Shadowing Practice: Worst Sleep vs. Scientifically Best Sleep - Learn English Speaking with Video

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tonight i'm going to be doing everything science says will destroy my sleep

and after that i'm doing the exact opposite and trying to get a perfect sleep score

so each one of these things

we're adding is just going to get progressively more insane

i'm starting with the simplest one first opening the blinds it might not seem like a lot

but this is estimated to lower your sleep score by like at least five points

and if i'm trying to get to a zero sleep score i need every point gone

that i can get this next one is going to require a little bit more work.

I went out and I bought two of these like little smart home devices.

I'm thinking if we rig it up right, I should be able to make it so I have lights turning on randomly throughout the whole night.

This video is sponsored by iFlytec AI No Air 2, but more about that later.

This is so cooked.

Thinking that if like this would be the perfect angle, I just got to find a way to get this on the wall.

The real reason I wanted to make this video is

because for the past few months i've been completely neglecting my sleep yeah imagine that going off all night bro

that's gonna be so annoying i've been getting sick all the time

and struggling to get things done

and everyone keeps telling me my sleeping schedule is the reason why

so that's why i'm hoping if i actually notice a difference between my worst sleep

and my best sleep then maybe i'll actually start taking my sleep a little more seriously that's

so good bro

and according to this this should remove about 15 points off my sleep score

i think this is definitely worth it Okay, bro.

I'm not ready for this sleep tonight.

Okay.

Next thing's next.

This one's a little bit big.

I cannot believe I have this big of a speaker right now.

Okay.

The next thing that's going to lower the sleep score is random noises.

Bro, this is so dumb.

Like actually, I cannot believe I'm setting this up right now.

Oh my gosh.

I don't have no idea how loud this thing is going to get.

I'd find out that this is one of the things that I think made the biggest difference in my sleep.

What is going on?

Power on.

Line in.

Bluetooth connected.

Oh, it's too loud, dude.

What noise should we play first?

I got an idea.

All right, bro.

Really?

oh my god bro oh can you tell how loud

that is all right this is the video i'm gonna be playing tonight

while trying to sleep 10 hours of silence occasionally broken up by random sound effects all right

i'm kind of hyped for this next one

but kind of not really um it's the most enjoyable one

that's supposed to ruin my sleep i'm about to eat an insanely large meal right before bed

and drink a caffeine soda apparently like really fatty

and sugary foods are super bad for your sleep

if you eat it right before bed and i don't think there's any better candidate than these strawberry rolls

until bed i'm gonna try and maximize my screen time while eating this stuff

and wish me luck

because i know my stomach is about to be hurting after

this i went into this planning to eat the whole thing

but it got to a point where i just couldn't eat anymore oh my gosh

i feel like i might be sick and this was definitely that point

finished pretty much half of it all i can't eat anymore that's enough

it's times like this when i genuinely wonder like what am i doing bro okay i'm being

so honest my stomach really hurts right now i don't think i'd be able to go to sleep even

if it wasn't for all these lights

and stuff um this next thing is gonna make

it even worse normally whenever i sleep i I liked it to be like extremely cold, like as cold as it can get.

And I'm about to completely change it.

Okay, 70, 80.

I do feel bad for my roommates, but maybe they won't notice.

And along with changing the thermostat to 80, I'm also gonna be putting on the warmest clothes I own.

That's an estimated 15 more points off of the sleep score tonight.

I'm actually getting so interested to see what we actually end up with by the way

if you didn't know what i've been wearing on my wrist this whole entire video is actually something

that accurately tracks your sleep throughout the entire night

that means this challenge will be by far my most accurate one yet

this next item is estimated to lower my sleep score about 15 more points

a projector so i started setting it up oh yeah it's turning on

and for some reason this took way longer than it should have

but once i got it up there's only one thing i could project

okay okay this is the setup so

when the lights are off for like the few seconds they're off this is going to be what i see

and it'll probably wake me up with all the flashing colors

oh okay i'm pretty much ready for bed

but i need to do one more thing that's going to make this even worse

If all that other stuff didn't work, this one I feel like by itself could get me to a zero sleep score.

