Why Do We Sleep?

This small island in the Bay of Bengal is home to one of the last uncontacted peoples on the planet -- and they seem to want to keep it that way. Learn how North Sentinel Island has remained independent in this episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://history.howstuf ... Show More

Public death notices about common people are a fairly recent development, and they've changed a lot since their inception. Learn how obituaries went from dry statements to tributes to truth in this episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://people.howstuffworks.com/cul ... Show More

When many people share a false memory, that's the Mandela Effect in action -- but how does it happen? Learn how our individual brains misremember stuff and how false memories can spread in this classic episode of BrainStuff.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. 

We spend about a third of our lives either sleeping or trying to fall asleep. Why are we so bad at it? We ask behavioral sleep specialist Jade Wu. This episode was produced by Hady Mawajdeh and Carla Javier, edited by Miranda Kennedy, fact checked by Melissa Hirsch, engineered by ... Show More

Lots of people talk in their sleep, especially kids!  Have you ever heard anyone babbling away in the middle of the night?  Or maybe someone has told you that you do it?  Sleep talking is totally normal, but why do we do it?  We asked sleep specialist Chris Winter to help us find ... Show More

As the sleep tracking industry booms, some worry that it could be driving orthosomnia, the medical term for an unhealthy obsession with attaining perfect sleep, usually driven by a wearable device. Madeleine Finlay speaks to consultant neurologist and sleep physician Dr Guy Lesch ... Show More

Love it or hate it, it's time to face facts -- we all gotta sleep! Every day, if possible. This week we're discussing all the things that happen when we turn out the lights and go unconscious for several hours each night. Also, Tom explains a harrowing bathroom mishap.See Privacy ... Show More

According to a YouGov study from 2022, 20% of Brits sleep naked. Men are actually more likely to do so than women, with a rate of 25% compared to 15%.And those who do so tend to talk up the health benefits. For example, science suggests that sleeping naked might help regulate you ... Show More

In this episode—in which Abby confronts my sister and me about our inability to have fun—discover:1. The one “fun” post that caused more people to unfollow me on social media than any other.2. Why girls may disassociate early from their ability to access fun.3. Science’s insisten ... Show More

Quicker decision making and faster reaction times, here's how you sleep like an Olympian Dr Cheri Mah is a sleep scientist and Professor at the Stanford Sleep Medicine Centre, specialising in the relationship between sleep and performance in elite athletes.  In this conversation, ... Show More

According to Mental Health UK, nearly one in five people in the country don’t get enough sleep. We’ve talked about various types of sleep disorder in the past on Do You Really Know and the link between good sleep and good health is well established.Many people turn to sleeping pi ... Show More

A few years ago, I started waking up at three o’clock every morning. Over the years, I’d read many articles about the importance of rest, so I knew the research was unequivocal: Quality sleep supports cognitive performance and lowers the risk of diseases and health conditions suc ... Show More

Have you ever started to fall asleep and then suddenly – whoa! – you jolt awake? What’s up with that? We asked sleep specialist Chris Winter to help us find the answer. Got a question that has you losing sleep? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll pull an all-nighter ... Show More