In this second part, Dr. Christian Benedict (Department of Pharmaceutical Biosciences, Research and Pharmacology at Uppsala University, Sweden) explains how our sleep changes with aging and upon different challenges of adult life. We discuss the so-called gold-standard method for measuring sleep (Polysomnography, PSG) and how modern wearable technologies perform compared to PSG. In this context, Christian evaluates the potential value of measuring heart rate variability (HRV) to assess sleep quality. He also emphasizes the health threat through obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and how to use simple self-monitoring technologies to determine if you may be affected by OSA yourself. Lastly, we acknowledge poor sleep as a general health risk but also discuss limitations and problems that can arise from overstating this.

Chapters:

(0:00:12) Intro

(0:02:20) Aging and sleep

(0:11:10) Polysomnography (PSG)

(0:22:25) Sleep wearables & HRV

(0:27:07) Obstructive sleep apnea

(0:33:10) Limitations of wearables

(0:36:41) Sleep across chronotypes

(0:44:50) Poor sleep as a health risk?

(0:55:19) Outro

Studies that Christian refers to:

Meta-analysis (2004) PSG data over the lifespan

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15586779/

Paper on app findings of almost a million people asked on “how long do you sleep?”

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36509747/

Studies on PSG vs. some commercial wearables ?

https://jcsm.aasm.org/doi/10.5664/jcsm.7128

Sleep apnea: Spotlight article with Jesse Cooks and Jonathan Cedernaes

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33180697/

Lancet Respiratory Medicine review, 425 million people suffer from moderate to severeobstructive sleep apnea

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31300334/

Ad-hoc sleep apnea screening in patients admitted to the hospital, 80% are not aware of it

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19186102/

Australian study using a measurement pillow to track sleep apnea

https://www.atsjournals.org/doi/full/10.1164/rccm.202107-1761OC

Christian’s work (2015) those who have over 40 years regular sleep problems have an increased risk for Alzheimer’s

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25438949/

Studies comparing people with kids and without kids, those with kids live longer

https://jech.bmj.com/content/71/5/424

How to contact Christian Benedict:

Email: [email protected]

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-benedict-a25b1615a/