
Why We Sleep - The Great Sleep Challenge
From The Self-Driven Child by Ned Johnson
December 16, 2025 · 38 min · Season 1 · Episode 65
About this episode
The episode explores the importance of sleep and its impact on learning and emotional health with Dr. William Stixrud.
In this episode of The Self-Driven Child Podcast, I sit down with my longtime partner, co-author, and neuropsychologist Dr. William Stixrud to dig deep into something hiding in plain sight: sleep. We talk about why so many kids, teens, and frankly adults are walking around chronically exhausted—and what that’s quietly doing to learning, emotional health, and overall well-being. This conversation grew out of a powerful question a student asked us after we issued a real-world “sleep challenge,”...
People in this episode
Host: Ned Johnson
Guest: Dr. William Stixrud
Topics covered
- sleep
- education
- emotional health
- well-being
- parenting
- chronic exhaustion
Keywords
- sleep
- chronic exhaustion
- learning
- emotional health
- well-being
- parenting
- teens
Mentioned in this episode
Books & works: The Self-Driven Child Podcast
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