Sleep Unplugged with Dr. Chris Winter

Saunas and cold-water tanks are everywhere in their personal fitness and recover space. These modalities have also been linked to improving sleep parameters, but is there any science behind the claims? In this episode, we will:Examine the use of sauna therapy and cold-water immersion (CWI) in elite athletics, and the relative adoption rate for bothDiscuss the literature linking sauna/heat therapy with improved health and longevity, particularly in the cardiovascular space, but also emerging in the cognitive health spaceDefine hormesis and link it to these therapiesExplore the role of sauna therapy as an exercise mimetic, and how that can act to explain the health benefits as well as the sleep benefits of sauna therapyLink sauna therapy to inflammatory and immune modulationTouch upon other potential pathways that sauna therapy could benefit sleepClarify the confusion about cold water therapy timing and sleepReview evidence from research showing CWI therapy earlier in the day improving slow wave sleep and reducing sleep latencyProduced by: Maeve WinterMore Twitter: @drchriswinter IG: @drchriwinter Threads: @drchriswinter Bluesky: @drchriswinter The Sleep Solution and The Rested Child Thanks for listening and sleep well!

One of the most common questions I am asked about sleep is, "What are the adverse health consequences of inadequate sleep?"  While I am quick to answer something related to cardiovascular or cognitive health, physical injury is not one that comes to mind immediately, but new evidence suggests it should. In this episode, we will:Discuss sleep mechanisms that might relate to increased injuryInvestigate how inadequate sleep may influence the immune system and inflammatory processes of the bodyFocus on cognitive changes, particularly in the prefrontal cortex, that might lend to an increased risk of injuryTouch upon concentration and focus impairments as supplemental aspects leading to increased injury riskReview data within athlete, adult, high school, and juvenile populations that show increased injury risk in sleep deprived individualsOutline steps that can be taken to address sleep and injury risk factorsProduced by: Maeve WinterMore Twitter: @drchriswinter IG: @drchriwinter Threads: @drchriswinter Bluesky: @drchriswinter The Sleep Solution and The Rested Child Thanks for listening and sleep well!

Perhaps the most common sleep disorder in the world is sleep talking. It most likely affects at least half of all individuals at some point in their life. With the condition being this common, there are still many misunderstandings about sleep talking. In this episode we will:Define sleep talking as a parasomniaReview the incidence of sleep talking, the hereditary nature, and how it changes over timeDifferentiate it from taking during REM sleepList the risk factors for somniloquyCategorize disorders that may lead to sleep talkingTouch upon treatment for somniloquyProduced by: Maeve WinterMore Twitter: @drchriswinter IG: @drchriwinter Threads: @drchriswinter Bluesky: @drchriswinter The Sleep Solution and The Rested Child Thanks for listening and sleep well!

The perinatal sleep experience is often talked about in less than glowing terms. It's often a situation that is cannot be helped, it simply must be endured.  In this episode, we will:Look at the common changes that occur during the pregnancy period, trimester by trimesterReview the incidence of sleep disturbances in all pregnant individualsContrast the incidence of sleep disturbances in women with psychiatric diagnoses versus women without psychiatric disordersExamine how increased sleep as well as decreased sleep during pregnancy can be predictive of depression and psychotic episodes respectivelyEvaluate some common perinatal sleep mythsEpisode Written by Maeve WinterProduced by: Maeve WinterMore Twitter: @drchriswinter IG: @drchriwinter Threads: @drchriswinter Bluesky: @drchriswinter The Sleep Solution and The Rested Child Thanks for listening and sleep well!

Insomnia is a common sleep disorder that we have discussed frequently on this podcast. It's also a disorder that can have its origins in other sleep and medical disorders.  Many disorders can masquerade as simple insomnia, and knowing the true underlying cause can be the difference between solving a medical mystery and suffering needlessly. In this episode, we will:Differentiate between primary and secondary insomniaReview the medications that often disrupt sleepBreakdown the reasons sleep apnea, restless legs syndrome, and narcolepsy can confound medical providers as it pertains to insomniaTouch on paroxysmal disorders like epilepsy/seizures and migraine and how they can be mistaken for insomniaSpotlight menopause and pregnancy as an insomnia pretenderLook at the sleep consequences of neurocognitive disorders like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseaseShowcase pain and itching as unusual causes of insomnia-like behaviorTalk about gastrointestinal disorders like gastroesophageal reflux disease and irritable bowl syndromeSprinkle in several other medical problems that can behave like insomniaProduced by: Maeve WinterMore Twitter: @drchriswinter IG: @drchriwinter Threads: @drchriswinter Bluesky: @drchriswinter The Sleep Solution and The Rested Child Thanks for listening and sleep well!

