The average person spends 26 years of their life sleeping. That is approximately one-third of our entire lives spent asleep. Yet, the importance of sleep in health is often misunderstood and under-appreciated. Sleep plays a critical role in overall health, impacting every major organ in the body, every physiological system, and every brain process. Still, many adults do not get the recommended amount of sleep every night.

In this episode, host Brian Browne and co-host Lizzy Rasmussen discuss the science of sleep, the role of sleep in brain and overall health, common sleep disorders, how sleep changes as we age and the link between sleep and Alzheimer’s Disease, how to optimize your sleep, and more.

Timestamps:

0:45 Introduction

1:14 Why do we sleep?

3:00 Sleep types and stages: REM & NREM 1-4

6:43 The Circadian Rhythm

10:55 Disordered sleep: working the night shift

13:56 Disordered sleep: the role of alcohol in sleep disruption

16:00 Disordered sleep: sleep apnea

17:52 Disordered sleep: insomnia

19:14 Impact of aging on sleep: reduced quantity/quality, reduced efficiency, and earlier melatonin release

23:14 Adenosine “sleep pressure” & the impact of napping

25:50 Impact of aging on sleep: age-related changes to the Circadian Rhythm

26:15 Sleep and brain health: memory, learning, concentration, processing speed

29:32 Sleep & Alzheimer’s Disease

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