[film reel]
♪ [theme]
♪ ♪
Prof. Tom Solomon: Two ordinary people,
one extraordinary experiment.
Charlotte: Morning, sleepy head.
\h\h\h\hNo, no, I won’t make it.
\h\h\h\hTom: We’ve created the world’s first body rig.
\hFor 24 hours, two volunteers
\h\h\h\h\hwill go about their lives as normal,
\hbut we scientists will be watching them from our lab.
♪ ♪
His heart rate \h\hjumps up.
Tom: They’re rigged with the latest non-invasive,
high-tech medical devices.
\h\hWhat we’re doing here is using the sorts of equipment
\h\hwe use in hospitals but for the first time,
we’re putting it all together \hto look at healthy people.
We scientists want to discover \h\h\h\hhow everything we do --
how we sleep...
Mwah.
\h\hNone of that adds up to a good night’s sleep.
What we eat...
He’s starving.
Tom: The jobs we do...
This is clearly a problem \h\hhe needs to sort out.
Tom: ...impact upon our bodies \h\h\hand our long-term health.
[rings bell] Morning!
♪ ♪
Tom: And when our volunteers, \h\h\h\h\h\hDave and Charlotte,
\h\hfinally meet us to get the results
of the 24-hour experiment...
[laughing]
Yeah, we thought, what is going on there?
[laughing]
\h\h\h\h\h\hWill they change how they treat their bodies?
[beeping]
♪ [gentle]
♪ [light, upbeat]
Tom: So, let’s meet \h\h\hour volunteers.
\h\h\h\h\hDave runs a courier business.
[phone rings]
\h\hGood morning. Clemview Couriers.
\h\hI’ve lost nearly three stone in weight
\h\hand I’m feeling much better for it.
Tom: Even so, like half of us \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hhe’s overweight
\hand struggling to lose any more.
But I’m not feeling as healthy \h\h\h\h\has I’d like to feel.
I’m not sleeping \hgreat at night
\h\h\hand I’d like to get to the truth behind that.
\h\hTom: With a young son and her own hairdressing business,
Charlotte is interested to see \h\h\h\h\hif her busy lifestyle
is affecting her health.
♪ ♪
\h\h\h\hYeah, it’s difficult... [chuckles] to juggle everything.
Tom: She’s typical of the one in seven of us
who take regular painkillers \h\h\h\h\h\h\hfor headaches.
\h\hCharlotte: I think I’m relatively healthy,
but I’ve been getting quite bad headaches.
\h\hIt started with neck pain.
Tom: Dave and Charlotte \h\hare about to find out
if their lifestyles \h\h\hare to blame
for their health grumbles.
♪ ♪
♪ [upbeat]
\hWe’re the scientists running the experiment.
\hIt’ll be our job to find the answers
to Dave and Charlotte’s \h\h\haches and pains.
But it’s also an incredible \hopportunity for us to see
\hlike never before how modern life impacts on the human body.
♪ ♪
I’m Professor Tom Solomon, \h\h\h\h\h\ha neurologist.
Neurologists study the brain
and the brain is at the centre \h\h\h\h\hof everything we do.
Dave and Charlotte will be \h\hfitted with electrodes
to measure their brain waves \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hby picking up
the electrical activity \h\h\h\hon the surface.
What we’re doing here is using \h\h\h\hthe sorts of equipment
\hwe use in hospitals all the time to look at sick people.
\h\h\hBut for the first time, we’re putting it all together
to look at healthy people to \h\hsee what happens to them
in their normal day.
\h\h\h\h\hI’m being joined by physiologist Dr. Jason Gill.
\h\hHe’ll be keeping tabs on the physical side of things.
Jason: I think it’s helpful \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hto understand
what people are doing \h\h\h\h\hin the wild.
♪ ♪
I’ll be analyzing the data \h\hfrom biometric devices
fitted all over \htheir bodies.
♪ ♪
So the beauty of this is \h\h\h\h\hwe’re measuring
absolutely everything \h\h\h\h\hpeople do.
And a lot of the little things that we don’t even think about
are probably important \hin terms of our risk
\h\hof developing a number of diseases later in life.
\h\hTom: Investigating how everything affects
our emotions, Dr. Lia Ali \h\h\h\h\ha psychiatrist.
♪ ♪
\h\hLia: Psychiatry involves looking at a number of things
integrated together.
Physical symptoms, the kind of mental,
\h\h\hthe mind symptoms, and also very importantly
\h\hthe contexts that they’re in.
I’ll use high-tech glasses
which track where \hthe eyes focus.
♪ ♪
Our visual sense \his so important
\h\hand it tells us how they might be processing
all the different demands \h\h\hon their attention.
♪ ♪
Tom: Let’s start the clock.
The 24-hour experiment \h\his just beginning.
♪ [gentle]
[Dave snoring]
♪ ♪
We’re watching \hfrom our lab,
\h\hready to respond nds as the day unfolds.
[Dave snoring]
A heat-imaging camera
shows Dave and his wife Claire asleep.
\hDave’s brainwaves are being recorded.
[beeping]
[alarm rings]
Jason: The 5:45 alarm’s \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hgone off.
Interestingly if we look at his EEG,
which is the brainwave recorder,
we find that he’s going from light sleep to awake.
That’s a change :45 alarm’s over a few seconds.
♪ [upbeat guitar]
What’s going on \hin your brain
\h\h\h\h\hat the moment when the alarm goes off
can make a big difference \h\h\h\h\hto how you feel
when you get up.
Throughout the night \hyour sleep cycles:
\h\hlight sleep and deep sleep.
[snoring]
That Dave was woken up \h\h\h\hin light sleep
which means he’s going to have \h\h\ha great start to the day.
In contrast, if the alarm had \hwoken him up from deep sleep,
he’d be groggy for quite \h\h\ha while afterwards.
\h\h\h\hLia: As it is, Dave’s raring to go...
sort of.
Dave has a microchip constantly \h\h\h\h\hmonitoring his heart.
Ticking, I hope.
Lia: Our hearts have to work \h\h\h\h\h\hparticularly hard
in the morning to get us \h\h\h\h\hup and moving,
which is why it’s the most \h\hcommon time of the day
\h\h\h\hto have a heart attack.
