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FoundMyFitness · October 2, 2025 · 3h 44m

#107 Why You Can't Sleep (and How to Fix It) | Dr. Michael Grandner

Dr. Michael Grandner, Dr. Rhonda Patrick
Show Notes

Chronic insomnia and untreated sleep apnea accelerate cognitive decline and diminish resilience. Dr. Michael Grandner explains evidence-based strategies to retrain the brain for restorative sleep, highlighting the superiority of CBT-I over sedatives. The episode covers how to distinguish clinical insomnia from poor sleep, practical stimulus control techniques, and the surprising underdiagnosis of sleep apnea. It also provides guidance on morning light exposure, sleep trackers, and the paradoxical effectiveness of sleep restriction therapy.

This summary was generated from show notes and public descriptions, not from a full transcript review. Details may contain inaccuracies.

Canon

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CBT-I Targets Learned Wakefulness, Not Sleepiness00:13:41
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) works by reducing the conditioned arousal and anxiety that keep people awake, rather than simply inducing sleep.
ClaudeChatGPTGemini
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Stimulus Control: Get Out of Bed to Break the Insomnia Loop00:16:11
Stimulus control therapy requires leaving the bed if you can't sleep, reserving the bed solely for sleep and sex to break the mental link between bed and wakefulness.
ClaudeChatGPTGemini
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Sleep Restriction Therapy: Less Time in Bed, More Sleep Drive00:29:30
Sleep restriction temporarily cuts down time in bed to match actual sleep duration, rebuilding the homeostatic sleep drive and improving sleep efficiency.
ClaudeChatGPTGemini
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Morning Light: The Circadian Clock's Strongest Signal
Exposure to bright morning light, especially within the first hour of waking, is the most potent synchronizer of the body's internal clock, promoting earlier sleep onset at night.
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Highlights

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Insomnia vs. Poor Sleep: The Opportunity-Ability Mismatch00:04:45
Dr. Grandner explains that clinical insomnia is defined by trouble sleeping despite adequate opportunity, unlike poor sleep caused by too little time or a disruptive environment.
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Hidden Sleep Apnea: When Nighttime Awakenings Are the Only Sign00:42:06
Sleep apnea often goes undetected because its sole symptom can be repeated nighttime awakenings, even without loud snoring or daytime sleepiness.
ClaudeChatGPTGemini
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Sleep Trackers: Useful Tool or Anxiety Machine?
Consumer sleep devices often provide inaccurate sleep stage estimates and can fuel orthosomnia—an obsession with perfect sleep scores that worsens insomnia.
ClaudeChatGPTGemini
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