The Science of Sleep: Why You're up at 3AM — And Why Worrying About It Makes It Worse | Sara Mednick
10% Happier with Dan Harris
10% Media, LLC
4.6 • 12.9K Ratings
🗓️ 13 May 2026
⏱️ 55 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Sara Mednick is a cognitive neuroscientist at the University of California, Irvine, and the author of the book The Power of the Downstate. This episode is part of our month-long "Mental Health Reboot" series to mark Mental Health Awareness Month.
This episode is from our archives.
In this episode we talk about:
- The nuances of napping
- Dr. Mednick's definition of the "downstate"
- Whether there are practices that can compensate for poor sleep
- Why heart rate variability is an important measurement of health
- Why sex is so helpful for sleep
- And when to take melatonin to best effect
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Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | This is the 10% Happier Podcast. I'm Dan Harris. |
| 0:08.0 | Hello, my fellow suffering beings, how we doing today? |
| 0:21.5 | If you are interested in getting more and better sleep, there may be a temptation to think about it as strictly a nighttime endeavor. |
| 0:29.7 | However, my guest today says you cannot think about improving your sleep just in the minutes before you go to bed. |
| 0:35.9 | Her neuroscientific research has led her to conclude |
| 0:39.2 | that we need to think about sleep more holistically and as just one of the body's ways of |
| 0:45.4 | resting and restoring. Dr. Sarah Mednick is a cognitive neuroscientist at the University of California |
| 0:52.0 | Irvine. She's also written a book called The Power of the Downstate. In this conversation, we talk about what the downstate is, the nuances |
| 0:59.9 | of napping, what the science says about who should and should not take naps, whether there |
| 1:05.0 | are practices that can compensate for a bad night's sleep, why heart rate variability is an |
| 1:10.3 | important measure of your health, why sex is so night's sleep, why heart rate variability is an important measure of your health, |
| 1:12.3 | why sex is so helpful for sleep, when and how and whether to take melatonin, and much more. |
| 1:19.6 | Just to say, I first did this interview way back in 2022, but I'm pulling it out of the archives today |
| 1:25.8 | because we are in the middle of what we in the 10% |
| 1:30.0 | happier cinematic universe are calling sleep week. |
| 1:34.9 | Specifically over on the 10% app, we've just added 10 new sleep meditations. |
| 1:40.0 | Sleep really is the apex predator of healthy habits. |
| 1:42.7 | Nothing works without it. |
| 1:43.7 | So if you want to get all of this new content and, by the way, get this podcast without any ads, |
| 1:49.4 | you can head on over to Dan Harris.com to sign up. |
| 1:53.1 | Also, if you know anybody who could use some meditation or a little sleep, |
| 1:57.7 | you can now give the gift of a subscription to the 10% app. Just send an email to |
... |
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