We can see from the heart rate
\hhe responded quite quickly to that alarm and got straight up.
The stress hormone cortisol \h\h\h\hpeaks at this time
to get the body going,
\h\h\h\h\h\hbut this can also place pressure on the heart.
With the cortisol changes,
you’re kind of getting the blood flowing to your muscles,
\h\hyou’re starting to move and get up.
[clapping rhythmically]
Dave is at an increased risk \h\h\h\h\hof a heart attack,
because in common with \ha quarter of adults,
he has high blood pressure;
something else which \h\his being measured
\has part of his 24-hour body rig.
Tom: Fantastic.
When the heart pumps blood \h\h\h\h\haround the body,
it exerts a pressure \hon the inside wall
of the blood vessels.
And when this pressure \h\h\h\h\his too high,
it can cause damage to the blood vessels
\h\h\h\hand also makes the heart work harder.
Lia: But Dave has recently \h\h\h\hstarted to exercise
as part of his ongoing mission \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hto lose weight.
Dave: We’re trying a bit of trotting,
as I would describe it \h\h\h\hat the moment,
trotting and walking.
If you do some exercise before you eat any food,
what happens is your body burns much, much more fat
\h\h\h\h\hover the exercise and also over the rest of the day.
\hHe’s doing exactly the right thing here.
♪ ♪
Lia: I’ve pulled up \h\h\hthe heart rate.
\hJason: What happens is his heart rate goes
\hfrom 80 beats per minute up to about 130 beats per minute
within a couple \h\hof minutes.
\h\h\h\hAnd it stays up for the next 30 minutes or so.
Dave’s heart beats faster
to pump more oxygen \h\hto his muscles.
\h\h\hThis enables them to burn more calories.
\hOkay, so Dave’s run for about 25 minutes.
And at the speed he’s run at \h\h\hfor someone his size,
he would have burnt... \habout 250 calories.
\hBut it looks like Dave’s run
has had another positive effect \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hon his health.
What’s this drop, Jason? He’s right down to 164.
Okay, so that makes \h\h\hperfect sense.
When you exercise, you get \ha drop in blood pressure.
And that’s because your blood \h\h\hvessels are all dilated
and it’s much easier \h\h\hfor the heart
to pump the blood \h\h\hagainst it,
so you get a reduction \h\hin blood pressure,
so that’s one of the real, big benefits of exercise.
♪ ♪
Tom: We’re now going to shift \h\hour attention to Charlotte
as she starts her day.
♪ ♪
[alarm rings]
A full hour and a half \h\h\hlater than Dave,
\hshe’s in light sleep but she hits "snooze."
On average we Brits snooze \h\h\h\h\h\hfor 25 minutes
after the alarm first goes off.
She decided to go back, nod off to sleep again.
Charlotte’s brainwaves reveal
she’s now gone into dream \h\h\h\h\h\hor REM sleep.
\h\h\h\h\h\hREM sleep, or rapid eye movement sleep,
is when, even though you’re fast asleep,
\h\h\h\h\hyour eyes are moving rapidly.
♪ ♪
The brain is so active \h\h\hduring REM sleep
\h\h\h\h\hthat the brainwaves look similar to awake waves.
\h\h\h\h\h\hAnd interestingly, if you look at how much energy
the brain is burning when you’re relaxing
\h\h\hand not thinking of anything very much,
\h\h\h\h\hyour brain uses about 60 calories an hour.
\hIn REM sleep, it’s just like when you’re thinking
and really concentrating \h\h\h\hduring the day,
\h\h\hit uses about 90 calories an hour.
We are, on average, two pounds \h\h\h\hlighter in the morning
\h\hbecause of everything our bodies do when we’re asleep.
\h\h\h\h\h\h\hJust to keep our internal organs going,
our body needs energy \h\h\h\hand will burn,
on average, 500 to 600 \h\hcalories overnight
just lying in bed \h\hdoing nothing.
\h\hTom: At 7:30, Charlotte is woken
\h\h\h\h\hby the noise of her partner leaving.
\h\hAs she was dreaming and not in light sleep
since hitting snooze, she finds \h\hwaking up harder than Dave.
[Charlotte sighs]
She probably won’t feel great.
\h\h\hYou’re not saying that she shouldn’t have a lie-in?
It wasn’t much of a fun lie-in \haccording to the EEG trace.
♪ ♪
[Harry barking]
Charlotte: Harry!
Stop it now. Stop.
Lia: The body rig includes \h\h\heye tracking glasses
\h\h\h\h\h\hto help us see Charlotte’s point of view.
Charlotte: [chuckles] \h\h\hOh, sleepy head.
\h\hLia: First in her sites, her sleepy 8-year-old Alfie.
So, this is really interesting here.
Charlotte’s coming \hto see her son.
\h\h\hAnd you can see focusing on his eyes
and down to his mouth \h\h\hand back again.
You can already see how much affection she’s got for him.
\h\h\hShe’s using something called
the facial recognition \h\h\h\h\h\h\htriangle.
\h\h\hAnd this is a really important part of the way
\h\hwe develop our ability to recognize emotions in others.
\h\h\hIt’s a really important, special function of the brain.
[loud yawn]
[laughing]
So, studies with dogs \h\h\h\h\h\hhave found
\h\h\hthat they can do a bit of that as well.
\h\hAnd that’s probably what makes them really good pets.
\h\h\h\hBecause it’s probably the way they seem to be able
\h\h\h\h\h\hto understand our emotions a bit more.
I don’t think anyone’s managed \h\hto do that with cats yet,
so we don’t know \h\h\habout them.
[Charlotte laughs]
Alfie: Can I have the iPad?
Yes, you can have \h\h\h\hthe iPad.
She must love him; she’s gonna \h\h\h\hlet him have the iPad.
\h\hFirst thing in the morning.
♪ ♪
Jason: It’s 8:07.
Dave’s been up for two hours.
Charlotte’s just got up, \h\h\h\hbut it looks like
they’re both having \htheir breakfast.
♪ ♪
We’re keeping a close track \h\hof everything they eat.
♪ ♪
\h\hThis is really, really interesting
because she’s having pretty much the same breakfast as Dave.
Dave’s a big guy.
That’s a really small breakfast for a big guy.
\h\hThat’s probably about 300 calories.
