Episodes
Dr. Chris Winter examines the Lindsay Clancy case, using her documented psychiatric care timeline to illustrate how untreated insomnia, SSRI‑induced activation, and fragmented prescribing can lead to catastrophe. He breaks down SSRI‑induced activation syndrome, which can mimic bipolar disorder, and shares a study showing that one lost night of sleep around delivery raises postpartum psychosis odds fivefold. The episode draws parallels to the deaths of Michael Jackson, Heath Ledger, and Brittany Murphy, where real insomnia complaints met multiple prescribers without a shared picture, and highlights systemic gaps including the lack of sleep medicine training in many psychiatry residencies.
Dr. Alison Kole joins Chris Winter to rank her top 10 threats to healthy sleep, taking aim at sleepmaxxing culture, ChatGPT-generated medical advice, and the broader sleep-industrial complex. The conversation explores why patients increasingly arrive at sleep clinics having already self-diagnosed, the persistent fear around sleep studies and CPAP, and why cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) remains the underused gold-standard treatment despite its proven effectiveness. They also discuss why genuinely improving sleep requires looking beyond the bedroom — factoring in exercise, nutrition, and mental health across the full 24-hour day rather than fixating on sleep-tracking metrics alone.
Dr. Chris Winter explores deprescribing — the clinical movement around when and how to stop medications — and examines why some 'forever drugs' like blood pressure medication are culturally accepted while others, such as antidepressants and GLP-1 agonists, are moralized and stigmatized. He contrasts the evidence on antidepressant tapering, GLP-1 safety data, and the RLS story where dopamine agonists were downgraded by 2025 AASM guidelines due to drug-induced worsening of symptoms. The episode also notes the quiet cultural acceptance of hypersomnia medications as a revealing exception, and questions what actually determines whether long-term medication is seen as managing chronic disease or a personal failing.
The gig economy has vastly expanded night work, from rideshare drivers to fulfillment teams, and our bodies are struggling to adapt. This episode explores the circadian cost of night shifts, including findings that 22 of 30 permanent night nurses still had daytime-oriented melatonin rhythms—a light-exposure problem, not a willpower failure. A 2025 meta-analysis links night shift work to a 13% higher incidence of cardiovascular disease and a 27% higher cardiovascular mortality rate. The discussion also covers meal timing: data suggests fasting at night preserves glucose tolerance better than eating, though no single rule applies universally. Finally, consistent light exposure and schedule discipline emerge as key levers to improve adaptation.
The host dissects a 2026 meta-analysis of 17 randomized controlled trials examining whether external nasal strips and internal dilators actually improve sleep. The evidence reveals that while these devices cause small, measurable increases in nasal airflow, they have no meaningful effect on sleep quality, snoring, or sleep apnea, contradicting widely held consumer beliefs. The episode explores why they remain popular, pointing to effective marketing and the subjective sensation of easier breathing.
This solo episode of Sleep Unplugged examines how Seroquel (quetiapine), an antipsychotic, became one of the most prescribed off-label sleep aids—used in roughly ten million prescriptions a year, mostly not for psychosis. The host argues that the evidence supporting its use for insomnia is surprisingly thin, and that Seroquel is part of a larger pattern of medications repurposed for sleep based on sedation rather than rigorous trials. The show sets out to trace the drug's history and unpack how this practice took hold despite weak data.
Dr. Funke Afolabi-Brown ranks the top 10 threats to sleep quality across age groups and contexts, revealing a hidden pattern: the same symptoms get dismissed as normal in different bodies. From pediatric mouth breathing to menopause to AI-driven sleep disruption, the episode exposes how normalizing dangerous sleep patterns early creates cascading health consequences throughout life.
In this episode, Dr. Nishi Bhopal reviews the top 10 studies from the 40th annual SLEEP conference in Baltimore. She highlights new findings connecting sleep to blood pressure regulation, diabetes risk, adolescent phone use, and the emotional consequences of being a night owl. The studies suggest that improving sleep could have far-reaching health benefits. Bhopal translates the research into actionable takeaways for everyday life.
This episode challenges the idea that deep sleep and REM are just two sides of restful sleep. It explains that slow-wave sleep is the quietest your brain gets all night, while REM is nearly as active as being awake, and how researchers stumbled onto these differences through eye movements and muscle paralysis. The host walks through the distinct brainwave signatures and neurochemistry behind each stage, and why deep sleep steadily shrinks with age while REM holds steadier. The practical message: improving deep sleep requires different strategies than protecting REM.
Sleep Unplugged explores the hidden overlap between insomnia and sleep apnea, two disorders commonly treated as entirely separate conditions. Many people with sleep apnea don't experience classic symptoms like snoring or daytime sleepiness—instead they present with fragmented sleep and repeated nighttime awakenings that mimic insomnia. This episode explains why sleep apnea often masquerades as insomnia, how misdiagnosis happens, and why understanding this distinction matters for effective treatment.