Because I'm pretty sure it's actually been known to drive people crazy.

So basically, I cut a tiny little hole in the very corner of this bucket.

And I'm going to fill it with water.

And it's basically going to be dripping on me right on my head for the entire night.

okay the last thing I want is for all my computers

and projectors and everything to electrocute me because I spilt this on it

so I'm gonna be very careful when setting this up this is so cooked

that's perfect look at that if this falls off

and hits me on the head in the middle of the night

i'm literally gonna have no one else to blame but myself

but with that our estimated sleep score now is now a zero.

So that means it's officially time to get in bed and put this all to the test.

Looking back on this, I was genuinely not prepared for how bad this sleep was going to be

and I had no idea what I was getting into with this challenge.

I think the one thing that can make this sleep even worse is if I found out you weren't subscribed.

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So seriously though, I'm trying to get to a million subscribers as fast as possible

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and I can only do that with you.

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So make sure and subscribe because I cannot believe I've put myself through this sleep.

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With the water dripping on my eyes and subway surfaced on the ceiling, I had finally drifted to sleep.

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And then this was going to be a long night.

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Oh my gosh.

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I'm about to fall asleep too.

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I had a 30 minute break to try and go to sleep before the lights turned on.

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And I actually went to sleep pretty quickly.

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But right before that 30 minutes was up,

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I really need to invest in a YouTube premium account because these ads are just so loud.

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And then I got a taste of the lights.

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As hard as it was, I would actually be able to go back to sleep during these lighted portions,

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but that didn't stop the sounds from waking me up.

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I'm pretty sure every time these sounds went off, I forgot I was filming and just got so scared.

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While I was sleeping, I was subconsciously dodging the water droplets, but that didn't stop the bucket from completely soaking my pillow.

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It's now the middle of the night, and that dinner I ate is definitely catching up to me,

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and I was just feeling so sick from all the noises, lights, and the water dripping on me,

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but I was determined to make through the night.

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This all went on for the rest of the night

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so I'm just going to show you some of the funniest wake -ups.

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Hello?

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What is going on?

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And this one wasn't even planned but I think it scared me the most.

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Every time I would wake up this night, I swore someone was in my room and I forgot I was filming completely.

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But by the end of the night, I was used to this.

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And for the last hour, I managed to actually stay asleep for the entire time.

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that was probably the worst night sleep of my life yeah my head hurts

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so bad right now i'm interested to see what sleep score we got though all right i'm really hoping

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that was a zero

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if that's not a zero i don't know what is here we go bruh

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that was a 64 dude that would dude i don't want to know what a zero is if that was a 64.

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i mean i guess it's i mean it works

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because my baseline sleep wasn't 81 and it obviously does look different

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but i still wasn't convinced that getting a good

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or bad sleep score would actually make a difference in how well i performed throughout the day

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so to test it i created something i like to call the gauntlet

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it's a series of simple tests designed to see exactly how well

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i performed based on the sleep I got it consists of two mental tests a real -life scenario and two physical tests

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It's designed perfectly to have no tiebreaker and a definitive answer

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The first mental test is this memory game.

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It's basically like the old Simon Says where you see how long of a sequence you can memorize.

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Looks like the average is about nine.

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So if I make it past nine, that means I'm better than average.

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These tests may look super simple, but they're actually insanely accurate.

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Oh my gosh, bro.

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I misclicked.

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Okay.

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I got nine.

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I guess I'm average today.

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Next up, we have the chimp test.

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In this test, some numbers pop up on screen and you have to remember their order before they're all covered.

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Then click the squares according to their numbers.

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Apparently chimps are really good at this test, averaging remembering nine digits every time.

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So that's my goal for this one.

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Be smarter than the monkey.

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It's looking like I'm about to be averaged completely today.

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Here we go.

