Nick talks to Dr. Robert Stickgold, a cognitive neuroscientist and sleep expert. Dr. Stickgold is a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and has been studying sleep, dreams, and memory for over 25 years.

In this episode of the Mind & Matter Podcast, they discuss a variety of sleep topics, included sleep architecture and why there are different stages of sleep; the relationship between sleep stages and memory; how different drugs and disease states relate to sleep; how sleep differs as we develop and between species. Dr. Stickgold also shares various sleep-related health tips, including why it's important to get adequate sleep when you get vaccinated.

Nick is a neuroscientist and podcast host. He is currently Director of Science & Innovation at Leafly, the world's largest cannabis information resource. He received a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Harvard University and a B.S. in Genetics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

0:00:00 Intro

0:00:58 What the Brain Does When Asleep

0:05:31 Different Sleep Stages

0:10:50 The Importance of Forgetting

0:17:47 Experience Replay During Sleep

0:21:54 Dreaming

0:37:00 Depriving People of NREM vs. REM Sleep

0:42:58 How Much Sleep Do You Need?

0:52:20 Alcohol & Caffeine

0:55:27 How Sleep Changes As We Age

1:06:07 When Did Sleep Evolve?

1:09:12 Sleep Effects On Body & Metabolism

1:19:55 Lucid Dreaming

1:27:31 Sleeping Pills

1:29:46 Can Corporations Manipulate Your Dreams?

1:34:11 PTSD & Sleep

1:39:56 Final Thoughts