In this podcast, Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer discuss the following stories to help you get smarter and learn something new in just a few minutes: Living Abroad Is the Best Way to Get to Know Yourself Migraines May Be a Side Effect of a Helpful Genetic Adaptation Is It Really That Bad to Let Your Dog Sleep in Bed with You? For the dog lovers out there, check out Alexandra Horowitz's "Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know." Follow Curiosity Daily on your favorite podcast app to learn something new every day withCody Gough andAshley Hamer. Still curious? Get exclusive science shows, nature documentaries, and more real-life entertainment on discovery+! Go to https://discoveryplus.com/curiosity to start your 7-day free trial. discovery+ is currently only available for US subscribers.
In this podcast, Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer discuss the following stories to help you get smarter and learn something new in just a few minutes:
Follow Curiosity Daily on your favorite podcast app to learn something new every day with Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer. Still curious? Get exclusive science shows, nature documentaries, and more real-life entertainment on discovery+! Go to https://discoveryplus.com/curiosity to start your 7-day free trial. discovery+ is currently only available for US subscribers.
Full episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/is-it-bad-to-sleep-with-your-dog-insights-from-living-abroad-and-new-migraine-science
[MUSIC PLAYING] CODY GOUGH: Hi. We've got three stories from curiosity.com to help you get smarter in just a few minutes. I'm Cody Gough.
ASHLEY HAMER: And I'm Ashley Hamer. Today, you'll learn about some benefits of living abroad, whether it's good or bad to let your dog sleep in bed with you, and how migraines might be a side effect of a helpful genetic adaptation.
CODY GOUGH: Let's satisfy some curiosity. Have you ever lived abroad?
ASHLEY HAMER: No. I actually have been just have not traveled very much at all. It's embarrassing.
CODY GOUGH: Really?
ASHLEY HAMER: Yeah.
CODY GOUGH: You're so worldly, though.
ASHLEY HAMER: What? Well, thank you, but it's all an act.
[LAUGHTER]
CODY GOUGH: Well, I've never lived abroad for an extended period of time either, which is a huge regret of mine, actually. And I regret it even more after what we wrote about today on Curiosity. We're going to cover research that says living abroad isn't just a great way to learn about the world, but it's a great way to learn about yourself too.
Now, researchers talked to people who had studied abroad and people who hadn't. And they found that people who had studied abroad had much more certainty about their personality, self-concept, career path, and general shape of their future. And the amount of time you spent living abroad had more of an impact than the number of countries you've lived in.
Other studies have shown that the longer people live abroad, the more creative they become. And another study from 2012 found that people were better creative thinkers even if they just had plans to live abroad in the near future. The science is clear if you want to censor your identity and free your mind, travel is the thing to do. You can read more about the science behind all this today on curiosity.com and on the Curiosity app for Android and iOS.
ASHLEY HAMER: Cody, do you ever get migraines?
CODY GOUGH: I don't think so. I've gotten headaches. How do if it's just a headache or if it's a migraine?
ASHLEY HAMER: It feels pretty different. It almost doesn't feel like pain for me. It's uncomfortable, and it's debilitating. But it doesn't feel the same as a headache for me.
CODY GOUGH: Yeah. No idea.
ASHLEY HAMER: Yeah. I've gotten a few. I don't get them regularly. But new research shows that a genetic adaptation that helped humans survive cold weather may have also led to migraine headaches.
CODY GOUGH: What?
ASHLEY HAMER: Yeah. Stay with me here. You might think evolution means improvement. But all evolution really cares about is making sure that an organism survives long enough to pass on its DNA. That's it. And sometimes, that survival comes with some not-so-great side effects. So when our ancestors began walking on two legs instead of four, it helped us save energy, but it also led to a whole lot of back problems. And that's what researchers think happened when humans left Africa around 60,000 years ago.
CODY GOUGH: We got back problems?
ASHLEY HAMER: No. We got problems.
CODY GOUGH: Oh.
ASHLEY HAMER: Yeah. This study was led by Felix Key of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. He and his researchers found the gene that gives you the ability to detect and respond to cold called TRPM8. They found a particular genetic variant that may regulate that gene. That variant became more and more common in humans living in colder parts of the world during the last 25,000 years.
Only about 5% of people with Nigerian ancestry carry this DNA quirk versus a whopping 88% of people with Finnish ancestry. We already knew about this genetic variant, but not because it helps carriers survive the cold. We knew about it because it's strongly associated with migraine headaches. It's not the only gene that causes migraines. Recent research has found that a bunch of genes can contribute to the disorder.