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And I was honestly very surprised with

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my performance on this test bro 17

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we're on number 17 bro this is crazy

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ah that's it 17 okay that is way better than i was expecting to do off no sleep

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So far, we are trailing our baseline in both mental tests, but not by enough to say for sure that we're performing significantly worse.

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Before we can do the physical tests, there's one more thing we need to get through, a full day of classes.

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As much as I wanted to enjoy class, it was honestly just really bad.

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I couldn't stay focused on anything, I kept getting distracted, and honestly,

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all I could think is how badly I wanted to take a nap whenever I got back home.

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So for that, I'm gonna have to give today's class a bad.

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But thankfully, I had my iFly tech and no

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Air 2 with me.

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While I was sitting in class, it could transcribe what my professor was saying in real time.

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It actually supports transcription in 18 different language and translation in 14.

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So instead of trying to frantically write everything down while running on literally zero sleep, I could actually just listen.

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And afterward, it could take all of that and use ChatGPT5 to turn it into a structured summary.

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So I could quickly go back through the important stuff without digging through an entire lecture.

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You can even use AI to ask questions based on your notes, which is really useful if there's something from class you didn't understand,

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or in my case, something you're way too tired to remember.

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It also supports AI agents like Codex and Cloud Code for more automation,

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and its AI assistant can help with things like managing your schedule and calendar.

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It's got an 8 .2 -inch e -ink display, plus front light speaker, and camera built -in.

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If you want to check it out,

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use my code for $50 off and get a free five -year pro membership if you activate before October 31st. Link below.

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With that out of the way, we only have two more tests before it's time for me to attempt getting the best sleep.

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First stop, the track.

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For this first one, I'm going to be seeing how long I can keep up a six -minute mile pace.

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I don't really think I can do that normally, so I'm interested to see how far we actually get, especially while being completely sleep -deprived.

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Okay, let's stretch, and let's run this.

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Three, two, one, go.

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Okay, here we go.

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All right, you see that time right there?

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We basically have to keep that underneath six for the entirety of this run, And as soon as we get to six or past six,

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we have to stop right where we're at.

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That's lap one.

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Let's go.

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We're 5 .55.

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We got to keep this pace up when we're done.

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I definitely wasn't doing good, but honestly, I wasn't doing bad.

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Oh, that's it.

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6 .01.

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We managed 0 .34 miles.

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I have already taken all these tests on a regular sleep.

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So I know how that did compared to what I normally do.

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All I'm going to say is you're going to want to stay

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and see how fast I can run after a good night's rest.

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At least we know we can only get better from here.

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This is the last thing we have to do before this insane day is actually over Basically,

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i'm gonna be standing here and try and shoot 20 free throws i'm gonna count how many I get

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This should test my motor skills and my coordination

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Which i'm pretty sure are suffering right now just from how long i've been awake.

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Anyways, let's start

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okay six out of 20 i think

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that's got to be by far the worst i've ever shot fritos once

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i actually get some good sleep this is going to be way different i promise you

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that with all the scores in it's safe to say we did perform worse than the baseline

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but now it's time to see

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if putting an effort to get a good sleep actually makes a difference glad

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this did not break all right since my average sleep score is about an 80 81

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that's what we're starting off for the baseline because all these hacks

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that we're doing to get a better sleep don't actually move it up

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that much so

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if i cook this all correctly

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it should move me up two points in a sleep score let's hope i don't mess this up

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because i only bought one okay time to flip it bro that is burnt i'm pretty sure that's burnt.

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Oh my gosh, bro.

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Now this meal might look a little random, but every single thing on this plate was specifically chosen to help me get the best sleep possible.

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Hey, and shout out

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Will Tennyson for putting me on this meal.

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For this meal, my biggest goal is to just not spill this cherry juice on my bed.

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Here we go.

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First taste test to the salmon.

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It honestly doesn't taste burnt at all.

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It's way better than I thought it was going to be.

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The rest of these foods are stuff I actually like.

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Can't go wrong with the kiwi.

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Rice, obviously good.

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Let's try this drink.

