Why lack of sleep is a bad investment | Diego Golombek | TEDxRiodelaPlata GIS

Diego Golombek, who has studied biological clocks for 40 years, presents sleep as a natural treatment that can increase strength, boost immunity, regulate metabolism, consolidate memories, and clear brain waste. He explains that humans are essentially 'clocks with legs' with internal timing systems that regulate when we wake, sleep, and eat, but society imposes schedules through 24/7 services, school bells, and shift work that create 'social jet lag' - like commuting between time zones daily. Despite decades of research, he admits science has 'no idea' about universal sleep prescriptions, though we know people sleep 1-2 hours less than 50-100 years ago. He introduces three conceptual frameworks for addressing sleep issues. First, 'sleep capital' - viewing sleep as an investment resource that's unevenly distributed, with low-income people, commuters, shift workers, and teenagers burning through it faster, creating unequal opportunities. Second, 'sleep health diplomacy' - recognizing that solving sleep problems requires negotiation across different sectors, not just individual solutions. He provides examples like delaying school start times for teenagers (who naturally run delayed like other teenage mammals), timing hospital medication administration based on when drugs work best rather than doctor convenience, and managing screen time that disrupts sleep and causes weight gain. Third, he envisions 'circadian cities' - urban environments designed not just in space but in time, where people have a 'right to time' to live, love, and create according to their natural rhythms, ultimately enabling people to fulfill their dreams by getting proper sleep.