Conversations on Science: The Science of Sleep

The science of sleep has traditionally been abstract, but advances in imaging technology now allow scientists to peek inside the sleeping brain. This is exactly what neuroscientists at UC Berkeley are working on in their sleep labs that study everything from how the brain functions during sleep to what the impacts of sleep deprivation have on our health and on our memories. Why do we sleep? What exactly is going on in our brain during the various stages of sleep? What is the optimal number of hours and how does sleep affect our mood, our memories, and more? The brilliance of sleep may be greater than you ever imagined.

Speaker: Dr. Matthew Walker, UC Berkeley, with Indre Viskontas