\hEspecially someone who’s been on a run.
Jason: So is he consciously \h\h\h\h\htrying to eat less
because he’s trying \h\hto lose weight,
\h\h\h\hor is that how hungry he is?
So, let’s hope this doesn’t \h\h\hcome back to bite him
later in the day.
♪ ♪
Charlotte: Get in!
Oh, my god.
♪ ♪
Lia: It’s 9:30, and we can see \h\h\h\h\hhairdresser Charlotte
is running late.
\h\hShe should be at work by 10:00.
♪ ♪
Charlotte: Onto the curb.
\h\h\h\h\hLia: But first, she’s dropping her son off.
♪ ♪
\h\hCharlotte: Right, now we’re going to ride
all the way down \h\h\hthis road.
\h\h\h\hSo the eye tracking is really interesting here.
\hSo, she’s doing a lot of things.
She’s riding the bike herself.
She’s also giving instructions \h\h\h\h\hto her son as well.
Her eye gaze is on her son, \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hon the bike,
\h\hup to the bus, back to the bike.
Hang on.
She’s assessing all the risks for herself and for her son.
Charlotte: Okay, cross.
♪ ♪
Tom: Rigged to Charlotte’s head are electrodes
\hgiving a readout of her brainwaves.
I can see a frequency \h\h\h\hwe call beta
\h\h\hwhich happens when the brain is very alert.
Charlotte: This way.
If you look at the EEG \h\h\hyou can see here
\h\h\hthere’s lots of beta activity,
so she’s really concentrating \h\h\h\h\hon having to absorb
everything that’s going on and \hmake really quick decisions.
Watch this donut.
\h\h\h\h\h\hHere’s my brain which I always take with me
whenever I go to parties.
♪ ♪
Visual information \h\h\hfrom her eyes
\h\h\h\his processed at the back of the brain.
The skills she needs \hto control the bike
come from the motor strip \h\hof her frontal lobe.
The right side processes \h\h\hspatial awareness.
And the left side deals with \h\h\h\hspeech and language.
And all that’s going on, \ha 100 billion neurons
\h\h\h\hall interacting, and she’s totally unaware of it.
\hCharlotte: Buddy! Give me a kiss, babe.
Love you.
Bye, darling.
\h\h\h\hLia: Charlotte is a self-employed hairdresser
at a salon nearby.
\h\h\h\h\hShe’s had to forego immaculate hair herself today
because of the electrodes \hattached to her scalp.
Morning.
♪ ♪
Lia: She’s also rigged \h\h\hwith microchips.
They measure her heart rate, \h\h\h\h\h\h\hher breathing,
her activity levels, \hher glucose levels
and her posture.
♪ ♪
Morning!
Lia: She walks through \h\hthe door at 10:06,
late for her first client.
Charlotte: Don’t ask.
[laughs]
She’s focusing on the faces \h\h\h\h\h\h\hagain quickly.
\h\h\h\h\h\hCharlotte: Did you get my message? \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hNo.
\h\hI just said that I was running late.
We saw her, didn’t we, looking at her watch,
worrying about the time.
So she must have been \h\hthinking about that
as she was coming \hinto the shop.
She’s already got to manage people
\h\h\h\hbecause she knows she’s a little bit late.
[sighs]
I could so do with a holiday \h\h\h\h\h\h\hat the minute.
Lia: There’s an issue \h\hwith modern stress.
\h\h\h\hAs we were evolving and we evolved our stress response,
it was usually in response \h\h\hto physical threats.
Modern stress tends to be more \hof a psychological variety.
♪ ♪
[growling]
\hGetting stressed is all about preparing for fight or flight.
The brain prepares the body for action
by sending a message to the adrenal glands
which sit on top \hof the kidneys
\h\h\h\h\h\hto produce the hormone adrenaline.
This pumps around the body \h\hincreasing heart rate,
sweat and mental alertness.
The trouble is, if we humans don’t use our stress hormones
\h\h\h\h\hto fight or flight, it can make us feel irritable
\hand suffer head or stomach aches.
♪ ♪
Tom: From the body rig lab,
\h\hwe scientists are also following Dave.
♪ ♪
\h\h\h\h\hDave runs a courier business
from an office in the garden.
He’s one of four million Brits \h\h\h\h\h\hwho work from home.
♪ ♪
Got a chap on his way \h\h\hto North Wales.
There’s no problem \h\hwith that one.
\h\h\hTom: Like Charlotte, he’s rigged with microchips
\hrecording his heart, breathing, blood sugar,
activity and posture.
♪ ♪
Hello, love. All right?
I’ll wash up in a bit.
♪ ♪
Tom: They’re both also providing urine samples
throughout the day.
Don’t drop it, Dave.
Tom: The heart rate monitor suggests he’s calm and well.
♪ ♪
[phone rings]
\h\hGood morning. Clemview Couriers.
\h\h\h\h\h\h\hJason: te monitor His heart rate spiked.
I’ll have a look at that on here.
\hBut a phone call changes everything.
They can’t find \hthe delivery.
\h\hJason: Yeah, so exactly when the phone call happens,
he’s dealing with this.
\hAnd he’s dealing with it quite calmly on the outside
but his heart rate \h\h\h\hjumps up.
Maybe 25 beats \h\hper minute.
\hAnd it can’t be physical activity
because we can see he’s sitting down.
\h\hApparently, the guys on site
\h\hare struggling to find the goods.
Did you see that?
The eye gaze.
If you notice he hesitates \h\h\h\h\h\hvery slightly
as he’s pulling \hthat pad out
and I think that’s because \h\h\h\hhe’s attending to
\h\h\h\hwhat the person is saying on the phone.
He looks a little bit \h\h\h\hstrained here.
Oh, crikey.
All right.
\hLia: Look how serious he’s got
compared to how he was \h\ha few minutes ago.
This is clearly a problem he’s needing to sort now.
Something’s gone missing
\h\hor they’re not able to deliver or something.
Dave: All right, see you later.
\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hBye. Bye-bye, bye-bye.
Lia: Even so, he still manages \hto kiss his daughter goodbye.
He’s not abrupt with her.
And you’d think if he wasn’t \hcoping so well with stress,
he might sacrifice that \h\h\h\h\h\ha little bit
but he manages not to.
[shredder buzzes]
Filed.