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Ugh.

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Okay, Cody.

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Please don't spill.

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not bad not bad honestly it's actually not good

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i don't know why i said not bad okay honestly none of this especially the salmon

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i really don't like fish

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so this is definitely trying something new i'm gonna get through this meal though

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because i know in a couple hours i'm gonna be wishing i ate more

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so i'm probably gonna eat pretty much the whole thing definitely burnt on the bottom.

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It tastes like straight char.

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Look at that.

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Regardless of how I felt about the meal, my main goal is to maximize my sleep score.

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So I ate every last part of this, including the juice.

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Oh, now there is one more thing I need to go leave the house to do for this sleeping hack.

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But before we do that, I want to set up my room.

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That way it's perfect for whenever I get back.

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All right.

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First things first, I am going to be changing this to 65.

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The electric bill is going to be a little bit high on this one.

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Next things next, blackout curtains.

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Light tells your brain whenever it's daytime or nighttime.

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So if I completely eliminate any of the possible sun or moon from coming inside, that will definitely raise my sleep score up some.

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Next up, a diffuser with lavender.

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Okay.

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If this doesn't get me a 100 sleep score, I'm returning it tomorrow.

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It's crazy how much of a different vibe this is from yesterday,

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whenever I was filling up that thing of water to drip on my head all night.

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I think that's good.

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All right, next thing we need in it is two drops of lavender.

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No. It's not working.

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Oh, it is working.

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Oh, that looks so good.

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And the last thing we have to make this room as like relaxing as possible let me just show you

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that ain't going nowhere

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i'm feeling really good right now about just the vibes in here uh i'm already getting tired

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which is actually like a really good sign

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and for the rest of the night i'm officially going screenless i need to head out

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because the next scientifically proven way to increase

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this sleep score is at the gym i'm not actually going here to work out though i already did

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that earlier in the day I'm about to go in here

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and use the sauna and the reason why I'm doing

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that is because studies show

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that a drop in body temperature before nighttime actually produces better sleep

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so in order to get

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that drop I'm gonna go sit in 160 degree sauna for 20 minutes also

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while I'm in here I'm gonna go ahead

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and listen to some jazz for sleep

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I'm literally trying to do anything to get

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this sleep be the best as possible it's five minutes in it's really hot in here

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and for the next 20 minutes I was completely alone with my thoughts and it got me thinking about how most days,

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I don't really make much of an effort to take care of my health.

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But making these videos gives me a reason to actually slow down and try and be better about it. That was cooked.

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My core temperature is definitely raised now.

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Let's go home and try and cool it back off.

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With that out of the way, we only have three more things before we're laying down and putting this scientific sleep to the test.

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Before I do anything else, I want to take a shower and get all this sweat off of me.

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I'm actually starting to get like really tired, which is a good sign

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because there's only a few more things i have to do before i can actually get into bed

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but honestly there is one thing that's starting to scare me

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and i think could ruin this whole thing and i think the thing

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that i'm worried the most about is that i've put in like

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so much pressure on making sure i get a good sleep tonight

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that like i think i'm starting to work myself up

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and i'm not sure how good this sleep is actually gonna be

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but i'm gonna try not to think about

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that until we're actually in bed all the stuff

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that we're about to do before i actually go to bed is all about winding down

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and the first thing we're doing to help me wind down is reading.

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Reading is something I think everybody should do but honestly I don't even do it enough myself.

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So my plan is to try and keep this one going even after I'm done filming.

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There we go.

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I don't know if you can tell but I'm actually getting like so tired right now.

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I feel like my eyes are heavy and like I just feel like really ready for bed.

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Anyways this is the last thing I'm doing before I'm getting in bed and tucking myself in.

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I'm about to journal.