Board-certified sleep specialist Dr. Upneet Chawla joins the podcast for the 12th monthly installment of the Top 10 Sleep Threats Power Rankings. She shares her personal ranking of the biggest sleep disruptors, drawing on her clinical practice as an internist and new research presented at the 2026 Sleep meeting. The episode covers the evidence behind each threat and updates the ongoing list that has tracked shifts in sleep health over the past year.
This episode of Sleep Unplugged weighs the mounting evidence that sleep consistency—regular bed and wake times—may rival total sleep duration in importance. The host breaks down the four pillars of sleep health: duration, consistency, continuity, and circadian alignment, arguing that treating them separately clarifies what drives health. He flags a statistical trap that can distort consistency studies and walks through a landmark UK Biobank analysis to illustrate why the scientific debate is far from settled. Listeners learn what the latest research actually says and why the answer is more nuanced than a simple winner-take-all.
This episode revisits the connection between menopause and sleep, incorporating newer research that moves beyond hot flashes and night sweats to include brain temperature regulation, mood, sleep apnea, and cardiometabolic risk. It examines why menopause often produces sleep-maintenance insomnia and discusses a new generation of nonhormonal medications that directly target the biology of vasomotor symptoms. The update highlights how the landscape of treatment and understanding around menopausal sleep disruption has evolved.
This episode reframes narcolepsy beyond excessive daytime sleepiness to reveal a more complete picture: nighttime fragmentation and sleep-wake instability. Rather than a disorder of too much sleep pressure, narcolepsy emerges as a failure of sleep-wake boundaries themselves—explaining why people with narcolepsy experience symptoms indistinguishable from insomnia and why traditional sleep architecture breaks down.
Sleep Unplugged examines whether wearable sleep trackers—rings, watches, apps, and mattress sensors—actually improve sleep quality or create unnecessary anxiety about sleep metrics. The episode explores the gap between what trackers promise to measure and what they can reliably deliver, plus the clinical utility of sleep tracking devices in medical practice.
This episode covers the Nidra device, a neuromodulation approach for Restless Legs Syndrome that stimulates the peroneal nerves to mimic the relief of walking. The show reviews the mechanism, the pivotal RESTFUL trial, and explains why movement-based relief is key. The device is positioned as an alternative to traditional medication approaches.
In this episode of Sleep Unplugged, the host analyzes listener-submitted bedside environments and introduces the Sleep Sanctuary Index (SSI™), a scoring framework that rates common bedside items based on their impact on sleep quality. The episode argues that curating your immediate sleep environment — free of clutter, bright lights, and anxiety-provoking objects — can significantly improve sleep outcomes. Using real examples, the host illustrates how a mindful bedside setup can shift your relationship with sleep from a struggle to a sanctuary.
Artificial intelligence is entering the mental health space with chatbots that deliver cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) at low cost and any time. But what happens to the human element of therapy — the connection, the empathy, the feeling of being understood? This solo episode examines the science, the potential, and the deeper question of what we're really looking for when we seek help.
Ellen Wermter, a board-certified behavioral sleep specialist and nurse practitioner, joins to reveal her top 10 threats to sleep quality. The episode explores the most impactful factors degrading sleep in her clinical practice and discusses the growing role of nurse practitioners and physician assistants in sleep medicine.
Sleep has never been more visible...or more complicated. In a world of sleep scores, optimization strategies, and endless advice, the pursuit of better sleep has quietly shifted into something more rigid, and for many, more stressful.
The 200th episode of Sleep Unplugged takes stock of modern sleep culture — its visibility, its complications, and the unintended rigidity that comes from sleep scores and optimization. The host reflects on how the pursuit of better sleep has paradoxically made many people more stressed about rest, and how the science, even as it advances, demands a more human approach. The episode looks ahead to the next 200 shows as an opportunity to reshape how we think about insomnia and restoration, emphasizing flexibility, self-compassion, and the limits of tracking.
Sleep fixes are everywhere—magnesium, melatonin, mouth taping, CPAP, turmeric, even that glass of wine before bed. And the truth is, most of them work.
Insomnia is often framed as a nighttime disorder—but what if, for many patients, it’s also a daytime problem of disconnection?
This week marks the 10th month we have put out the Top 10 Sleep Threats Power Rankings, and this week, we have a special guest assessor, Vanderbilt Professor of Neurology and Sleep Medicine Dr. Beth Malow.
Red light therapy has moved well beyond the world of skincare and into something far more biologically intriguing.
It's NCAA Selection Sunday, and that means the Pillow Fight is back. This year we've assembled 16 new pillows, each full of hope that they will be the last pillow standing and hoist the SideSleeperZ Cup.
Waking up with a headache can feel ominous. Is it stress? Sinus pressure? Something neurological? In this episode of Sleep Unplugged, we break down nocturnal headaches in a practical, clinically grounded way.
