Oh, wow, oh, oh, wow, oh, wow, oh, wow.

Oh, wow.

Oh, my.

And so. Hello, you're listening to the Science of Everything podcast episode 131, sleep science.

I'm your host, James Fodor.

Now, this is an episode I've been wanting to do for quite some time, and finally,

well, here we are.

I'm going to be talking about sleep, which is something that is near and dear to all of us,

I think.

We spend about a third of our lives sleeping,

but we perhaps don't think very much about exactly what it is or what it is for. So this episode,

I'm going to talk about what we know about the science of sleep, including some of the different stages of sleep, how sleep is regulated by the brain. We'll talk about circadian cycles and so forth, and how sleep and wakefulness are regulated.

I'll talk about some of the effects of sleep deprivation and how you can get better sleep by looking at some techniques for sleep hygiene.

We'll also talk about some of the functions of sleep, which is a highly disputed area, but still very interesting since we know relatively

little about why we actually sleep. Recommended pre-listing is episode 38, Neurons and Synapses,

where I give some introduction to the neuron, which will be helpful for some of the material

today. And without further ado, let's make a start then, and I'll begin by talking about what sleep is and the stages of the sleep cycle.

So, sleep is a naturally occurring state of mind and body, which is characterized by an altered consciousness,

and inhibited sensory activity, reduced muscle activity, and diminished interactions with our surroundings. So we sometimes talk about

sleep as if it's a state of unconsciousness. We talk about, you know, returning to consciousness

after sleep. But that's technically not correct because sleep is a state of consciousness,

because you are still, for example, able to perceive stimuli and able to move your muscles while asleep, at least

...