The Purpose of Your Nap Naps are back in the news. Air traffic controllers, pilots, truck drivers, and your average citizen are falling asleep in droves – with sometimes fatal results. For a chronically sleep deprived population, can naps restore and rebuild? Yes. Naps can return function to many sleepy people. But rest’s capacity to […]
Do we fall sleep one neuron at a time? (5/11/11)
Sleep Is Local Think globally, act locally. That old political mantra also is true of the brain – including sleep. The American model of sleep is relatively simple – light switch on, light switch off. We go out “like a light,” or as others put it, “lie down and die.” Then the light switch goes […]
Right, left or back – what’s best for good sleep (position matters)? (5/6/11)
Position Matters Position is the thing in life – or so my grandmother would tell me. Position certainly changes how well you sleep. Writing in the NY Times Science section April 19th, Anahad O’Connor looked at some studies, old and new, about where one should sleep in order to rest well. Sleep quality is of […]
Predictor or marker – what scientific studies can you believe? (4/25/11)
Correlation – or Causation? Correlation versus causation is a major issue for media science and health stories. Recently I was asked in a TV interview about data that appeared to demonstrate earlier deaths for those who sleep more than eight hours a night. The reason, I tried to explain, is that people who are sick […]
Use the news – don’t be used by it (4/22/11)
Fascination or Entertainment? You can’t stop watching. Night and day your head and eyes turn to the screen. The images flow like waking dreams. Walls of water lift up Japanese houses and schools like paper toys. Hundreds of thousands in Tahrir Square shout the end of dictatorship, chanting, singing, then cleaning the street refuse of […]