Challenging our assumptions about sleep

Sleep is essential to our lives, but our perception of how it functions in our non-waking life is not always well understood. So in the mires of our busy daily lives do we overlook sleep by seeing it as a means of refilling our energy for a productive day? By questioning this assumption, one term rolls from out of the haze: The ‘Circadian Rhythm’.

Dr. Kaylee Byers speaks with Dr. Hiroki Ueda from the University of Tokyo in the Faculty of Medicine on demystifying the links between our sleep and genomics. Then neuroscientist Dr. Andrew Coogan shares the connection between sleep and ADHD. Finally, we hear from Dr. Ueda and Dr. Hiroshi Ono, from Hitotsubashi University Business School, on how their homeland of Japan is reckoning with an off-balance relationship with sleep and work.

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Highlights:

(06:37) - Clocks in our bodies, understanding Circadian Rythms

(10:17) - Attention Hyperactivity Deficit Disorder and later sleep, a chicken or egg dilemma

(15:19) - Challenging overwork in Japan and the importance of sleep

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Learn-A-Long: https://bit.ly/47PXwuv

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Resources:

Molecular Mechanisms of REM Sleep | Neurosci

The ability to dream may be genetic | Canadian Broadcast Corporation (CBC)

Next-Generation Mice Genetics for Circadian Studies | Neuromethods

Evolution of temporal order in living organisms | Journal of Circadian Rhythms

Learn about the bunker experiment to understand the human biological clock | Britannica

Genetic sleep deprivation: using sleep mutants to study sleep functions | EMBO reports

Circadian rhythms and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: The what, the when and the why | Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry

Insomnia: Definition, Prevalence, Etiology, and Consequences | Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine

No Sleep for Japan? Survey Reveals Half of Population May Have Insomnia | Nippon.com

Why Sleep Matters: Quantifying the Economic Costs of Insufficient Sleep | Rand Corporation

Japan has some of the longest working hours in the world. It’s trying to change | CNBC

Announcement of the establishment of the nonpartisan "Parliamentary League to Promote Initiatives for People's Quality Sleep" | Sleeping Council Federation

Founder/Director CTO Yasumi Ueda gave a speech at the inaugural general meeting of the nonpartisan "Parliamentary League to Promote Initiatives for People's Quality Sleep" | ACCELStars

Free-running circadian activity rhythms in free-living beaver (Castor canadensis) | Journal of Comparative Physiology

Credits:

Dr. Rackeb Tesfaye

Curbing death by overwork | Financial Times

Why does Japan Work So Hard? | CNBC Explains

Worked to Death: Japan questions high-pressure corporate culture | France 24 English

Inside Japan’s growing ‘lonely death’ clean-up service | CNN International

How can governments help stop overwork? | The Question | CBC News: The National