Our first guest is Prof Jason Rihel, joins us as we discuss sleep. We start off with circadian rhythms, highlighting seasonal affective disorder (winter depression), then continue into understanding the science of sleep, touching on modulation by substances like alcohol, caffeine and cannabis, and then we focus on sleep disorders and diseases related to sleep such as insomnia and Alzheimer’s disease, respectively! 

Timestamps:

00:00:00 Introduction to Prof Jason Rihel’s Academic Background 

00:04:15 Circadian rhythms in zebrafish vs humans 

00:05:28 Blind Cavefish, do they have circadian clocks?

00:10:15 Seasonal affective disorder - how light affects humans

00:13:20 Breaking down the sleep stages

00:17:20 What happens to you when you lose sleep?

00:18:58 Alcohol and Caffeine on Sleep

00:22:00 CBD and THC on Sleep 

00:26:54 Insomnia 

00:29:43 Melatonin

00:34:24 Sleep and Neurodegenerative Diseases

00:40:20 Influence of genetics on Sleep  

00:43:35 Genetic Enigma - Superhumans?

00:45:13 Naps

00:46:56 Sleep Hygiene 

00:52:06 Fun fact 

Elephant seal diving research paper: Jessica M. Kendall-Bar et al. , Brain activity of diving seals reveals short sleep cycles at depth. Science 380,260-265(2023). DOI:10.1126/science.adf0566