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I guess the idea behind journaling before bed is you essentially get all of your thoughts out before

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you're in bed so you're not really stuck there thinking about all this different stuff

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all right i got all my thoughts out

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that's for sure um yeah let's get in bed with everything we've done

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so far i mean it is surely to be like an estimated of a 100

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i'm also going to be playing rain noise

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and wearing an eye mask okay good night y 'all see

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you on the morning we'll see what this sleep score is

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i was definitely right about being nervous for this sleep

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because it took me

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so long to fall asleep it felt like i was just laying there forever

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and i couldn't tell if it was the eye mask

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or the spinning galaxy or the white light i kept on

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so you could see me sleeping but just something was wrong

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i ended up getting up

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and out of bed about three times before

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i came up with a solution

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I realized my biggest issue about trying to fall asleep was the glaring white light that was keeping me up.

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So even with a blackout curtain, it didn't matter because I was blasting myself with blue light.

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I set my monitor to red and I slept amazing the rest of the night.

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Alright, um, good morning.

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Oh, I slept so good last night.

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I did not want to get out of bed let's see what our sleep score was boom okay what bruh

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it was only at 87 oh how was it at 87 i slept

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so good last night i put in all

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that effort into getting the perfect night's sleep

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and i couldn't even break 90 but theoretically all that effort should pay off in today's tests

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All right, first one's first.

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Sequence memory.

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Today's tests were the one that mattered the most, and if I wasn't able to prove to myself that the sleep actually mattered,

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I know myself, and I know I wouldn't start taking it seriously.

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An 8.

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Are you serious?

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That is worse than my worst sleep and my baseline.

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So far, we are not off to a good start

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if i'm trying to prove

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that the sleep actually matters last test the chimp test i don't know

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if there's performance anxiety or what

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but i genuinely did worse on this test too bro

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that was a misclick oh my gosh dude i just failed

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this one again what dude how is like my brain

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so sharp on a bad sleep

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and now i can't even get anywhere close to what i was doing yesterday

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so far it was two to zero

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if i wanted any chance of the best sleep proving itself i would have to go three

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and oh for these next three tests even though we bombed the mental test

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i definitely felt like i was able to focus much better in class today

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and it was honestly just much more enjoyable altogether

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so i'm gonna be ranking it an ite and

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that now puts us two to one with the bad sleep still leading in all the tests

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and even if i did miss anything i still had my ai note air 2 with me

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and you can check

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it out too with the link in the description with class

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over it's time to head outside for the final physical tests all right

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you know the drill i'm gonna run around this track

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and see how long i can keep a six minute mile pace um i'm not getting any more ready

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so let's just go ahead

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and do this all right three two one go okay

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you know the drill everybody let's keep it below six i was honestly feeling

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so good and so confident that i was gonna beat my last two scores.

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Already passed the no sleep.

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Let's keep it up.

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Almost there.

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And then we passed the baseline sleep.

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Oh, here we go.

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I'm so happy about that.

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0 .63.

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And that ties it up.

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Now we have one test left.

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I'm so happy about that.

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After failing to beat my sleepy self at the mental tasks this morning, I needed to win.

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Right now we're tied up though.

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That's two for the worst sleep and two for the scientifically best sleep.

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That means it really all does come down to how good I can shoot these free throws.

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I really want to prove to myself that like getting a good sleep actually matters.

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You know what I'm saying?

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Because if I can prove that to myself, then I think I'll probably take care of my health a lot more.

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At this point, I think I'm definitely like ignoring some like of my health and stuff, just trying to grind on YouTube and school and stuff.

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And I don't know, doing these videos are just like, they're so good.

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Like it actually gives me a reason to try and get better.

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You know what I'm saying?

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I just want to say thank you for that.

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And no matter how this last test goes i'm just happy

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that i just got to spend one day trying to better myself all right let's go do this

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okay this is it there's no more waiting let's get started oh bad start zero out of one oh my gosh dude

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okay one out of four one out of four this isn't bad two out of five no no

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okay Okay.

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Woo!

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oh let's go at the end of this i was at 10 out of 19

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and if i wanted to make my goal

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i needed to make this next come on dude come on i have to make this last shot come on cody

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here we go let's go let's do this come on

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I guess that proves your sleep actually does matter.

