Most of us are waiting for our turn to be vaccinated for Covid-19. I know there are a range of strong feelings and questions about the vaccines. Some people are excited and others are feeling more cautious, anxious, and wary. This is a good time to talk about how sleep can affect the body’s immune…
I’ve just finished reading some interesting and sobering information about the strain that the pandemic is having on couples in the US. The polling organization Ipsos has been tracking the state of our unions in the pandemic, and earlier this month released their latest findings. Polling both married and partnered couples, they found that 1…
You’ve heard me talk a lot about circadian bio rhythms, and how crucial they are to our sleep and our broader health. What if I told you there is a form of medicine that has advocated the importance of daily bio rhythms—the daily when—for thousands of years? Ayurvedic medicine is probably the first adopter of…
Are you dreaming more vividly these days, and remembering more of your dreams? Are you having nightmares that wake you from sleep, or leave you feeling anxious the next morning? If you said yes to either of these questions, you’re not alone. These days, a lot of us are having darker, more upsetting dreams—and remembering…
It’s a hot topic in sleep research: the relationship between cortisol and the quality and patterns of sleep. I’ve been talking about cortisol for a while, but I’ve never devoted a stand-alone article to this important topic. It’s time to correct that. Today, I’ll talk about the role that cortisol plays in the sleep-wake cycle,…
Are you a glass-half-full type, the sort of person who tends to feel everything works out in the end? Do you find yourself worrying a lot about the future, and the unknowns that lie around the corner? Optimism is a measure of how positively we regard our daily challenges and how hopefully we look to…
Last week, I introduced you to the practice of floatation REST therapy: what it is, how it works, and some of the important effects it can have on the body and mind. Today we’re jumping right in to look in more detail at how float therapy can be used to treat sleep problems and other…
This is one of my favorite times of year… March Madness! My son and I love to make our brackets, watch the games, and root for my team vs. his! That said, I started to think. I know that sleep can be a BIG factor for both team and individual performance, and I have seen…
Sleep is an essential daily resource—essential to life and basic functioning, essential to health, essential to productivity and performance, to the successful accomplishment of all we seek to achieve in our professional and personal lives. For years, we’ve collectively undertaken a public conversation about “work-life” balance (even as the demands of the workplace and time…
