Photo by Krista Mangulsone on Unsplash

Table of contents

1. Preface

2. Main Article

3. OMFS World

4. Stuff

Preface

This week, we truly felt the arrival of spring 🌸 👒. The sun shines every day, with most rain occurring at night. During the weekend, we had a picnic at Larz Anderson Park and went for a hike on the World's End Trail. Much better than scraping snow off the car 🥶.

💤 To those concerned about my lack of sleep, I appreciate your advice and care for my well-being. However, I haven't been able to make any changes to my schedule 🥱. It's not that I don't understand the severe consequences of sleep deprivation. It's just that lately, I don't have much choice. I promise to keep you updated on any developments.

Lastly, an observation 🧐.

While traveling back on the train after my weekend rounds 🚋, I noticed a line forming outside a bakery in my town of Brookline. This bakery is part of a chain called "Lakon Paris Patisserie."

🍞 🍰 It made me wonder what kind of bread or cake justifies waiting in line for 20 minutes on the street. These places seem to keep their service slow to maintain a line outside as a form of advertising🚶🏻‍♂️🧍🏽‍♀️🚶🚶🏻‍♀️. However, I can't bring myself to support a business that purposefully wastes my time.

Enough about bread.

Let's discuss the effect of lack of sleep.

Enjoy #39!

Main Article

"Sleep is the best meditation."
— Dalai Lama

June 2014

😷 I'm an Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery Resident and started taking my first calls. My role involves responding to emergency department calls, trauma cases, inpatients, and consulting to other departments.

🏃Back then, shifts were officially 26 hours long, but in reality, they stretched to 32.

Each shift left me completely drained 🥱, and when it ended, all I could do was collapse into bed 🛌.

However, as time passed, my body adjusted to this harsh routine 🏋️‍♀️.

For five grueling years of residency, sleep deprivation became my new norm.

Initially, people around me were empathetic. Occasionally, patients would acknowledge my sacrifice after learning that I'd been on duty for 30 hours straight.

But eventually, everyone got used to it, leaving me alone in my sleep-deprived state.

And let me tell you, it was hard.

Unbelievably hard.

After about 18 hours, my legs would grow weak 🦵. After 24 hours, my concentration would dwindle 😒. After 30 hours, my eyelids would droop the moment I sat down 😴. After 36 hours, I would doze off standing up or even while walking 💤.

And this cycle repeated itself. Hundreds of times.

But as with anything done repeatedly, I got better at it. Today, I can manage 36 hours straight fairly easily 💪. A 16-hour shift feels like a breeze.

I even accomplished a personal record, which stands at 52 hours straight.

😳 But these aren't achievements I'm proud of. They are indicators of a system stretched thin. I've never stayed awake because I wanted to, nor have I ever found any joy in it.

“Fatigue makes cowards of us all.”
— Vince Lombardi

After enduring 26-36 hour shifts hundreds of times, I've learned its harmful effects firsthand.

It has impaired my concentration, sapped the joy from my favorite activities, and taken a toll on my health.

🚦And yes, it has even caused me to fall asleep while driving.

I could write a whole book on this topic, easily filling 60,000 words 📙.

But let's not get into that right now 😆.

🤔 To keep things simple, I want to focus on three main parts of sleep deprivation: Can we fix it, how much sleep we should get, and how screens affect our sleep.

🔵 Can you “payback” by sleeping more over the weekend?

✅ Short answer: No!

Long answer: "Catching up" on lost sleep by sleeping more on the weekend will not fully reverse the harmful effects of sleep loss. Among many, these include obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. A night not slept well is a night lost!

🏡 Take home message:

It's better to aim for consistent sleep patterns throughout the week rather than trying to make up for lost sleep over the weekend.

🔵 How many hours should you sleep?

✅ Short answer: Eight.

Long answer: According to the National Sleep Foundation, adults require 7–9 hours of sleep per night. The notion that older people require less sleep is a myth!

🏡 Take home message:

As an adult, you should sleep eight hours.

🔵 How do screens affect your sleep?

✅ Short answer: Screens will harm your sleep.

Long answer: Blue light 🔷 is a type of light emitted from screens such as phones, computers, and TVs. This light can damage sleep by causing the body to produce less melatonin, which is essential for regulating sleep.

My solution: Starting at 8 pm and until 7 am, my devices are programmed to reduce the blue light automatically 🕗.If I must study/work late on my computer, I also turn down the lights in my house 🌙.

🏡 Take home message:

Use the blue light option on your devices. It's called “night shift” in Apple's system, and different variations of “blue light filter” in Android's system.

"A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor's book."
— Irish Proverb

OMFS World

🥼For the OMFS resident

Interpreting bloodwork 💉🩸 results is integral to your daily routine as an OMFS resident. Unlike CBC (complete blood count), biochemistry is more challenging.

You must know what each electrolyte means: sodium, potassium, calcium, phosphorus, and magnesium. Ensure you understand the potential effects when their levels are high or low.

🩺For the research student

✏️ Be sure to check out my free 7-day email course intended for scientists 🧑‍🔬. In this course, I summarize what I learned while pursuing a research degree in dental school. It includes: How I read 1000 manuscripts a year, how I read books, how to deal with feedback and failure, time management, prioritization, and combining a medical/dental degree with a master's or a PhD.

Stuff

💡Gear I use - AirPods Pro version 2 🎧

Sound quality and battery longevity have significantly improved, with the noise-canceling functionality being particularly impressive. I can conduct a Zoom call while my kids are literally screaming in the background, without me or the other participants noticing it. I have used them EVERY SINGLE DAY for months!

Epilogue

That's it for this issue.

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Have a great weekend!

Shay