Tom: It’s not a relaxing day \h\h\h\h\h\h\hanymore, is it?
\h\h\h\h\h\h\hLook at him; he’s very stressed there.
He looks really anxious.
\h\h\hLia: And you can see his eye gaze is flicking around now
much more quickly \h\h\hthan it was.
We probably don’t realize that we’re all doing this
as soon as we come in to contact with a stressful situation.
\h\hBut what we’re doing is we’re trying to become aware
of dangers that might be \h\habout to threaten us.
So that is why we see Dave’s point of focus
fluttering all over \h\h\h\hthe place.
[telephone rings]
Hang on, I’ve written \h\h\hthat number down
three times wrongly.
Lia: Did you see that?
He is finding this \hquite stressful.
It’s the flight or fight \h\hresponse, isn’t it?
\hHe’s suddenly being attacked. There’s a problem on the phone.
He doesn’t actually physically \h\h\h\hneed to get up and run,
but the physiological response \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\his the same.
\h\h\hHeart rate goes up, pupils dilate, blood pressure goes up,
\harteries constrict and he’s ready for anything.
So I’ve got to go \h\h\h20-odd miles
\h\hand I’m gonna sort this one out.
♪ ♪
\h\hOh, Thad, you know what?
I’m ever so thirsty.
Jason: At 11:13, this is \hCharlotte’s first drink
\hsince breakfast three hours ago,
\h\hso she could be getting dehydrated.
We only see her drink \ha few sips of tea.
♪ ♪
Back to Dave.
\h\h\h\h\h\hAt 11:21, he’s clearly stressed
\h\hand heading out to find the missing package himself
\hwhile fielding calls from an unhappy client.
[beep]
I didn’t actually do--
I didn’t actually do the drop.
\hThe driver tells me it was halfway down the factories.
[beep]
Tom: He’s got this guy \h\h\h\h\hon the phone
screaming and shouting \hand swearing at him.
\hHe’s obviously got an address.
\hSo, we’re at 11:28, 11:30.
And he’s gone to that address \h\h\h\h\hand he’s dropped it,
as most couriers would have done.
This may be a tiny little blip \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hin heart rate,
but not very much \h\h\h\hgoing on.
\h\h\hHe’s dealing with the situation
really, really calmly \h\h\h\hon the phone.
\h\h\h\hThe surprising thing is when we look at his EEG,
his brain activity, what you see is he’s not quite as stressed
as you might expect.
\h\h\h\hJust coming out of Stowbridge now, mate,
I’m on my way over there.
[beep]
When any of these things \h\hhappen to any of us
\h\hin any of our work, the worst element of it
is something bad’s happened and you can’t do anything about it
\h\hor you don’t know what to do about it.
\h\h\hOnce you actually start dealing with it,
then you are a bit calmer, \h\h\h\h\h\h\haren’t you?
\h\h\h\hCertainly, I am with my work.
Bye, bye, bye.
Bit of industrial language, \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hthen.
♪ ♪
Tom: He shouldn’t \hreally be tired.
He went for his run to wake himself up,
he’s had some breakfast.
Jason: He’s been awake \h\h\hnearly six hours.
He’s had about 300 calories \h\h\h\h\h\h\hworth of food.
I think he’s struggling.
His eyes look tired.
\hI’d be interested to see what his glucose is doing right now.
\hLet’s see what else \h\h\h\h\his going on. Shall we have a look?
Jason: Dave’s been rigged \h\h\hwith a glucose sensor
\h\h\hmeasuring his blood sugar levels.
Will this give us an insight \h\h\hinto why he’s flagging?
So yes, his glucose \h\h\his pretty low.
Yeah it is, isn’t it?
It’s come down quite quickly \h\h\h\h\h\hsince breakfast.
He needs something to eat.
\h\h\h\hTom: But Dave isn’t stopping to eat.
He’s off to the factory to look \h\h\hfor the missing package.
♪ ♪
Meanwhile at the salon,
\hCharlotte is grabbing lunch.
What flavour rice is this? \h\h\h\hIt’s really nice.
She’s still busy; \hshe’s on the go.
She’s having to grab a couple \h\h\h\hof mouthfuls of rice.
So that’s a problem \ha lot of us have.
\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hTom: rab a couple One in three Brits admits
\h\hto wolfing down their food at work
with only half the population \hsitting at a proper table.
Jason: Another quick couple \h\h\h\hof mouthfuls of food.
So she’s really having \h\h\hto eat on the go.
♪ ♪
I count just six mouthfuls; approximately 150 calories.
♪ ♪
\h\hShe’s spending a lot of her day on her feet.
A lot of the people are sitting down at a desk during the day.
\hThere is some evidence that spending large periods of time
sitting down over the day is actually a risk factor
for a number of diseases \h\h\hlike heart disease
\h\hand diabetes independent of how much exercise you do.
\h\h\hSo her standing up throughout the whole day
\his probably a good thing.
My mum’s a hairdresser \h\h\h\h\h\hactually.
I’m interested to see what her position’s like here,
because my mum has quite a lot of back problems.
\h\h\h\h\hCharlotte has a microchip on her leg
recording activity levels and another on her spine,
which at the end \hof the 24 hours
will analyze her posture.
Thank you, darlin’.
♪ ♪
Jason: While Dave’s \hinside the factory
trying to sort things out,
we’re still getting a reading \h\h\h\hof his medical data.
His heart rate is high.
It’s sort of sitting up getting close to 100 beats per minute.
And then suddenly problem’s sorted,
heart rate drops right back down to 80-odd beats per minute.
\h\hAll the time the goods were with their colleagues
in another part of the factory \h\h\h\h\hin the right place.
\hSo, nothing to do with us.
\h\h\hNot our fault and sort of a massive sigh of relief
that it was nothing \h\hwe’d done wrong
\hand certainly nothing that my customer had done wrong neither.
\h\h\h\hLia: It’s 2:16 and Dave’s eye tracking glasses
\h\h\h\h\hwill show what’s on his mind.
You look at him \hin the queue.
\hYou catch sight of him looking --
Looking at the cakes!
He wants something to eat. \h\h\h\h\h\h\hHe’s hungry.
Can I have a small latte to take away, please.
And he’s got himself \h\h\h\h\ha coffee.