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Not going to lie, the low sleep did sweep us in the intellectual part, but we came back strong for the physical part.

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I don't know if that means like maybe i'm sharper whenever you're like on less sleep

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and maybe you're just more powerful and more coordinated

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when you have more sleep i don't know but i'm just

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so happy about all this anyways

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i'm gonna keep up with my sleep score make sure i'm sleeping good i hope you're sleeping good too

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if you like this video make sure you subscribe and i'll see y 'all next time oh

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Come on.

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123 sentences

Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This speaking lesson is built on the video “Worst Sleep vs. Scientifically Best Sleep”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: sleep, test, score. This video has 409 sentences and 4606 words to shadow. The speech runs for 26:14. The speaker talks at a natural 176 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 85% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.

Key vocabulary in this video

15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
gosh	/ɡɑːʃ/	A mild expression of surprise or enthusiasm.
meal noun	/ˈmiːl/	Food that is prepared and eaten, usually at a specific time, and usually in a comparatively large quantity.
baseline noun	/ˈbeɪslaɪn/	A line that is a base for measurement or for construction.
asleep adjective	/əˈsliːp/	In a state of sleep; also, broadly, resting.
drip verb	/ˈdɹɪp/	To fall one drop at a time.
pace noun	/peɪs/	A step taken with the foot.
genuinely adverb	/ˈd͡ʒɛn.ju.ɪn.li/	In a genuine manner; truthfully, truly.
anyways adverb	/ˈɛn.iˌweɪz/	Anyway, anyhow, in any case.
subscribe verb	/səbˈskɹaɪb/	To write (one’s name) at the bottom of a document; to sign (one's name).
spill verb	/spɪl/	To drop something so that it spreads out or makes a mess; to accidentally pour.
sharp adjective	/ʃɑɹp/	Terminating in a point or edge, especially one that can cut or pierce easily; not dull, obtuse, or rounded.
stomach noun	/ˈstʌmək/	An organ in animals that stores food in the process of digestion.
insane adjective	/ɪnˈseɪn/	Exhibiting unsoundness or disorder of mind; not sane; utterly mad.
juice noun	/d͡ʒuːs/	A liquid made from plant, especially fruit.
sequence noun	/ˈsiː.kwəns/	A set of things next to each other in a set order; a series.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
find out verb		To discover, as by asking or investigating.
get back verb		Return to where one came from.
get through verb	/ɡɛt ˈθɹu/	To overcome; to endure.
go ahead verb	/ˌɡoʊ əˈhɛd/	To proceed with; to begin.
back off verb		To move backwards away from something.
break up verb		To break or separate into pieces.
come back verb		To return to a place.
come down to verb		To reach by moving down or reducing.

Sentences worth repeating

Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:

I'm not ready for this sleep tonight.
What noise should we play first?
I'm about to fall asleep too.
All right, you see that time right there?
You know what I'm saying?

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	i've been getting · i've been wearing
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	is estimated · is sponsored · been known
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	i've been · it's actually been known · I've put
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing	notes, which is · tired, which is

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 182 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, gonna, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “th” sounds: underneath /ˌʌndɚˈniθ/, altogether /ɔl.tuˈɡɛð.ɚ/, thermostat /ˈθɝməstæt/
The “sh” and “zh” sounds: gosh /ɡɑːʃ/, sharp /ʃɑɹp/, flash /flæʃ/, essentially /ɪˈsɛnʃəli/, occasionally /əˈkeɪʒənəli/
Long words — get the stress right: genuinely /ˈd͡ʒɛn.ju.ɪn.li/, anxiety /æŋˈzaɪ.əti/, essentially /ɪˈsɛnʃəli/, occasionally /əˈkeɪʒənəli/, intellectual /ˌɪntəˈlɛkt͡ʃʊəl/

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 gosh, meal, baseline.

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.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

Key vocabulary in this video

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Sentences worth repeating

Grammar in this video

Pronunciation to watch

How to practise with this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?