Sleep Unplugged with Dr. Chris Winter

Latest Episodes:

#63 - Sleep and Anxiety: Why Worry? Sep 04, 2023

Show notes

It's hard to have a full conversation about insomnia without bringing up the topic of anxiety, the most common psychiatric diagnosis in the world. Treating insomnia often means addressing anxiety. In this episode, we will:

Introduce the concept and history of anxiety and sleep
List the factors that along with anxiety, often influence sleep
Think about the underlying mechanisms that relate sleep to anxiety
Dissect the bidirectional relationship between sleep quality and anxiety
Review the initial sleep interventions
Explore the use of novel mechanisms for refractory anxiety/insomnia

Produced by: Maeve Winter

Twitter: @drchriswinter
IG: @drchriwinter
Threads: @drchriswinter
Bluesky: @drchriswinter
The Sleep Solution and The Rested Child

Thanks for listening and sleep well!

#62 - Sleep and Memory: You'll Forget About Me After I've Been Gone Aug 28, 2023

Show notes

The link between sleep and memory has been a compelling area of research for many years. New theories about the specific relationship between sleep and memory have recently emerged that reveal much about the roles that sleep plays in this process. In this episode we will:

Touch upon the history of sleep and memory studies
Review the discovery of the glymphatic system and how it is not only involved in cognitive health but also influenced by sleep
Learn how slow wave sleep/deep sleep primes our brains to learning
Differentiate the solidification/activation of memory by deep sleep versus the linkage and solidification of sleep by REM sleep
Contrast declarative hippocampal memory storage via slow wave sleep and implicit memory stored outside the hippocampus
Explore various rodent and human models for studying memory
Introduce the technique and science behind Targeted Sensory Reactivation

Produced by: Maeve Winter

Twitter: @drchriswinter
IG: @drchriwinter
Threads: @drchriswinter
Bluesky: @drchriswinter
The Sleep Solution and The Rested Child

Thanks for listening and sleep well!

#61 - How Much Sleep Do You Really Need? Just Can't Get Enough Aug 21, 2023

Show notes

Within the field of sleep science, there are few questions asked more frequently than, "How much sleep do we need?" While the answer eight hours seems to make the rounds in the media (and anything less would appear to be cause instant harm or even death), what is the answer? Is the question even answerable? In this episode we will:

Evaluate how age is constantly influencing sleep need
List other factors affecting sleep amount for an individual including sleep quality, activity level, previous sleep deprivation, pregnancy and illness
Explore the inherent difficulties in applying epidemiological sleep data to individual sleepers
Look at the data rejecting the idea that 8 hours is the ideal amount of sleep for adults
Define the "J curve" commonly seen in studies exploring optimal sleep amounts
Understand how sleep behaviors need can be easily mislead in terms of indicators of average sleep need
Touch upon how individuals who can get by better with inadequate sleep may misinterpret this as being a healthy practice

Produced by: Maeve Winter

Twitter: @drchriswinter
IG: @drchriwinter
Threads: @drchriswinter
Bluesky: @drchriswinter
The Sleep Solution and The Rested Child

Thanks for listening and sleep well!

#60 - Influencers, Experts, and Bad Sleep Advice: Would I Lie To You? Aug 14, 2023

Show notes

Information and advice about better sleep comes from more individuals and sources than can be counted. In our current era of "fake news," it can be difficult to determine is the sleep advice or science behind what you are seeing or reading is legitimate. In this episode we will:

Differentiate between misinformation, disinformation, and bullshit
Look at examples of each and work towards understanding their motivations and how they can be spotted and corrected
Explore the consequences of the spread of bad/harmful information, and how current media factors can accelerate the dissemination of false information
List the characteristics of information that spreads quickly
Apply epidemiological tools to social media and the spread of bad information
Evaluate the factors that lend themselves to the spread of bad medical information
Consider how intuition and deliberation affect our ability for comprehensive reasoning and detection of bad information
Review remedies to help improve the situation and reduce the spread of incorrect medical information

Produced by: Maeve Winter

Twitter: @drchriswinter
IG: @drchriwinter
Threads: @drchriswinter
Bluesky: @drchriswinter
The Sleep Solution and The Rested Child

Thanks for listening and sleep well!

#59 - Bedtime Rituals: Right On Time Aug 07, 2023

Show notes

One often overlooked strategy to improve sleep and manage insomnia is to employs bedtime rituals. While most think of these as activities designed to help kids go to sleep easier, their science is deeply rooted in our sleep health. In this episode we will:

Revisit the idea of circadian rhythms and why they are important for sleep health and sleep timing
Define the concept of a zeitgeber and how they work to strengthen the effectiveness of our circadian rhythm and its predictive ability
Understand the concept of weak and strong zeitgebers and how they relate to the actions that make up our bedtime routines
Examine common bedtime rituals and their relationship to known zeitgebers
Touch upon light as historically the strongest/most influential zeitgeber
Differentiate the health (and sleep) benefits of exercise from the circadian benefits and understand how evening exercise could capitalize on both in a bedtime ritual
Evaluate stress (and alleviating stress) as an unexpected zeitgeber
Revisit the concept of temperature as a zeitgeber and how its mechanism in humans is not entirely clear
Introduce the food entrainable-oscillator (FEO) and how it relates to food as a zeitgeber
End on more unusual potential zeitgebers like music, and the research supporting them

Produced by: Maeve Winter

Twitter: @drchriswinter
IG: @drchriwinter
Threads: @drchriswinter
Bluesky: @drchriswinter
The Sleep Solution and The Rested Child

Thanks for listening and sleep well!

