About this episode

Emily and Perry explore the complexities of sleep, its evolutionary significance, and how to improve sleep quality and quantity.

This week, Emily and Perry tackle the weirdest, most wonderful thing all living things do: sleep. If evolution has forced us to be completely vulnerable for eight hours at a stretch, there must be a darn good reason. So what is actually happening to our brains when we sleep? What disrupts it, and how do we optimize for quality and quantity? And what are the risks of getting too little sleep...and enlisting chemical help to get more? Plus: screwworm is (appropriately) nightmare fuel, a cure for Ozempic butt, and hard seltzer vs. your kidneys. Submit a question for our weekly mailbag at wellnessactually.fm. ParentData episode on the placenta. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

People in this episode

Hosts: Emily Oster, Perry Wilson

Topics covered

• sleep
• brain function
• sleep disruption
• sleep optimization
• health risks
• chemical sleep aids

Keywords

• sleep
• brain
• evolution
• disruption
• optimization
• health risks
• Ozempic
• hard seltzer

Mentioned in this episode

Products: Ozempic, hard seltzer

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