Sleep Unplugged with Dr. Chris Winter – Details, episodes & analysis

There is no topic in sleep more likely to incite a riot between sleep experts than the concept of a sleep debt. Does it really exist? Can a sleep debt ever be repaid? If so, how long? In this episode, we will:

• Define sleep debt
• Examine a new population study on the effects of sleep debt on cardiovascular risk
• Attempt to consolidate the available research into guidelines for dealing effectively with sleep debt
• Differentiate between sleep debt responses in insomnia sufferers and sleep deprived individuals
• Touch on how accurately understanding personal sleep need directly impacts sleep debt

Produced by: Maeve Winter

More

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

Thanks for listening and sleep well!

We have touched on inflammation as a central pathway connecting sleep disorders and dementia (episode 99), injury (episode 70), pain (episode 48), and cardiovascular disease (episode 35). In this episode, we shine the spotlight directly on inflammation and learn how it is connected to sleep. In this episode we will:

• Examine the reciprocal relationship between inflammation and sleep
• Understand how cytokines play a role in the inflammatory cascade, but also in sleep regulation
• Learn the circumstances that tend to raise cytokine levels, including sleep deprivation, sleep disruption, and excessive sleep
• Explore severe situations of sleep deprivation in animal models and learn how the resultant "cytokine storm" is virtually incompatible with life
• Follow the link between inflammation and chronic diseases, including dementia

Produced by: Maeve Winter

More

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

Thanks for listening and sleep well!

Lately, much seems to be made about the relationship between air quality and sleep. Air purification systems have jumped on the sleep bandwagon as have good old fashioned house plants. But is there any evidence supporting this connection? In this episode we will:

• Look at research connecting air quality and sleep quality among various populations
• Evaluate the research linking air quality measures and sleep metrics in different countries
• List the possible mechanisms through which air quality might affect sleep
• Discuss some prospective studies aiming to create different air quality sleeping environments and determine how they do or don't affect sleep and associated variables
• Touch upon the link between air quality and general performance
• Expand upon the role indoor plants play in relationship to an individual's sleep and mood
• Answer the questions as to whether or not plants can effectively filter indoor air quality in a meaningful way

Produced by: Maeve Winter

More

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

Thanks for listening and sleep well!

When it comes to sleep, I'm not sure there a topic that frustrates more than waking up at night (sometimes referred to as sleep maintenance insomnia). The struggle to make it from bedtime to wake can be a long and tortuous journey for some.  In this episode we will:

• explore the history of sleep and nocturnal awakenings 
• define the prevalence of nocturnal awakenings in the adult population
• understand both the definition of arousal and its relationship to awakenings
• investigate the concept of sleep efficiency, how it relates to sleep expectation versus sleep need, and how this itself can lead to increased awakenings at night
• determine how the presence or absence of excessive sleepiness can help to understand the cause and seriousness of nocturnal awakenings
• learn the risk factors and predictors that often lead to nocturnal awakenings
• find out that an individual's determination of the cause of their awakenings can be unreliable
• discuss the role of sleep studies in determining if there are pathological causes for nocturnal awakenings
• explore the role of anxiety and worry in nocturnal awakenings
• summarize the numerous studies that have shown the role of exercise in reducing both frequency and duration of nocturnal awakenings

Produced by: Maeve Winter

More

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

Thanks for listening and sleep well!

Even though circadian rhythms seem initially to be exclusively linked to our sleep, these primitive timing mechanisms reach back to virtually the dawn of life as we know it. Understanding circadian pathways lays the groundwork for not only understanding circadian disorders like jet lag and shift work, but also for understanding how to optimize our own health. In this episode we will:

• define circadian rhythms
• understand the mechanisms in the nervous system that govern circadian rhythms and biological timing
• find out about some of the early pioneers of circadian science and how their experiments helped to shed light on intrinsic rhythms
• learn why human circadian rhythms are slightly longer than 24 hours
• list the multiple systems within our bodies that depend on these rhythms
• examine research that indicates how harmful biological timing is to our health and the diseases/conditions they influence
• determine ways to optimize our own health through improved circadian scheduling

Produced by: Maeve Winter

More

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

Thanks for listening and sleep well!

Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) is a unique and relatively common sleep disorder that quietly affects the sleep of 15% of individuals (by some generous accounts). Despite its initial description dating back to 1672, it still remains somewhat of a mystery--suffered miserably by many but often missed as a sleep diagnosis. In this episode, we will:

• learn the unusual history of the multiple 'discoveries' of RLS
• give an overview of the symptoms of RLS and the varied ways in which they are described and experienced
• dissect the diagnostic criteria of RLS
• differentiate primary RLS from secondary RLS
• list the risk factors for RLS including low iron, pregnancy, and certain medications
• discuss the treatments (both medicinal and non) of RLS including weighted blankets

Produced by: Maeve Winter

More

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

Thanks for listening and sleep well!

The intersection of sleep and athletic performance, relatively speaking, is a new frontier. In the last two decades, the interest in how sleep optimization can improve achievement within sports has exploded. In this episode I will discuss:

• the history of how sleep has been looked at in sports and the earliest observations on the subject
• how I became interested and eventually involved with research in sleep and sport
• the story behind my initial studies with Major League Baseball and travel
• the topic of circadian advantage and how we measured it over ten years of Major League Baseball games
• how chronotype seems to impact the performance timing of elite athletes
• the influence of sleepiness on athletic performance, success in a sport, and potentially longevity as an athlete
• other influential research and researchers in the field
• what it all means for not only professional sports organizations, but also the average athlete

Produced by: Maeve Winter

More

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

Thanks for listening and sleep well!

As a sleep physician, I am constantly confronted with sleeping pills and the misunderstanding that seems to be inherent to their existence. While I do feel like there are specific instances where sleeping pills are helpful, I think the vast majority of sleep experts and behavioral sleep therapists would generally frown upon their use. In this episode, we will cover:

• why I feel sleeping pills are largely unnecessary, particularly given the fact that everyone sleeps (Episode 2)
• to whom these pills are marketed and how ad prey upon fear of sleeplessness as a means to create a market for their product
• the surprisingly modest sleep improvement results (sleep latency, sleep efficiency) these medications produce and how these stand in direct opposition to what the average user thinks is happening
• the risk of sleeping pills
• how the relevance of these promoted benefits is of unclear significance
• failure of sleeping pill research to prove health or performance benefits
• the repetitive history of the sleeping pill cycle and how history has judged the fate of many that have come before

Produced by: Maeve Winter

More

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

Thanks for listening and sleep well!

In January of 2015, I spent the night in a haunted hotel in Oklahoma City and wrote about the experience in The Huffington Post. That would begin a series of articles I called "Sleeping Around" where I explored unusual sleeping situations and what they could teach us about our own sleep.

In 2020, I began working with Sleep.com to create content for their new website completely devoted to sleep and topics surrounding it.  One day, Sam Bennett, their senior vice president of marketing asked me what my dream sleep project would be. 

Easy. I want to make a film version of Sleeping Around.

A few weeks later we were filming three episodes: a few days on the road with musical artist Shakey Graves, 24 hours with the Fort Worth Fire Department, and a night sleeping on a portaledge with professional Red Bull climber Sasha Digiulian. 

To mark the milestone of recording our tenth episode, I wanted to record this bonus episode for listeners to take them behind the scenes of this project, and hopefully share why it is so important to me. 

Produced by: Maeve Winter

More

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

Thanks for listening and sleep well!

Alarms clocks may be responsible for the most dreaded sound in our lives. Despite their constant presence, how do you choose the right alarm for your circumstances and maybe more importantly, how does that alarm fit into a healthy morning routine?

In this episode we will cover: 

• the definition of sleep inertia and why some people struggle to wake up in the morning
• the science behind the different types of sounds alarm clocks utilize and which tend to awaken individuals more effectively
• the circadian influence of alarm clocks that utilize lights
• the ‘Snooze Button’ and should you use it
• strategies for utilizing escalating alarms 
• the variety of more extreme alarms (shaking a bed, shocking a sleeper) for helping people awaken on time.
• the importance of a scheduled awakening and how it fits with other activities in the morning

Produced by: Maeve Winter

More

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

Thanks for listening and sleep well!