Earlier this year, the beer company Molson-Coors tried an experiment based on cutting edge research known as ‘targeted dream activation’. Amazingly participants reported dreaming more of Coors beer after consuming audio and video content specifically designed to ‘induce’ images of beer into the participant’s dreams.

Concerned about the possibilities of dreams becoming the playground for unscrupulous marketers, or even as a means of societal manipulation, a group of sleep and dream researchers recently published an open letter, describing the ethical issues at stake, if we longer have sovereign control of our own dreams.

This episode’s guest:

Other resources:

MIT Dream Engineering group: https://www.media.mit.edu/projects/theme-engineering-dreams/overview/

Coors beer promotion: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/jul/05/advertisers-targeted-dream-incubation

Open letter: https://dxe.pubpub.org/pub/dreamadvertising/release/1

Google Nest 2: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-56416578

Amazon sleep tracker: https://www.cnet.com/home/smart-home/amazon-gets-waiver-from-fcc-to-monitor-sleep-with-a-radar-sensor/

Episode Homepage: https://sleepjunkies.com/dreams-and-advertising/

The post EP 055: Dreams: the next frontier for advertising? – Dr Sara C. Mednick appeared first on Sleep Junkies.

Despite our millennia-old fascination with dreams, their meaning, and their roles in our lives, it wasn’t up until the late 20th century that scientists really began to make big leaps into investigating the possible biological functions of dreams.

But despite a now vibrant and eclectic body of research and evidence of scientific theories of dreaming, their relationship to memory, cognition and our emotional lives, up until now we’ve failed to come up with an overarching framework, a ‘big idea’ to describe the biological function of our dream lives.

In a new book, When Brains Dream, two world authorities in the science of sleep and dreams make a bold leap into proposing a new theory – NEXTUP,  Network Exploration to Understand Possibilities – which elegantly encompasses a vast swathe of previously gathered evidence in dream research, but also emphasises the vital importance of narratives, the subjective experience of dreaming, and the offline processing of weak memory associations.

This episode’s guests:

Robert Stickgold is a professor at Harvard Medical School and director of the Center for Sleep and Cognition. 

Harvard: https://brain.harvard.edu/?people=robert-stickgold

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Stickgold

Antonio Zadra is a professor at the Université de Montréal and a researcher at the Center for Advanced Research in Sleep

Website: https://antoniozadra.com/

University of Montreal: https://www.ceams-carsm.ca/chercheurs/zadra

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrZdreams

History of dreaming: https://sleepjunkies.com/the-science-of-dreams-and-dreaming-a-brief-history/

Episode Homepage: https://sleepjunkies.com/a-unified-theory-of-dreaming/

The post EP:054: A unified theory of dreaming? – Robert Stickgold and Antonio Zadra appeared first on Sleep Junkies.

Does the moon affect sleep?

The idea that the moon affects human behavior dates back centuries. The ancient Greek physician, Hippocrates, believed the moon could induce madness in some people and stories of werewolves — people who turn into wolves during a full moon — are a popular part of folklore across many different cultures.

Today, tales that a full moon causes pregnant women to go into labor, induces seizures or increases the rate of psychiatric hospitalizations continue to keep mythical narratives about the moon alive. Many of these claims are mostly urban legend with little scientific backing, but there is some research to support the idea that the moon can affect sleep. And disrupted sleep does impact human behavior.

A 2013 study found subjects took five minutes longer to fall asleep, slept for 20 minutes less and spent 30% less time in deep sleep during a full moon, though a follow-up study did not replicate findings.

A 2021 study published in Science Advances tracked people living in three different communities in Argentina, all with different levels of access to electricity, and found the same sleep patterns across participants in each community — on average, people went to bed latest and slept the least three to five days before a full moon. This was true for those with or without electricity and sources of artificial light.

More research is needed to draw conclusions about how the moon affects sleep, but so far the science appears to indicate a correlation.

Why the moon affects sleep

Scientists are still unsure of the exact mechanisms for how and why the moon may affect sleep, but the brightness of the full moon is thought to play a role, says Alex Dimitriu, MD, Founder of Menlo Park Psychiatry and Sleep Medicine.

Humans are very sensitive to light and our exposure to light can have a significant impact on our circadian rhythm — the internal body clock that helps regulate sleep and wake cycles. Darkness stimulates the production of a hormone called melatonin, which helps us sleep, while exposure to light in the evening has been shown to inhibit melatonin production.

Artificial light from lamps and screens in our homes seems to have the biggest impact on melatonin production, but light from the moon can also affect circadian rhythm, Dimitru says. The moon becomes brighter in the nights leading up to a full moon, which could explain why study participants in Argentina slept the least three to five days before a full moon.

“The moon, by providing brighter light in the evening may indeed entrain our circadian rhythms,” Dimitriu says. “ Likely this takes time, being outdoors and without interference from artificial light sources. A single glance at a full moon on one night, may not be enough to alter sleep immediately.”

Another possible explanation is the moon’s gravitational pull, though more research is needed to study this link, Dimitriu says. In the Argentina study, participants slept less in the days leading up to the full moon, regardless of their exposure to artificial light, which “raises the possibility that the moon’s gravity could have a time-of-day specific effect on sleep,” the researchers say.

“As expected, the effect of the moon is diminished as more artificial light is present, but per this study an effect for moon phase persists,” Dimitriu says. “Can gravity affect melatonin or some other circadian modulator? Possibly. But we’d need that data to be sure.”

How to improve your sleep regardless of the lunar cycle

The moon may affect sleep in ways scientists are still trying to figure out, but exposure to light in your home is likely to have a bigger impact, Dimitru says. There is little you can do to influence the moon or change how it may affect your sleep, but there are steps you can take to improve your sleep hygiene and get quality sleep, regardless of how bright the moon is in the sky.

Here are some tips for improving your sleep:

• Establish regular sleep and wake times. This will help reinforce your natural sleep-wake cycle.

• Minimize your exposure to artificial light by dimming lamps in the evening and turn screens off at least half an hour before bed.

• Avoid spending time outside in the evening when the moon is at its brightest. Shut blinds in your bedroom and invest in blackout curtains if moonlight comes into your room.

• Exercise daily. Physical activity is not only good for your overall health, but can also help you feel more tired and ready for sleep at night.

For centuries, people have created stories about the moon’s mysterious impact on humans. And as scientists continue to explore this link, you can take steps to improve your sleep quality and reduce the moon’s effect on your sleep.

The post Evidence shows the moon impacts our sleep, but scientists aren’t exactly sure why appeared first on Sleep Junkies.

In the second part of our deep dive into sleep supplements we take a look at the overlapping subjects of nutrition, delivery methods, dosages, a run-down of the different categories of sleep supplements including plant-derived substances, vitamins, amino acids and more. Plus we look into the future towards the prospect of a new era of ‘nutritional sleep medicine.’

You can listen to Part 1 here: https://sleepjunkies.com/sleep-supplements-part-1/

This episode’s guest:

Jesse Cook is a 4th year Clinical Psychology graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the active Sleep Research Society Trainee Member At-Large. Jesse completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Arizona, where he established an initial passion and skillset for Sleep Research through his time as a research assistant in Dr. Richard Bootzin’s Sleep Research Laboratory.

Jesse’s research primarily focus on the assessment and treatment of persons with unexplained excessive daytime sleepiness. Additionally, he has published multiple papers evaluating the utility and ability of wearable consumer technologies as a sleep assessor, relative to PSG. You can reach Jesse by email at jdcook4@wisc.edu

Resources:

Jesse Cook Researchgate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jesse_Cook3

Jesse on Twitter: https://twitter.com/SleepAndSports

Episode Homepage: https://sleepjunkies.com/sleep-supplements-part-2

Dietary Sources of Melatonin: https://res.mdpi.com/nutrients/nutrients-09-00367/article_deploy/nutrients-09-00367-v2.pdf

The post 053: Sleep supplements: science or snake oil? Part 2 – Jesse Cook appeared first on Sleep Junkies.

When we’re seeking solutions to health problems we generally look to doctors and scientists for the best advice. But what happens when the experts don’t actually have all the answers?

This is often the case when we talk about sleep supplements. This rapidly growing market comprises a dizzying array of off-the-shelf products blending plant extracts, micronutrients, amino acids, vitamins and minerals, all of which purport to be able to help alleviate sleep problems in one way or the other.

The problems stem from the fact that whilst there exists a modest body of scientific literature showing potential efficacy for solving some sleep issues,  the sleep supplement industry – devoid of regulatory restrictions –  is forging ahead to satisfy the enormous demand for novel, non-pharmaceutical based sleep solutions.

We take a deep dive into these murky waters, exploring many of the lesser-discussed issues including the marketing of products, the distinctions between medical, anxiety and lifestyle-based sleep problems, the dichotomy of ‘pill’s vs ‘behaviour change’, the overlap of diet and nutrition, and also examining the exciting future potential of a new era of ‘nutritional sleep medicine’.

This episode’s guest:

Jesse Cook is a 4th year Clinical Psychology graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the active Sleep Research Society Trainee Member At-Large. Jesse completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Arizona, where he established an initial passion and skillset for Sleep Research through his time as a research assistant in Dr. Richard Bootzin’s Sleep Research Laboratory.

Jesse’s research primarily focus on the assessment and treatment of persons with unexplained excessive daytime sleepiness. Additionally, he has published multiple papers evaluating the utility and ability of wearable consumer technologies as a sleep assessor, relative to PSG. You can reach Jesse by email at jdcook4@wisc.edu

Resources:

Jesse Cook Researchgate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jesse_Cook3

Jesse on Twitter: https://twitter.com/SleepAndSportsv

Episode Homepage: https://sleepjunkies.com/sleep-supplements-part-1/

The post 052: Sleep supplements: science or snake oil? Part 1 – Jesse Cook appeared first on Sleep Junkies.

In today’s episode we discuss all things pregnancy and baby sleep with physician, host of the award-winning Savvy Psychologist and new mum Dr Jade Wu.

This episode’s guest:

Jade Wu, PhD, DBSM, is a Board-certified sleep psychologist and researcher at Duke University School of Medicine. She earned her PhD from Boston University and completed her clinical training at Duke. Her current research focuses on treating sleep disorders in those with chronic illness. In the clinic, her approach is grounded in both science and compassion.

Website: https://www.jadewuphd.com/

Savvy Psychologist Podcast: https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/savvy-psychologist

Twitter: https://twitter.com/jadewuphd

Episode Homepage: https://sleepjunkies.com/pregnancy-baby-sleep/

More Episodes:

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The post 051: Pregnancy and baby sleep – beyond the mom blogs: Dr Jade Wu appeared first on Sleep Junkies.

Setting our clocks back an hour every spring has long-lasting effects beyond one night of less sleep. It may seem small, but losing an hour of sleep actually disrupts our internal biological clocks, causing overall worse sleep quality, which can lead to a number of health issues, including an increased risk of disease.

For years advocates have lobbied the government to reverse course on daylight savings time (DST), but have been met with resistance from the retail and entertainment industries that stand to profit from more hours of daylight.

Here is a look at the vested economic and financial interests in promoting DST, and how this lobby conflicts with an overwhelming scientific consensus that supports reverting clocks to Standard Time, not DST.

Check out our special documentary on Daylight Saving Time

How it started

You may have heard or been taught in school that daylight savings time arose out of farmers’ needs to have more daylight to work, but that isn’t exactly the full story. The practice of setting our clocks back every spring started with economic interests to save energy during World War I, but in recent years has been pushed by special interests, including the petroleum, retail and golf industries.

These industries have a vested financial interest in DST because people tend to spend more money when there is more daylight in the evening. In fact, during a Congressional hearing regarding DST in 1986, the golf industry claimed one additional month of DST was worth $200 million in additional sales.

“The paid lobbyists support DST because forcing millions to wake earlier leads to increased morning heating, evening driving, evening air conditioning, evening retail shopping, and consumption of golf and junk food,” says Jay Pea, founder of the nonprofit Save Standard Time, an advocacy group focused on educating the public and policymakers about the harms of DST.

Lobbying from these special interests has resulted in an extension of DST. First for seven months instead of six in 1986 and then another extension to eight months in 2005 — from March to November. The special interests behind these changes are now advocating to make DST permanent.

The harms of Daylight Savings Time

The existence and extension of DST may be good business for some industries, but the practice wreaks havoc on both individual and community health. Researches estimate the clock change results in about 40 minutes less sleep, which may not seem like much, but this change disrupts biological rhythms and it can take weeks or even months for our bodies to recover. As a result, more heart attacks and strokes occur in the week after moving clocks forward compared to other weeks throughout the year.

An increase in traffic accidents also correlates with the time change as lost sleep can cause a delay in reaction times. Traffic deaths in the U.S. increase by about 17% the Monday after setting our clocks back.

“Time is not a human construct, and clocks are not arbitrary,” Pea says. “The daily rhythm of darkness and daylight is engrained in our every living cell from millennia of evolution. It affects our neurology, endocrinology, psychology, and more.”

The loss of sleep due to DST is also not an isolated event during the day of the time change, but compounds with each day we are forced to wake up earlier than we are naturally inclined.

“This permits us to leave work earlier to perceive added evening daylight, but we are not inclined to go to sleep earlier,” Pea says. “And the next day, our alarms are set to wake us earlier than we would choose, to get another jump on the day. Thus the amount and quality of sleep we get is deprived over the long term.”

This chronic lack of sleep increases the risks of several health complications, including:

• Heart disease
• Stroke
• Diabetes
• Cancer
• Depression

What’s next for DST

A recent poll shows widespread public support for ending the time change. Many local and national governments are also considering eliminating DST and replacing it with Standard Time — an approximation of the solar time that is biologically engrained in our bodies.

“When we ‘spring forward’, we change from Standard Time to DST. And when we ‘fall back’, we change back from DST to Standard Time,” Pea says. “The changes, mostly the spring forward, cause acute harms, while leaving clocks on DST leads to chronic harms.”

In the U.S., states can opt-out of DST, and some, including Hawaii and Arizona, have permanently adopted Standard Time. In 2019, the European Parliament voted to abolish time changes, but the member states of the European Union have not yet decided how to implement the decision.

Interest groups in the U.S. continue lobbying Congress to permanently adopt DST nationwide and there has been some legislation introduced to do this, but so far these efforts have stalled.

Reverting permanently to Standard Time would alleviate a lot of the problems affiliated with DST, Pea says. Standard Time allows for more light in the morning in the winter and less in the evening in the summer, which more closely aligns with our biological rhythms.

“Morning daylight is most essential to human biology,” Pea says. “Sleep deprivation is already an epidemic in the U.S., and permanent DST would make it worse. Rather than falsify clocks, essentially lying to ourselves about what time it is, we should look to better solutions that address the problem itself.”

How to deal with DST

We don’t know if or when DST is going away, but while it’s here, there are steps you can take to mitigate its harmful effects. Here are some tips:

• Prepare in the days leading up to the change. Gradually adjust your sleep and wake times two to three nights before the time change by shifting your bedtime 15 or 20 minutes earlier each night.
• Adjust other routines too. In the days leading up to the change, adjust the timing of your daily routines, like moving meals or workouts to a little earlier in the day.

• Maximize sleep on the day of the change. Set your clocks ahead in the early evening hours on Saturday (before the official time change) and go to bed at your normal time.

• Use light to your advantage. Expose yourself to early morning sunlight on Sunday to help align your internal clock with DST.

There is a vested financial interest in keeping and extending DST, but scientists agree — losing an hour of sleep when we change our clocks causes a shock to our bodies that can lead to numerous health complications. You can take steps to mitigate these harms by preparing for DST a few days before the change.

The post Daylight Savings Time: the battle between science vs commerce appeared first on Sleep Junkies.

A special documentary to celebrate our 50th episode. Featuring multiple guests, archive material, original music and plenty of intrigue, follow the labyrinthine narrative of Daylight Saving Time, the new science of chronobiology, and the clandestine monied interests pushing to extend daylight hours into the evening.

Guests in order of appearance

Barry Mitzman – https://www.barrymitzman.com/

Kimberly Honn, PhD – https://medicine.wsu.edu/overview/faculty-and-staff/kimberly-honn-ph-d/

Jay Pea – https://savestandardtime.com/

Dr Michael Grandner – https://www.michaelgrandner.com/about.html

Emily Manoogian, PhD – https://panda.salk.edu/people/

Christine Blume, PhD – https://www.christine-blume.com/

Archive Material

The Reasoning Behind Changing Daylight-Saving – NPR interview with Melissa Block and Michael Downing

Daylight Saving Time – How Is This Still A Thing? – Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO) – Youtube

Screen time and sleep – it’s not just about the blue light – Sleep Junkies Podcast

Daylight Saving Time, Grandpa Jones; Louis M. Jones – Internet Archive 

Additional Credits

Consultancy and good vibrations – Jim Carey, Inventive Audio

Original music and sound design – Dark Trash

Episode url: https://sleepjunkies.com/standard-time-documentary/

The post 050: Documentary – Big Golf, Science and the battle for Standard Time appeared first on Sleep Junkies.

Only a few years ago, the phrase consumer sleep technology was synonymous with sleep trackers, devices that monitor your nocturnal behaviours to give you insights into the mysteries of your non-waking hours.

Fast forward to 2021, where we’re in the middle of an innovation explosion of all type of gadgets, wearables, apps, smart home technologies which not only track, but also actively attempt to promote better sleep.

In today’s episode we talk to friend of the podcast, Dr Michael Grandner about this important distinction between sleep technology that measures, and tech that intervenes in our sleep.

Plus we explore some of the latest science-backed sleep devices that utilise light, sound, temperature and other esoteric techniques with strange acronyms like PEMF, TDCS, all in the mission to improve our sleep.

Dr Grandner helps us to understand where the science is at with all of the latest sleep-tech trends, including digital sleep coaching, Sp02 monitoring, light therapy wearables, bed cooling tech,  and more.

This episode’s guest:

Dr. Michael Grandner is the Director of the Sleep and Health Research Program at the University of Arizona, Director of the Behavioral Sleep Medicine Clinic at the Banner-University Medical Center, and an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the UA College of Medicine, with joint appointments in the Departments of Medicine, Psychology (UA College of Science), Nutritional Sciences (College of Agriculture and Life Sciences), and Clinical Translational Science. In addition, he is a faculty member of the Neuroscience and Physiological Sciences Graduate Interdisciplinary Programs. He is Certified in Behavioral Sleep Medicine by the American Board of Sleep Medicine and is a Diplomate in Behavioral Sleep Medicine by the Board of Behavioral Sleep Medicine.

Website: https://www.michaelgrandner.com/

University of Arizona: https://www.sleephealthresearch.com/team.html

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/grandner/

ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Michael_Grandner

Twitter: https://twitter.com/michaelgrandner

Episode Homepage: https://sleepjunkies.com/measurement-intervention-sleep-tech/

More Resources:

Guide to light therapy wearables – https://sleepgadgets.io/best-light-therapy-glasses-wearables/

PEMF and sleep – https://sleepgadgets.io/interview-welltiss-mind-pemf-device/

Matthew Walker on tDCS

More Episodes:

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The post 049: Measurement or intervention? The role of sleep technology – Dr Michael Grandner appeared first on Sleep Junkies.

What role do history, culture and economics play on our normative conceptions of sleep? How has modern American life shaped the way we define the norms of ‘healthy sleep’? Join us for a wide-ranging, thought-provoking discussion with Matthew Wolf-Meyer about his research and book, The Slumbering Masses: Sleep, Medicine and Modern American Life.

This episode’s guest:

Matthew Wolf-Meyer PhD is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Binghamton University. His work focuses on medicine, science, and media in the United States, and draws on history, contemporary experiences, and popular representations of health and illness.work focuses on how medicine, science and media in the U.S. make sense of major modern-era shifts in the expert practices of science, medicine and popular representations of health. His first book, “The Slumbering Masses,” offers insights into the complex lived realities of disorderly sleepers, the long history of sleep science and the global impacts of the exportation of American sleep.

Website: https://matthewwolfmeyer.com/

Binghamton University: https://www.binghamton.edu/anthropology/faculty/profile.html?id=mwolfmey

Twitter: https://twitter.com/m_wolf_meyer

Episode Homepage: https://sleepjunkies.com/slumbering-masses/

More Episodes:

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The post 048: Rethinking Sleep In Modern American Life – Matthew Wolf-Meyer appeared first on Sleep Junkies.