Caffeine in the coffee \h\hthat he’s drinking
\h\hwill interact with receptors in the brain
\hand that will have the effect of making him feel more alert.
But what he really needs \hat this point is food.
He hasn’t had anything \h\h\hsince breakfast,
so his body needs \hthose calories
\h\h\h\h\hto keep his blood sugar levels up.
God, that tastes good.
♪ ♪
\hLia: At 2:22 eds in the afternoon,
\h\h\h\h\hCharlotte makes her first trip to the loo
since waking up.
She’s got a pot of urine, \h\h\h\h\h\ha pot of pee.
This is only the second pee \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hof the day
\h\hand Dave’s had four at this point, I think.
\hOne thing I noticed is it was very, very dark,
which might suggest \hshe’s dehydrated.
Tom: The average human body \his about 70 percent water.
About ten cups of water a day \h\h\hare lost by breathing,
\hsweating, urinating, and eliminating waste.
Lia: Even a small amount \h\h\h\h\hof dehydration
causes the chemical processes \h\hin the body to slow down,
resulting in tiredness \h\h\h\hand headaches.
Severe dehydration \hcauses delirium,
\h\h\h\h\hshowing how vital water is for brain health.
♪ ♪
I’ve had a splitting headache \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hall day.
\h\h\h\hIf you can grab me the tablets out of my bag.
She’s asked for some tablets. \h\h\h\hShe’s got a headache.
Perhaps not that surprising
given that it sounds like \hshe’s a bit dehydrated.
She’s not had enough fluid.
♪ ♪
Oh, thank you. Sorry.
Cheers, Dan.
Tom: I’ve made a note \hto talk to Charlotte
about the painkillers when we finally meet.
♪ ♪
Taking occasional painkillers \h\hfor the odd headache work,
\h\hbut if you take too many painkillers
\h\hevery day or every few days,
then you get into this vicious cycle
where the painkillers \h\h\h\h\hare actually
\h\hcontributing to the headache.
We think what’s happening is,
you have receptors \h\h\hin your brain
\hthat are the ones for stopping pain.
\h\hAnd if you take so many painkillers,
it’s almost like they switch off.
They say, well, the painkillers are doing the job here.
We’ll stop working.
♪ ♪
Lia: It’s 2:52 and we know \h\hDave is hungry, tired,
and the traffic \his building.
A call from his wife \h\h\h\h\hreminds him
that he’s supposed to be taking \h\h\htheir daughter somewhere.
What time is she supposed \h\h\h\h\h\h\hto be there?
Claire: Half 3:00.
\h\hWhat time is it now? No, no, I won’t make it.
I’ve had a right nightmare. \h\hYou don’t want to know.
I’ll explain later.
♪ ♪
It’s 3:15 and Dave, who’s only \h\heaten two Weetabix all day,
is back home.
So he’s having some food now.
Jason: So, it looks like he’s \hhaving some instant noodles.
I think one of the things is \h\h\h\h\h\h\hhe’s starving.
It’s very high \h\hin sodium.
It’s not gonna be \h\hvery filling.
\h\h\hAnd he’s added salt. Lia: He’s just added salt.
He’s added salt to it.
It’s really, really salty.
Ow, that’s hot.
\h\h\h\h\hTom: high We all need salt
\h\hbecause it’s essential for our bodily functions.
And if we get low \h\hin salt levels
we get a craving and then \h\hwhen we get the salt,
we get the reward within the brain.
\h\h\h\hAnd interestingly, studies in mice have shown
it’s exactly the same \h\hpathways for salt
\h\has it is for other addictions
such as nicotine and other drugs.
Jason: Dave has become \h\hso addicted to salt
that he needs to eat lots \h\h\hto taste anything.
Cardboard food.
\h\h\hJason: The problem is Dave is the very last person
\h\h\h\h\hwho should be consuming lots of salt.
It has an effect of raising \h\h\h\hyour blood pressure,
so adding salt for somebody \h\hwith high blood pressure
\h\h\his probably not the best thing to do.
♪ ♪
Tom: It’s 4:18.
You are all done.
Tom: And so is Charlotte. It’s her last appointment.
Cheers, babe.
Sara, I’m sorry for not eating \h\h\h\hthe lunch you gave me.
Why didn’t ya?
\h\h\h\hI didn’t have time. I had about four spoonfuls.
♪ ♪
Jason: Actually, it was six, \h\h\h\h\h\hbut that was all.
\h\h\h\hPlus one cup of tea drunk cold over many hours.
A small latte and a few sips of water to take painkillers.
♪ ♪
See you later!
Jason: Will this change \h\h\hwhen she gets home?
♪ ♪
\h\h\h\hJob done, heading off home.
♪ ♪
Jason: She’s getting in \h\h\h\h\h\hsome activity
\h\hbut it’s also helping her to relax at the end of the day.
[Charlotte singing]
\h\h\h\h\h\h\hLia: elping her Is she singing here?
[Charlotte singing]
I can hear her singing.
Oh, look at that, \h\hshe stopped.
I think that’s when \h\hthe eye tracking
\h\hcatches sight of the group of girls.
And she stopped.
She must feel a little bit \hself-conscious about it.
And singing interestingly
\h\hcomes from the right side of the brain, rather than the left;
whereas, normal, spoken speech \h\h\h\h\hcomes from the left.
\hShe’s happily singing along and then she sees these girls.
\h\h\h\hAnd suddenly something stops her,
and that’s the frontal lobes \h\h\h\h\hwhich are the bit
that stop you doing embarrassing things.
[singing]
Tom: We think singing is good \h\h\hfor us for many reasons.
It releases endorphins \h\h\h\hin the brains,
\h\h\h\h\hwhich are the happy chemical.
You’re breathing more.
\h\h\hYou’re using up a few more calories,
\h\h\h\h\hbut you’re also concentrating.
And it’s good to concentrate \h\h\h\h\h\h\hon something;
that actually helps \h\h\hrelieve stress
\h\hbecause you’re not thinking about
\h\h\h\hall the things you’re worrying about.
♪ ♪
Hey, baby!
Hello.
Lia: She’s really affectionate \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hwith that dog.
♪ ♪
What do we have here?
So she’s grabbing \h\ha scotch egg.
So she’s hungry.