#58 - Lucid Dreaming: You Make My Dreams Jul 31, 2023

Show notes

The phenomenon of dreaming is an endless fascinating topic for many individuals, and the concept of lucid dreaming is a never-ending source of interest. What is lucid dreaming and what potential does it hold? In this episode we will:

Define the concept of lucid dreaming
Explore the history of the practice from its roots in ancient Hindu and Buddhist practices, to its first description by Aristotle
Follow the changing characteristics that define lucid dreaming from its first scientific description in 1931 (when the term lucid dreaming was coined) to the present
Touch upon seminal research exploring ways of communicating and studying the lucid dreamer and their world
List the various techniques for inducing lucid dreams including reality testing
Review research studying befits of lucid dreaming application

Produced by: Maeve Winter

Twitter: @drchriswinter
IG: @drchriwinter
Threads: @drchriswinter
Bluesky: @drchriswinter
The Sleep Solution and The Rested Child

Thanks for listening and sleep well!

#57 - Sleep and Yoga: Gotta Find A Way To Flow Jul 24, 2023

Show notes

Over the last several decades, there has been a heightened interested in alternative therapies for sleep disorders, and the practice of yoga as a sleep solution has been frequently investigated. In this episode we will:

Define yoga and outline its fundamental philosophy
Explore why yoga might be uniquely situated to improve sleep parameters
Review research studies exploring yoga and enhanced sleep parameters
Subdivide sleep studies exploring yoga nidra or the practice of yogic sleep
Look at research exploring yoga in the /pregnant/prenatal population
Outline yoga practices within the elderly/institutionalized population
Evaluate yoga as a pain-mediating intervention and determine what that means in terms of sleep
Touch upon yoga as a technique for mitigating restless leg syndrome
Mention yoga as a therapy within the cancer treatment space

Produced by: Maeve Winter

Twitter: @drchriswinter
IG: @drchriwinter
Threads: @drchriswinter
Bluesky: @drchriswinter
The Sleep Solution and The Rested Child

Thanks for listening and sleep well!

#56 - Sexsomnia: Hard To Explain Last Night Jul 17, 2023

Show notes

An important subset of parasomnias is sexsomnias--sexual behaviors that arise at night with little or no memory reported from the person involved. In addition to being disruptive to sleep, these behaviors bring with them heightened physical, emotional, and in some cases legal consequences. In this episode we will:

Introduce and define sexsomnias
Explore the relative short history of this behavior in medical literature
Characterize was types of behaviors are seen in sexsomnias
List the groups of individuals who are at risk for these behaviors
Examine the unique features of sexsomnias
Describe the numerous medical risk factors for sexsomnias
Provide solutions and tips for individuals struggling with sexsomnias

Produced by: Maeve Winter

Twitter: @drchriswinter
IG: @drchriwinter
Threads: @drchriswinter
Bluesky: @drchriswinter
The Sleep Solution and The Rested Child

Thanks for listening and sleep well!

#55 - Are You Sleepy or Are You Fatigued?: I'm So Tired Jul 10, 2023

Show notes

One of the biggest misunderstandings in medicine is the differences between sleepiness and fatigue. Add to this poorly defined terms like "tired" and "exhausted," and you have the makings for not only utter confusion, but also the basis for misdiagnoses and treatments that miss the mark completely. In this episode we will:

Provide a research background examining the confusion between the terms sleepy and fatigued
Attempt to define sleepiness and fatigue and provide a physiological and behavioral foundation for their characterizations
Evaluate the misuse of the term fatigue in literature regarding excessive daytime sleepiness
Use research to characterize the unique intermediate positioning of the word "tired" in scientific explorations of sleepiness and fatigue
Learn how the lack of a "gold standard" for fatigue evaluation has contributed to the problem
Revisit the Epworth Sleepiness Scale as the de facto standard for quantification of sleepiness and its intrinsic shortcomings
Discuss ways in which failure to properly characterize sleepiness or fatigue can lead to diagnostic and treatment delays and error
Expand upon the multitude of fatigue causes and how primary medicine often stops far short of an exhaustive search for an underlying cause of an individual's fatigue
Link specific sleep and psychological factors to elements of sleepiness and fatigue

Produced by: Maeve Winter

Twitter: @drchriswinter
IG: @drchriwinter
Threads: @drchriswinter
Bluesky: @drchriswinter
The Sleep Solution and The Rested Child

Thanks for listening and sleep well!

#54 - Insomnia and the Five Senses: See Me, Feel Me, Touch Me Jul 03, 2023

Show notes

The five senses are our brain's main way of collecting information about our immediate environment. They have a powerful effect on our moods, cognition, and the way we experience the world. They are also integral to the way we sleep and deal with insomnia. I recently met Gretchen Rubin and read her latest book Life in Five Senses. In this episode, we will explore heightening and honing our five senses as a portal for improving our sleep and managing insomnia. In this episode we will:

Discuss visualization and rehearsal as a means to relax and combat insomnia
Explore the creation of an Auditory Hypnotic playlist and how curating music/songs that relax you can be a helpful tool to set the stage for improved sleep
Review the current data on white noise and its effects on sleep outcomes
Discuss smell and olfaction as a tool for sleep
Evaluate different novel smells and their relative effects on sleep and insomnia
Revisit tart cherry juice and other pre-bedtime drinks as a way to establish routine via taste
Introduce the concept of "sleep-touch" and review a recent study about how it effects the sleep of couples

Produced by: Maeve Winter

Twitter: @drchriswinter
IG: @drchriwinter
Threads: @drchriswinter
Bluesky: @drchriswinter
The Sleep Solution and The Rested Child

Thanks for listening and sleep well!

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Sleep Unplugged with Dr. Chris Winter

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected