The Atlantic recently published a feature article entitled "Why Americans Can't Sleep." The article was written by Jennifer Senior, and fantastically accomplished writer (2022 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing, the 2022 National Magazine Award for Feature Writing, and the 2024 National Magazine Award for Columns & Essays) and details not only her own personal struggles with insomnia, but also attempts to dive deeper into sleep science and what she describes as a "public health emergency." In this episode, we will:

• Look at this article in a list of similar articles and books over the decades that detail harrowing personal accounts of insomnia
• Understand why the hook of these articles seems to mirror that of other news/extreme weather, where the thrust of the piece is centered around the insomnia being "the worst" and "the most severe"
• Discuss how failure to differentiate sleep deprivation and insomnia can lead to erroneous conclusions
• Examine how these pieces almost uniformly fail to define insomnia, and in doing so fail to define what a successful outcome/solution would look like. In other words, what does "work" mean?
• Imagine what a truly revolutionary article about insomnia might look like

Produced by: Maeve Winter

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• The Sleep Solution and The Rested Child

Thanks for listening and sleep well!

Bruxism or teeth grinding is a remarkably common occurrence and often happens during our nightly sleep period, disrupting sleep quality and continuity. In this episode we will:

• Define bruxism
• Explore the epidemiology of the condition
• Look at some of the causes of teeth grinding
• Touch upon proposed mechanisms of bruxism
• Review recent bruxism research
• List common treatments for the condition

Produced by: Maeve Winter

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• Twitter: @drchriswinter
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• The Sleep Solution and The Rested Child

Thanks for listening and sleep well!

Weight loss drugs are everywhere and recently Zepbound (tirzepitide) made big news when it became the first FDA-approved sleep apnea therapy for mild to moderate sleep apnea. In this episode, we will:

• Introduce and explain weight loss medications
• Review the studies that convinced the FDA to approve Zepbound for sleep apnea
• Provide an overview on this class of weight loss medications
• Evaluate the risks and determine who is a best match for this therapy
• Touch on the cost and difficulty in getting these drugs approved
• Revisit Apnimed's SynAIRgy press release and how it relates to our discussion in episode 110 of the podcast

Produced by: Maeve Winter

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• The Sleep Solution and The Rested Child

Thanks for listening and sleep well!

You are looking live at the Seattle Conference Center where sleep researchers from around the world are converging to carry around tote bags and share the latest and greatest sleep research. I was there and saw it all. In this episode we will:

• Discuss AI and its emerging role in sleep research
• Learn why napping continues to show positives in attention and performance
• Continue the focus on chrononutrition and how sleep and circadian factors affect metabolism
• Witness the emergence of women's health and menstrual timing and how it is gaining traction in the sleep community
• Differentiate subjective sleep versus reality in surprising ways
• Test novel wearable and headbands in sleep
• Evaluate the heightened focus on adolescent sleep
• Praise the continued efforts to study sleep and it's impact on mood

Produced by: Maeve Winter

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

Thanks for listening and sleep well!

So far on the podcast we had talked about sleep apnea as well as the treatments CPAP and surgery. On this episode of the podcast, we discuss another popular treatment option: oral appliances. In this episode we will:

• Review the pathophysiology of obstructive sleep apnea
• Outline the mechanism via which oral appliance work
• List the pros and cons of oral appliance for surgery
• Discuss how the oral appliance fits into the landscape of sleep apnea therapy

Produced by: Maeve Winter

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

Thanks for listening and sleep well!

One of the biggest obstacles in insomnia treatment is the perceived threat of physical harm related to the sleep difficulty. It's a major cog in the insomnia-fear-arousal cycle. In this episode we will:

• Utilize two case studies to illustrate the disruption that fear of harm causes with insomnia recovery
•  Discuss insomnia is a disorder of distress, not danger
• Talk about the lack of any evidence that acute sleep loss causes medical harm
• Challenge the catastrophizing that characterizes insomnia
• Contrast behavioral and cognitive therapies over medical therapies

Produced by: Maeve Winter

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

Thanks for listening and sleep well!

When we did the snooze button episode of the podcast, it all started with a declaration that the snooze button was the worst thing for sleep. While it's fairly clear the snooze button is not, what is? In this episode, we list the top 10 worst things for sleep. In this episode we will:

• List what I believe the top ten worst things for sleep are
• Provide a nugget of research to back it up
• This will be a dynamic list that we will update from time to time

Produced by: Maeve Winter

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

Thanks for listening and sleep well!

Sweating at night is a common complaint in the sleep clinic. While night sweats are often thought of as being the exclusive domain of post-menopausal women, their causes can be surprisingly varied. In this episode we will:

• Review the epidemiology of night sweats
• List the cause both benign and more concerning
• Discuss how night sweats specifically impact sleep quality and architecture
• Review interventions to help with the problem

Produced by: Maeve Winter

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

Thanks for listening and sleep well!

When it comes to symptoms that cause us to seek medical help, there are few that top pain. Pain occupies a unique space within the world of sleep, in particular back, neck, and shoulder pain. In this episode we will:

• Provide an overview of sleep-related pain
• Explore the relationship between sleep disturbances and pain
• Learn how sleep disturbances can be a strong predictor of the development of pain
• Examine studies linking REM sleep loss and increased pain indices
• Review specific sleep research on the various regions of pain
• List treatment options and weigh their effectiveness

Produced by: Maeve Winter

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

Thanks for listening and sleep well!

Over the last several years, adult 'bedtime stories' have become a ubiquitous internet method used by many to help themselves fall asleep at night. In this episode we will:

• Define bedtime stories
• Explore what makes them useful for some as a bedtime ritual for sleep
• Discuss the role these techniques play in insomnia
• Dissect the ways in which these stores could actually work against someone overcoming their insomnia
• Think about the specific role these stories can play in healthy insomnia recovery

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!