She’s not eaten very much \h\h\h\h\hduring the day.
So she’s come in and grabs the first thing that was available
because she was hungry.
\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hTom: and grabs the She’s similar to Dave.
\hJason: Charlotte and Dave’s snacking
\his typical of us Brits.
In fact, most of us \hsnack twice a day
\h\hwith 40 percent consuming more calories through snacks
than with regular meals.
♪ ♪
Come here.
♪ ♪
Is that good?
Ohh, amazing.
Some people would say having \h\h\h\h\hthis close contact
\h\h\h\h\h\hwith the pets helps with the heart rate,
\h\h\h\h\hhelps with the blood pressure.
\h\hAnd there is a little bit of evidence for that, isn’t there?
Certainly the therapeutic \h\h\h\h\heffect of touch
seems to be what’s \hreally important
\h\hin terms of how we respond to pets.
Arrr, arrr, arrr.
♪ ♪
Tom: Dave’s also ending \h\h\h\h\hhis working day
in the company of his dog \h\h\h\h\hand his family.
Jason: It’s about 6:00 now; \h\h\hhe’s going for a walk.
This is a really \h\hgreat thing.
It’s the end of the day,
\h\h\hhe’s doing a bit of physical activity.
\hBit of peace, bit of exercise.
Walk the dog.
\h\h\h\h\h\h\hAnd he’s tired. It’s really easy at this point
to think, "oh, sod it, I’m gonna sit down and watch telly."
but he’s actually \h\h\h\hgoing out
and he’s probably going to feel \hbetter for having done this.
Tom: Yeah, yeah.
And this is one of the benefits for having a pet, isn’t it? \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hYes.
\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hMorning. Or, afternoon. [laughs]
Morning? What planet are you on?
\h\h\hI’ve no idea. I’ve lost the plot.
Tom: The electrodes \h\h\hon Dave’s head
are showing a change \h\h\h\hin brainwaves
\h\h\hthrough a frequency associated with calmness.
It’s just nearly half six, 6:26.
And what we saw \h\hon the EEG,
there’s a lot of alpha \h\h\hcoming through.
He’s relaxing nicely now \h\h\h\hwith his family.
♪ ♪
Going on a walk like this \h\hjust makes you forget
about what’s happened \h\h\hall day, really.
And all you can hear \h\h\h\his the wind
\hand the little bit of the M5 motorway.
Looks lovely, though, \h\h\h\h\hdoesn’t it?
Lia: Beautiful.
♪ ♪
Steamer.
Whaa -- ha ha ha!
\h\h\h\hThank god it’s a small dog.
There we go.
Tom: It’s 6:57.
Alfie’s been brought home by Charlotte’s boyfriend.
Hey, dude.
Hello.
Tom: And she’s now \hgetting changed.
Lia: We can see that her eye gaze
is going to lots of different \h\h\houtfits in her wardrobe.
\h\hAnd the number of processes going on here are fascinating.
She’s going to be \hthinking about
what’s the temperature \h\h\h\h\h\h\houtside?
\hWhat’s the kind of level of comfort that she needs?
And there’s going to be \hsome higher processing
going on as well.
What role does she need \h\h\h\h\hto be playing?
\h\hWhat messages does she need to be sending with her clothes?
As well as tapping in \h\h\h\h\h\hto things
about what colours \h\h\h\hshe likes,
even childhood memories,
the way we’ve learned to develop our style.
♪ ♪
At eight minutes, this is the most time consuming decision
of Charlotte’s day.
♪ ♪
The way we look can be really \h\himportant to self-esteem
\h\h\h\hand how we present ourselves.
And it something \hshe feels like
\h\h\h\h\hshe wants to take time over.
♪ ♪
Hello, we’re matching.
\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hLia: She’s taken all that time
and now someone’s wearing \h\h\h\ha top like hers.
Exactly the same.
\h\h\h\h\h\hSo it looks like we may be having a barbeque.
I’m going to make a drink. \h\hAnn, what do you want?
Jason: So it is a barbeque. \hWhat’re you having?
Gin.
Tom: It’s 7:27.
He’s finishing his walk.
\hSo let’s see what he’s gonna do next.
I’m getting data from Dave’s glucose sensor
which are starting \h\hto concern me.
His blood sugar levels \hare dropping sharply.
He’s becoming hypoglycemic.
He’s probably absolutely starving at this point.
♪ ♪
If you’re hypoglycemic, your blood sugar levels are so low
that you feel dizzy, tired, \h\h\hand extremely hungry.
And, it looks like he’s gone \h\h\h\h\h\h\hto the chippy.
\hCan I have a lightly battered fish, please.
\h\h\h\h\h\h\hCod, do you want? Yes, please.
\h\h\h\h\hJason: Given what his blood sugar looks like,
that’s exactly the sort of choice you’d predict
someone would make.
When they’re hungry \h\h\h\hand tired,
\hpeople tend to choose these energy dense calorific foods
because that’s what the body \h\his craving at that point.
They smell lovely.
♪ ♪
A bit of salt \h\hon there.
Jason: He’s obviously got \h\h\h\h\ha taste for salt.
Been a long day.
♪ ♪
\hJason: Dave has had at least 1500 calories
in the large fish and chips, \h\h\h\h\hplus several ciders
at nearly 200 calories \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\ha pint.
He’s blown his calorie control \h\h\h\h\hin a single sitting.
\hAnd this blowout means that he’s eaten too much
for somebody who’s trying \h\h\h\h\hto lose weight.
Okay, so that looks like \h\h\ha typical BBQ meal.
\h\h\h\hShe’s got some rolls, some chicken, some sausages.
Cheap and easy.
\hJason: Often in a group of people,
\h\h\h\hparticularly when there’s alcohol involved,
people tend to eat a little bit more.
♪ ♪
\h\h\hCharlotte’s barbeque grazing eventually adds up
to 1500 calories \h\h\h\has well.
\hBoth her and Dave have eaten next to nothing during the day,
\h\h\h\h\h\honly to have a big blowout at the end.
\h\h\hBut their bodies have responded very differently.
Catch.
One of the things that’s really interesting here
is that Dave’s glucose levels \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hmove much more
throughout the day \hthan Charlotte’s
\h\h\hdespite them eating particularly a breakfast
of relatively similar things.
