WEBVTT

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It's six o'clock in the morning,

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pitch black outside.

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My 14-year-old son
is fast asleep in his bed,

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sleeping the reckless,
deep sleep of a teenager.

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I flip on the light and physically
shake the poor boy awake,

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because I know that,
like ripping off a Band-Aid,

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it's better to get it over with quickly.

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(Laughter)

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I have a friend who yells "Fire!"
just to rouse her sleeping teen.

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And another who got so fed up

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that she had to dump cold water
on her son's head

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just to get him out of bed.

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Sound brutal ...

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but perhaps familiar?

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Every morning I ask myself,

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"How can I --

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knowing what I know

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and doing what I do for a living --

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be doing this to my own son?"

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You see,

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I'm a sleep researcher.

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(Laughter)

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So I know far too much about sleep

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and the consequences of sleep loss.

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I know that I'm depriving my son
of the sleep he desperately needs

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as a rapidly growing teenager.

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I also know that by waking him up

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hours before his natural
biological clock tells him he's ready,

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I'm literally robbing him
of his dreams --

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the type of sleep most associated
with learning, memory consolidation

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and emotional processing.

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But it's not just my kid
that's being deprived of sleep.

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Sleep deprivation among
American teenagers is an epidemic.

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Only about one in 10 gets
the eight to 10 hours of sleep per night

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recommended by sleep scientists
and pediatricians.

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Now, if you're thinking to yourself,

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"Phew, we're doing good,
my kid's getting eight hours,"

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remember,

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eight hours is
the minimum recommendation.

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You're barely passing.

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Eight hours is kind of like
getting a C on your report card.

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There are many factors
contributing to this epidemic,

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but a major factor preventing teens
from getting the sleep they need

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is actually a matter of public policy.

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Not hormones, social lives or Snapchat.

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Across the country,

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many schools are starting
around 7:30am or earlier,

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despite the fact that major
medical organizations recommend

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that middle and high school
start no earlier than 8:30am.

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These early start policies
have a direct effect on how much --

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or really how little sleep
American teenagers are getting.

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They're also pitting
teenagers and their parents

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in a fundamentally unwinnable fight
against their own bodies.

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Around the time of puberty,

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teenagers experience a delay
in their biological clock,

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which determines when we feel most awake
and when we feel most sleepy.

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This is driven in part by a shift
in the release of the hormone melatonin.

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Teenagers' bodies wait to start releasing
melatonin until around 11pm,

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which is two hours later than what
we see in adults or younger children.

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This means that waking a teenager up
at 6am is the biological equivalent

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of waking an adult up at 4am.

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On the unfortunate days
when I have to wake up at 4am,

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I'm a zombie.

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Functionally useless.

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I can't think straight,

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I'm irritable,

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and I probably shouldn't be driving a car.

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But this is how many American
teenagers feel every single school day.

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In fact, many of the, shall we say,

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unpleasant characteristics
that we chalk up to being a teenager --

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moodiness, irritability,
laziness, depression --

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could be a product
of chronic sleep deprivation.

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For many teens
battling chronic sleep loss,

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their go-to strategy to compensate
is consuming large quantities of caffeine

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in the form of venti frappuccinos,

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or energy drinks and shots.

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So essentially,

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we've got an entire population
of tired but wired youth.

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Advocates of sleep-friendly
start times know

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that adolescence is a period
of dramatic brain development,

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particularly in the parts of the brain

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that are responsible for those
higher order thinking processes,

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including reasoning, problem-solving
and good judgment.

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In other words, the very type
of brain activity that's responsible

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for reining in those impulsive
and often risky behaviors

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that are so characteristic of adolescence

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and that are so terrifying
to us parents of teenagers.

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They know that like the rest of us,

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when teenagers don't
get the sleep they need,

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their brains, their bodies
and behaviors suffer

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with both immediate and lasting effects.

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They can't concentrate,

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their attention plummets

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and many will even show
behavioral signs that mimic ADHD.

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But the consequences of teen sleep loss
go well beyond the classroom,

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sadly contributing to many
of the mental health problems

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that skyrocket during adolescence,

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including substance use,

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depression and suicide.

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In our work with teens
from LA Unified School District,

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we found that teens with sleep problems

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were 55 percent more likely
to have used alcohol in the past month.

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In another study with over
30,000 high school students,

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they found that
for each hour of lost sleep,

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there was a 38 percent increase
in feeling sad or hopeless,

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and a 58 percent increase
in teen suicide attempts.

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And if that's not enough,

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teens who skip out on sleep
are at increased risk

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for a host of physical health problems
that plague our country,

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including obesity,
heart disease and diabetes.

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Then there's the risk
of putting a sleep-deprived teen,

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with a newly minted driver's license,

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behind the wheel.

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Studies have shown that getting five hours
or less of sleep per night

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is the equivalent of driving with a blood
alcohol content above the legal limit.

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Advocates of sleep-friendly start times,

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and researchers in this area,

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have produced tremendous science

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showing the tremendous benefits
of later start times.

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The findings are unequivocal,

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and as a sleep scientist,

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I rarely get to speak
with that kind of certainty.

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Teens from districts
with later start times get more sleep.

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To the naysayers who may think
that if schools start later,

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teens will just stay up later,

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the truth is,

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their bedtimes stay the same,

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but their wake-up times get extended,

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resulting in more sleep.

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They're more likely to show up for school;

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school absences dropped
by 25 percent in one district.

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And they're less likely to drop out.

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Not surprisingly,
they do better academically.

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So this has real implications
for reducing the achievement gap.

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Standardized test scores
in math and reading

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go up by two to three percentage points.

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That's as powerful as reducing class sizes
by one-third fewer students,

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or replacing a so-so teacher
in the classroom

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with a truly outstanding one.

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Their mental and physical health improves,

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and even their families are happier.

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I mean, who wouldn't enjoy a little
more pleasantness from our teens,

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and a little less crankiness?

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Even their communities are safer

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because car crash rates go down --

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a 70 percent reduction in one district.

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Given these tremendous benefits,

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you might think,

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well, this is a no-brainer, right?

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So why have we as a society
failed to heed this call?

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Often the argument against later
start times goes something like this:

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"Why should we delay
start times for teenagers?

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We need to toughen them up
so they're ready for the real world!"

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But that's like saying
to the parent of a two-year-old,

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"Don't let Johnny nap,

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or he won't be ready for kindergarten."

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(Laughter)

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Delaying start times also presents
many logistical challenges.

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Not just for students and their families,

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but for communities as a whole.

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Updating bus routes,

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increased transportation costs,

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impact on sports,

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care before or after school.

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These are the same concerns
that come up in district after district,

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time and again around the country

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as school start times are debated.

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And they're legitimate concerns,

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but these are problems
we have to work through.

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They are not valid excuses

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for failing to do the right thing
for our children,

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which is to start middle and high schools
no earlier than 8:30am.

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And in districts around the country,

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big and small,
who have made this change,

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they found that these fears
are often unfounded

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and far outweighed by the tremendous
benefits for student health

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and performance,

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and our collective public safety.

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So tomorrow morning,

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when coincidentally we get
to set our clocks back by an hour

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and you get that delicious
extra hour of sleep,

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and the day seems a little longer,

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and a little more full of hope,

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think about the tremendous power of sleep.

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And think about what a gift it would be

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for our children to be able
to wake up naturally,

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in harmony with their own biology.

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Thank you,

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and pleasant dreams.