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Experience how being alert can change your ability to function.
This is one of fifteen interactive Link Station activities. Try it out in the Hall of Human Life, then view and compare your data here. How awake do you feel? In this activity, you will use a simulation of the International Space Station’s robotic arm, similar to the one researchers are using to test how blue wavelength light can help astronauts stay alert during long work shifts. How do you think the time of day or the hours of sleep you got last night affect your ability to complete this simulation?
Overview
This overview shows how Museum visitors scored. The vertical axis shows the score range. Higher scores were closer at completing the mission. Does the amount of sleep people got last night make a difference? Does the time of day make a difference? The graph shows the results of 150 Museum visitors.
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Rise and shine
When you first open your eyelids in the morning, light-sensitive cells in your eyes tell your brain to stop producing the hormone melatonin. Melatonin helps you sleep at night and sets your body rhythms to a 24-hour cycle every day.
Artificial light will perk you up
Blue wavelength light from computer screens and electronic devices can make us extra alert at night before we fall asleep.