This tells us that Dave is at \hincreased risk of diabetes.
His body is not able to control \h\h\h\hhis blood sugar levels
as efficiently \has Charlotte.
And this is mainly due \h\h\h\hto his weight.
[laughing]
Tom: Charlotte’s on her second large gin.
We spot signs that alcohol is changing her behaviour.
People who perhaps \ha little bit shy
will tend to come out \h\hof themselves more
\hwhen they’ve had a glass of alcohol
because it’s the frontal lobes, the natural inhibitor
\h\h\hwhich is impaired when you’ve had alcohol.
♪ ♪
When we drink alcohol,
it affects the frontal lobe \h\h\h\h\h\h\hof the brain.
\hThis controls decision making
\h\h\h\h\hand also stops us doing embarrassing things.
[singing]
Earlier, it was the frontal lobe that stopped Charlotte
\h\h\hfrom singing in front of people.
\h\h\hBut now that she’s had a drink,
she’s lost these inhibitions and is singing away merrily.
\h\h\hAnd that’s why all of us are a little bit more chatty,
a little bit more sociable \hwhen we’ve had a drink.
\hIs your person wearing glasses?
No. No?
\h\hTom: Dave’s also drinking to relax at the end of the day.
You are Philip.
No.
[Claire laughs]
\h\h\hAlcohol tends to amplify the way we’re already feeling.
In Dave’s case, he’s already \h\h\hfeeling quite relaxed
and happy.
\h\h\h\hAs he has his drink, he feels even more that way.
[beeping]
Night, night, Stinky. \h\h\hGive us a kiss.
Love you.
Tom: Charlotte’s day is coming \hto an end with a cup of tea.
One of her reasons for taking \h\h\hpart in this experiment
was poor sleep.
We’re spotting lots of clues \h\h\hin her bedtime routine.
♪ ♪
Setting the alarm, \h\h\h\h\hI think.
Last check of the Twitter \haccount, the Instagram.
Lia: And interestingly, \h\h\hshe’s had the TV on
just before she goes \h\h\hto bed as well.
So that’s quite a lot of artificial light.
\hBlue light that comes from electronic devices
\h\h\h\hlike your phone can be really disruptive
to certain patterns and rhythms, circadian rhythms.
\hBlue light during the daytime can actually be quite helpful.
\h\h\h\hIt helps with our mental alertness
\h\h\h\hand improve our reaction times.
But at nighttime it’s the timing that’s really important.
\h\hIt can actually be very disruptive to us.
Tom: We’ll have plenty to tell \h\hCharlotte when we meet her.
The caffeine, the alcohol, \h\h\h\h\hthe electronics;
\h\hnone of that adds up to a good night’s sleep.
♪ ♪
\h\hDave too ds up is in bed now
wired up to monitor his brain activity
and quality of sleep.
♪ ♪
[Dave snoring]
♪ ♪
\h\h\hBut in the early hours, something worrying shows up,
\h\hwhich we should discuss with Dave.
♪ ♪
Charlotte too because she has 699 reasons to be concerned.
Wow!!
♪ ♪
\h\h\h\h\hTom: For 24 hours, Dave and Charlotte took part
\h\hin a unique human body rig.
Dave, a self-employed courier.
\h\hUm, no, no, I won’t make it.
Tom: And Charlotte.
Sexy.
Tom: A young mum and hairdresser.
\hI could so do with a holiday.
Tom: Now, it’s time for them \hto meet us, the scientists.
I’m Professor Tom Solomon, \h\h\h\h\h\ha neurologist.
\h\h\h\h\hI’ve mapped their brain activity.
It’s the fight or flight \h\hresponse, isn’t it?
I’m Dr. Lia Ali, \ha psychiatrist.
I’ve monitored their emotions through eye tracking glasses
and heart-rate data.
He’s finding this \hquite stressful.
And I’m Dr. Jason Gill, \h\h\h\ha physiologist
responsible for analyzing their \h\hbodies’ physical responses.
Given what his blood sugar looks like, he’s starving.
\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hTom: The 24 hours are over.
\h\h\hNow, we’re going to reveal our findings
directly to Dave \hand Charlotte.
♪ ♪
\h\hFirst up, Dave; hoping to find out
\h\h\hhow to lose more weight and how to improve his sleep.
Dave, well, it’s good to meet you at last.
There were various things we thought
would be worth discussing with you.
One of which and the one we wanted to start with,
which is possibly the most important,
was about your sleep.
Yeah.
Do you feel tired during the day at all?
I do some days, yeah.
I could literally just pop my head down on the desk.
You can, right.
That is a reflection of somebody
who’s not having a good night’s sleep.
\h\hThis is actually when you’re going off to sleep,
which is fine.
\h\hBut as this trace progresses
and we see you snoring and you see you’re snoring quite loud,
quite regular.
And then here, you suddenly \hstop breathing altogether
when the airways collapse.
\h\h\h\h\hAnd that’s for several seconds.
And that is happening \h\h\hquite frequently
throughout the night.
So, you’re waking up nearly \h\hseven times every hour.
\hBecause of this, because your breathing’s stopping,
\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hyou are having these periods of sleep apnea.
\hWith the airways blocked, the brains of sleep apnea sufferers
respond to a lack of oxygen \h\h\h\hby waking them up.
One in 25 people are thought \h\h\hto suffer broken sleep
because of it.
There’s a number of things that can contribute to this;
one of which is if you’re overweight,
everything is a bit heavier inside there
and the airway is a bit narrower.
The other thing is alcohol can contribute to it
because your airway relaxes more
and that’s then contributing
to your being a bit tired during the day.
♪ ♪
\hWe will organize some professional sleep help
for Dave.
Oh, god.
Tom: But he wasn’t \h\h\h\honly tired;
for most of his 24 hours \h\h\h\h\hhe was hungry.
♪ ♪
Your breakfast. I’m wondering \h\h\h\h\h\h\hwhether that was
a little bit of a breakfast that was too small for you.
\h\hAnd I think one of the reasons was
you’re being very conscious \h\h\h\h\habout your weight,
\h\hyou’re trying to get your weight off.
\hSo you’re being like, "I’m gonna eat a little \h\h\h\hbit less food."
You see these sugar levels \h\hwhich are in the red?
