Like it or loathe it, we all need sleep. Pretty much every animal sleeps and given the risks associated with being unconscious for periods of time then it must be pretty important. In a previous episode with Dr Kailas Roberts we discussed how sleep helps to clear the build up of protein plaques or amyloid which may be a factor in dementia. In this episode we delve much deeper into sleep, with 2 experts: Dr Jonathan Charest is the Director of Athlete Sleep Services at the Centre for Sleep & Human Performance in Calgary and Jesse Cook, a Clinical Psych PhD Student & sleep researcher who has particular interest in advancing clinical care of hypersomnia & wearable sleep tech.

Lots of us are now using wearables, many of which claim to be able to measure our sleep and the quality of our sleep. But how accurate are they? Jesse talked about his research into wearables and tracking the improvements in technology over the last 5 years or so. His research findings may surprise you. Whilst data can be useful, there is no substitute for learning to understand how we feel - ‘interoception’ - and that’s also true of sleep.

How much sleep do we need? How can we improve our sleep time and quality Key to answering these questions is understanding our natural circadian rhythms and Jess and Jonathan really dig into what they are; how you can use them to improve your sleep and how you can manipulate them. Oh and Jonathan does his best Bono impression!! No really turns out the orange glasses really are a thing - blue blocking glasses

You can also listen to Jonathan talking about sleep, injury & performance on this sports therapy podcast

On the same podcast, Jesse talks in depth about the sleep epidemic

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