What I Learned from Tracking My Sleep with Fitbit for Two Months
If someone had told me a year ago that he sleeps with his watch on at night, I’d probably wonder just how eccentric of a personality I was dealing with.… Read more
Sleep
Our Dreams Have Many Purposes, Changing Across the Lifespan
lthough radically different in terms of their content and feel, the range of dream states are just as complex as waking states. If we look across an individual’s lifetime, we… Read more
The Wisdom of the Sloth: Is Sleep a Lost Virtue?
In the sixth century, Pope Gregory I compiled an infamous list of seven deadly sins. Of these seven, sloth is the only sin named for an animal in English. But… Read more
How Binaural Beats Affect Your Brain – and How They Don’t
he beat is low and steady – but it’s all just in my head… While I’m sitting on my couch, listening to some smooth jazz, there is a faint beat… Read more
The inescapable nightmare of fatal familial insomnia
A family curse
During the early 1980’s, an Italian physician was investigating a mysterious and dreadful disease that had long plagued his family. In earlier generations, this disease had killed… Read more
Weird animal brain: Bottlenose dolphin
Marine mammals, such as dolphins, whales, and porpoises, spend their entire lives at sea. Like us, they need to breathe, avoid danger, and care for their young. Like us, they… Read more
Melatonin: An Old Hormone with New Tricks
Melatonin: you’ve undoubtedly seen it in the supplement aisle at the drugstore…that natural sleep remedy your aunt recommended once, sounding vaguely like a portmanteau of mellow and serotonin. But between… Read more
Screensavers of the Brain: The Science of Dreaming
Each night, you place your head on your pillow, close your eyes, and, barring insomnia, you lose consciousness of the world around you, drifting into blissful oblivion. Eventually, you reawaken,… Read more
Messing with the ‘Flip-Flop’ Switch: Why Getting Sick Makes You Sleepy
We all know how it feels to be sick. The fatigue, increased sleep, and general malaise that accompany a cold are the primary reasons people stay bedridden when ill. Even… Read more
WIDE AWAKE at #SfN14
There’s always one person snoring through the talk you’re trying to listen to at SfN. That person might even be you at some point during this meeting! Whether you are… Read more