The promise of youth eternal is ubiquitous, and is often related to some new sleep intervention. When it comes to dialing back the years, what is fact and what is fiction? In this episode we will:List the sleep variables most commonly manipulated to improve health and longevityUnderstand the relationship between the sleep, testosterone, and cortisol and its impact on insulin and endocrinological healthRevisit exercise and sleep as it pertains to longevityTouch upon lighting and how it relates to sleep and longevityReview digital technology's role in sleep and healthFinish with the relationship between deep sleep/slow wave sleep and longevityProduced by: Maeve WinterMore Twitter: @drchriswinter IG: @drchriwinter Threads: @drchriswinter Bluesky: @drchriswinter The Sleep Solution and The Rested Child Thanks for listening and sleep well!

We have touched upon REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD) in many episodes of the podcast, but it's never been the star. An individual acting out their dreams can be distressing, and understanding the disorder has many layers. In this episode we will:Describe the features of RBD and what it clinically looks likeList the characteristics of the disorder and how it fits into the parasomnia familyReview the incidence based upon ageDifferentiate primary (idiopathic) from secondary RBDTouch upon conditions that mimic RBD and why differentiating these is importantReview treatment optionsDiscuss the relationship between a diagnosis of idiopathic RBD and its predictive value related to neurodegenerative disordersOutline how clinicians should handle the sensitive nature of this condition when speaking to patientsProduced by: Maeve WinterMore Twitter: @drchriswinter IG: @drchriwinter Threads: @drchriswinter Bluesky: @drchriswinter The Sleep Solution and The Rested Child Thanks for listening and sleep well!

It's that time of the year again...football season. With the excitement building as rivalries renew both at the collegiate and professional level, it seems an appropriate time to look at the sleep through the lens of the sport of American football. In this episode we will:Preface the episode by considering the first athletic trainer in history, James Robinson of HarvardExplore some of the early research looking as sleep and football player/team performanceDissect the controversy regarding the actual risk of sleep disordered breathing in American football playersDifferentiate the differences between professional football sleep and collegiate sleep both in and out of seasonTouch upon the evidence for increased injury in underslept playersLook ahead to innovative programs designed to manage the sleep of football players both active and retiredProduced by: Maeve WinterMore Twitter: @drchriswinter IG: @drchriwinter Threads: @drchriswinter Bluesky: @drchriswinter The Sleep Solution and The Rested Child Thanks for listening and sleep well!

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 sleepList the factors that along with anxiety, often influence sleepThink about the underlying mechanisms that relate sleep to anxietyDissect the bidirectional relationship between sleep quality and anxietyReview the initial sleep interventionsExplore the use of novel mechanisms for refractory anxiety/insomniaProduced by: Maeve WinterMore Twitter: @drchriswinter IG: @drchriwinter Threads: @drchriswinter Bluesky: @drchriswinter The Sleep Solution and The Rested Child Thanks for listening and sleep well!

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 studiesReview the discovery of the glymphatic system and how it is not only involved in cognitive health but also influenced by sleepLearn how slow wave sleep/deep sleep primes our brains to learningDifferentiate the solidification/activation of memory by deep sleep versus the linkage and solidification of sleep by REM sleepContrast declarative hippocampal memory storage via slow wave sleep and implicit memory stored outside the hippocampusExplore various rodent and human models for studying memoryIntroduce the technique and science behind Targeted Sensory ReactivationProduced by: Maeve WinterMore Twitter: @drchriswinter IG: @drchriwinter Threads: @drchriswinter Bluesky: @drchriswinter The Sleep Solution and The Rested Child Thanks for listening and sleep well!