But scientists believe that the older variant of this cold-regulating gene protects against migraines. Well, the newer variant increases your risk of getting them. They don't know why cold temperatures might be linked to migraines, but the new discovery does show that humans have been evolving and adapting to new environments for at least the last 100,000 years. And it's always good to learn something new about migraines because one in seven people worldwide suffer from migraine headaches. That makes migraines the third most prevalent medical condition worldwide, right behind dental cavities, and tension headaches.
CODY GOUGH: Yikes.
ASHLEY HAMER: Yeah. If you want to know more about your own DNA, then check out the Health and Ancestry package on 23andMe. We'll put a link in the show notes. And if you purchase through our link, then Curiosity will get a share of the sale.
CODY GOUGH: Nice. If this isn't too personal of a question, have you ever slept with an animal on your bed?
ASHLEY HAMER: I spoon with my cat every single night.
CODY GOUGH: Really?
ASHLEY HAMER: It is the cutest thing.
CODY GOUGH: I house sat for an old boss of mine, and her cats like to sleep on my head. And it was kind of like living in hell--
ASHLEY HAMER: Oh.
CODY GOUGH: --for a couple of weeks.
ASHLEY HAMER: Yeah. Head-sleeping is bad.
CODY GOUGH: Not a fan at all. So that was a nightmare. But I know lots of people love sleeping with their pets. But is it good for you? So today, Curiosity looked into what science says about sleeping with your pets, particularly your dog in this research. So are you ready to hear if it's good or bad to sleep with your dog?
ASHLEY HAMER: I'm ready.
CODY GOUGH: I hope the dog owners out there are mentally prepared. According to a study from September, having a dog in your bedroom while you're sleeping probably is not going to screw up your sleep.
ASHLEY HAMER: Phew!
CODY GOUGH: Yeah. Now, before this study, people thought that even just letting your dog sleep in your bedroom might compromise your own sleep a little bit. But this study found that people who slept with dogs in the room maintained 83% sleep efficiency. Sleep efficiency is a comparison of time spent asleep to total time in bed. 80% is considered acceptable, so 83% gets a passing grade.
But how about letting your dog sleep not just in your room but actually in your bed with you? Well, that just barely eked by with an average of 80% sleep efficiency. So not great but nothing to freak out about either. But in this study, people with dogs in their beds woke up more during the night than those whose dog slept somewhere else in the room. And more nighttime interruptions means later sleep and the potential for morning crankiness.
So having your dog in your bed with you will likely give you less sound sleep. But it's not the worst thing you could be doing at bedtime, like scrolling through your phone before you fall asleep. How's that going?
ASHLEY HAMER: I don't do that anymore.
CODY GOUGH: You don't do it anymore?
ASHLEY HAMER: I don't. I've kept it out of my room since we talked about it, and it's great.
CODY GOUGH: That's wonderful.
ASHLEY HAMER: Yeah.
CODY GOUGH: It's important to note that this study was small and only looked at healthy middle-aged women and didn't take into account the size age or breeds of the dog jumping into bed, so pretty limited study. But it is still nice to have a little science on your side if that will help you sleep at night.
Dr. Lois Krahn is a sleep medicine specialist at the Center for Sleep Medicine at the Mayo Clinic's Arizona campus, and she gave time a couple of recommendations quote my" main recommendation is for people to take a look at their setup and carefully consider whether it is truly working or and not allow loyalty to their pets to blind them to consequences that aren't desirable to their sleep" unquote. Oh, in case you're wondering, the authors of this paper said that dogs seemed to rest well regardless of where they slept or whether they slept alone. Go figure.
ASHLEY HAMER: Of course, they did. I bet they haven't done a study on cats because it's impossible to keep cats out of your room if they want to get in your room--
CODY GOUGH: Yeah.
ASHLEY HAMER: --when you're sleeping. Because all they'll do is just scratch at the door all night.
CODY GOUGH: Yeah.
ASHLEY HAMER: And keep you up.
CODY GOUGH: Yeah. When I was catsitting, I tried that.
ASHLEY HAMER: Yep.
CODY GOUGH: Tried to shut the door, and man, the wrath of those cats.
ASHLEY HAMER: Right. They're in charge. You're not in charge.
CODY GOUGH: They were going to destroy that door.
ASHLEY HAMER: Yeah.
CODY GOUGH: I'm convinced. Well, you can read more about all of today's stories and tons of other stuff we wrote about on curiosity.com.
ASHLEY HAMER: Join us again tomorrow for the Curiosity Daily and learn something new in just a few minutes. I'm Ashley Hamer.
CODY GOUGH: And I'm Cody Gough.
ASHLEY HAMER: Stay curious.
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