Success looks good in the daylight, but at night, it often looks very different. In this episode we explore why insomnia is so common in driven, high-achieving, Type-A personalities. Is it stress? Hyperarousal? The Zeigarnik effect?
This week marks the 10th month we have put out the Top 10 Sleep Threats Power Rankings, and this week, we have a special guest assessor, Dr. Margaret Park. In this episode we will: Find out what Dr. Park thinks are the top threats to your sleepFocus on how Dr.
Creatine has been a staple in the gym bag for decades. But is it just for bodybuilders chasing one more rep, or does it have something to say about sleep, brain energy, and resilience in a sleep deprived world?
Restless legs syndrome used to feel simple. If the legs were jumping, we reached for a dopamine agonist, the safer alternative to older meds. Over time, we learned that the very medication calming symptoms could make the condition worse.
This month’s insomnia episode explores a provocative idea: can certain electronics actually help insomnia rather than harm it?
This week marks the 9th month we have put out the Top 10 Sleep Threats Power Rankings, and this week, we have a special guest assessor, Dr. Seem Khosla.
Recent headlines and viral clips have reignited conversation about Donald Trump appearing to fall asleep during public events. What’s actually going on? Trump has repeatedly said, in his own words and in interviews, that he doesn’t sleep much and doesn’t believe he needs much sleep.
Electromagnetic fields (EMF) are everywhere—from our phones to our Wi-Fi to the wiring in our homes. But do they actually disrupt sleep… or is this another modern sleep villain that gets more attention than it deserves?
This week on the Sleep Unplugged podcast, we are looking at sleep resolutions made for the new year and why they often fail.
Once again we come to the end of another year and our 4th Annual Sleep Unplugged "Sleepy" Awards are upon us again. Join me in honoring the best and brightest in sleep in this podcast episode: The 2025 Sleepy Award winners are: Social Media Warrior Dr.
This week marks the 8th month we have put out the Top 10 Sleep Threats Power Rankings, and this week, we have a special guest assessor, Dr. Roxanne Prichard. In this episode we will: Find out what Roxanne thinks are the top threats to your sleepFocus on wealth inequalityLearn why Dr.
Ever wondered what really happens during a sleep study — and why we still rely on them more than 50 years after their invention?
You probably saw the headlines out of California as they sent a jolt through the sleep world as well as social media: Do common sleep medications increase your risk of dementia?
This week marks the 7th month we have put out the Top 10 Sleep Threats Power Rankings, but it's the first time we have devoted an entire episode to the list. This week, we have a special guest assessor, Dr. Jade Wu.
Fear not, the Sleep Unplugged podcast is once again here to solve your holiday shopping dilemmas with some of my favorite sleep product companies. In this episode, we will explore a host of sleep-themed gift ideas and product recommendations.
The orexin receptor agonists are coming. After years of managing narcolepsy with stimulants, sodium oxybate, and wake-promoting agents, we soon will have medications that target the root cause of the disorder: the loss of orexin signaling.
At the root of many sleep disorders of sleep fragmentation. It's a big part of sleep medicine that many people don't know much about.
The media can be a fantastic source of information about insomnia, or it can be a lens that distorts and confuses the issue.
For the first time in my career, two team for who I work will meet for the championship, this time it's the Los Angeles Dodgers (my 10th year with the club) and the Toronto Blue Jays (my 3rd year with the club).
We talk endlessly about caffeine, alcohol, and sleep—but what about plain old water?
Whether you’re skiing in Aspen, hiking Kilimanjaro, or just wondering why sleep feels so strange in the mountains, altitude messes with your rest in fascinating ways.
We’ve all heard the sleep hygiene advice: turn off your screens, keep your room cool, avoid caffeine after lunch. While we can agree that these practices set the stage for better sleep, does engaging in them actually help those with sleep problems?
Few parenting debates stir more passion than how to help a baby sleep.
When it comes to sleep, sometimes silence is golden—and sometimes it needs a little help.
We’ve all seen it—or maybe we’ve been told we do it: twitching, jerking, or kicking in the night. But when does this common sleep quirk cross the line into a diagnosable condition?
Did you know… Only 57% of Americans now say science has a mostly positive effect on society—down 16 points since before COVID?And yet, 83% of people still trust their doctor more than anyone else when it comes to vaccine advice?We’ve all lived through it—the pandemic reshaped our health, our trust,
When it comes to insomnia, many people begin their journey staring at the clock after yet another middle-of-the-night bathroom trip and wondering: is it my bladder or my sleep that’s broken?
The episode delves into the polarizing habit of wearing socks to bed, uncovering the surprising science of thermoregulation. It explains how warming the feet can actually help cool the body's core temperature, a critical step for falling asleep. The discussion highlights both the physiological mechanism and the personal preferences that make this a uniquely divisive sleep topic.