overwhelming choices and stimuli we encounter today. This exploration not only raises awareness about the reasons behind our fatigue but also invites viewers to reflect on their daily routines.
Top 5 Phrases for Daily Communication
Here are five useful phrases derived from the transcript that can enhance your daily communication:
- Why am I so tired? - Use this phrase when discussing fatigue with friends or colleagues.
- I feel worn out. - Perfect for expressing a tired state to someone else.
- What’s going on? - A general inquiry you can use to prompt someone for more information.
- Should I eat these mushrooms? - This phrase illustrates decision-making in a casual context.
- Let’s build a campfire. - A practical invitation that can spark cooperation or discussion.
Step-by-step Shadowing Guide
To effectively utilize the content of this video for improving your English pronunciation and speaking skills, follow these steps:
- Choose Your Segment: Start by selecting a small segment of the video, ideally around 15-30 seconds, focusing on a specific phrase or idea.
- Listen Carefully: Play the chosen segment and listen attentively. Pay attention to intonation, rhythm, and pronunciation.
- Repeat Aloud: Pause the video and repeat what you just heard. Use a shadowing app or a dedicated shadowing site to assist you in practicing in real-time.
- Record Your Voice: Using a recording device, capture your voice as you shadow the speaker. This helps you spot areas needing improvement in pronunciation.
- Compare and Adjust: Listen to your recording alongside the original audio. Identify differences in clarity and tone, and note any adjustments needed to improve English pronunciation.
Regular practice using these steps will enhance your speaking ability and bolster your confidence in everyday conversations. Whether you’re practicing alone or with a group, integrating phrases from engaging content like this will make your learning experience dynamic and effective.
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.
☕ Buy us a coffee
ShadowingEnglish remains 100% free thanks to your support. Server and AI costs are high — your coffee keeps us going! 🙏