That means you’re hypoglycemic.
It means your blood sugar \h\hlevels are a bit low.
\h\h\h\h\h\hThen you get tired and you’re very, very hungry.
\hAnd what that does is it makes your willpower
\h\hdrop through the floor, okay?
\h\hSo, what happens is you go to the chip shop
and then you have your huge portion of fish and chips.
♪ ♪
\h\h\h\hI think Dave would have consumed fewer calories overall
if he’d eaten more healthfully \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hand regularly
throughout the day.
I think we can do some tweaks \h\h\h\hearlier on in the day,
which might mean you’ll make healthier choices later on.
\h\h\hAnd the heavy sprinklings of salt
aren’t helping Dave’s high blood pressure.
\hWe calculated you ate about 12 grams of salt.
What we’d recommend is
for people to have less \h\h\h\hthan six grams.
So you’re having about twice as much salt as you need to.
\h\h\h\h\h\hSo what I would suggest is
try to not add the extra salt \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hto your meals.
All right.
[telephone rings]
Lia: Tired, hungry, \h\h\hbut not grumpy.
They can’t find \hthe delivery.
\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hLia: hungry, It’s a thumbs-up to Dave
\h\h\hfor his ability to cope with stress.
\h\h\h\h\hIt looked like the worst moment for you
\hwas this call in the morning.
\h\h\h\h\hIt’s just your worst nightmare
the thought of a package \h\h\h\h\hgoing missing.
I felt very under pressure, \h\h\h\h\h\hI’ve got to say.
But you seem like you’ve got
some really good coping mechanisms.
We saw you going for the walk \h\h\h\h\h\hwith your family.
And, again, we could see some \hof the changes on the EEG.
\h\hWe saw it in your heart rate.
\h\h\h\hWe could see that you were visibly relaxing
\h\hand these are all really good mechanisms
\h\hfor dealing with - even just the normal stresses in your day.
Jason: Despite sitting down \h\h\h\hfor most of his day,
\h\hDave’s morning jog, and his dog walk in the evening
\h\h\h\hhave kept him surprisingly active.
He’s completed 18,000 steps,
\hnearly double the recommended minimum for physical activity.
You’re doing exactly the right things with physical activity.
I couldn’t recommend you \h\hto change anything.
Just keep up the good work.
♪ ♪
Tom: What about Charlotte, then?
\h\h\h\hHer motivation for getting kitted up?
Frequent headaches.
♪ ♪
We noticed in the middle of the afternoon,
you asked for some tablets.
Was that for a headache?
Yeah. I’ve been getting \h\hquite bad headaches
on the left side.
It started with neck pain \h\h\h\hand shooting pains
that were going right up \h\hthe back of my neck.
So, it’s pain on the left side of the neck?
Yeah.
♪ ♪
\h\h\h\h\h\h\hTom: g right up A stressy, busy day.
I was running late. \h\hSorry, darling.
Tom: And drinking next to no water--
instead, mainly caffeine \h\h\h\h\h\hand alcohol--
won’t have helped \hher headaches.
I’ve had a splitting \hheadache all day.
\h\h\hTom: Nor will a poor night’s sleep.
\h\hBut it’s the body rig and the clever microchip
\h\hon Charlotte’s spine which has revealed the real culprit.
We had this device on you
which, as you know, measures the flexion of your back.
Yeah.
And interestingly, over the 24-hour period
you flexed to your right 52 times.
Right.
You flexed to your left 699 times.
Wow!! [laughing]
Yeah, that’s a massive difference.
\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hOkay. Okay.
\hCharlotte’s uneven posture is putting pressure on the nerves
on her left side, \h\hcausing pain
which goes all the way up \h\h\h\h\h\hto her head.
♪ ♪
\hBecause almost everything you use is on the left side,
you’re constantly leaning over \h\h\h\h\hslightly to the left
to pick up equipment - \hshampoo, et cetera.
Yeah.
It’s not a massive movement,
but your head, your neck and your back
lean over slightly every time.
And so one thing we’re going to do
is arrange for you to see a physiotherapist
and have a look at this. \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hOkay.
And then there’s the thing to try and control
the chronic daily headaches.
So that means stopping all the painkillers
because we know they contribute to an ongoing headache.
Yeah.
Stopping caffeine, increasing the amount of water you take.
Charlotte’s bedtime rituals \h\hhave us concerned, too.
There’s quite a lot of checking the phone and the devices.
Yeah.
They’re on; they’re off.
The dog jumps on; the cat jumps on.
You didn’t get to sleep until about 1:30 in the morning.
\h\hThat’s quite - yeah, that’s quite an often occurrence, yeah.
♪ ♪
\hLia: They’ve seen what 24 hours can do
to fix your body.
So, stop, rewind.
[tape rewinds]
Is anything changing?
[Dave snoring]
♪ ♪
Tom: Dave is still \hgetting up early
\h\h\hto go for his jog, but he’s doubling his breakfast.
Dave: It does make sense, \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hreally.
I’m finding I can get to 12:30, \h\h\h\h1:00 now quite happily
without having that hunger pang at about 10:30 in the morning.
♪ ♪
\h\h\h\hLia: Charlotte is making her changes at work.
\h\h\h\h\h\hMy biggest shock was that I moved to the left
699 times and over \hto the right 52.
So, I’ve changed my work station.
I’m moving more things \h\hover to the right.
And I’ve massively improved \h\h\h\h\hmy water intake.
I feel a lot healthier.
♪ ♪
\hTom: Dave has a mouth guard fitted by a sleep apnea expert
to help his breathing \h\h\h\h\h\hat night.
\hDave: Since I’ve made these changes to my life,
I’m feeling much, \h\h\hmuch better.
Charlotte: I’m really glad \h\h\h\h\hthat I took part
\h\h\hbecause I thought that I was really, really healthy.
\h\h\h\h\h\hAnd what I’ve actually learned
\h\h\h\h\his you might think you’re healthy,
but there are certain changes \h\h\h\h\h\hthat you can make.
\h\h\h\h\h\h\hDave: ght I’ve got more energy
and I’m not falling asleep \h\h\h\h\h\hduring the day.
It’s been great.
\h\h\hI think I’ll be living to a very, very old age, hopefully.
Fingers crossed.
♪ ♪