Why sleep keeps us young | Luis de Lecea
11/09/23 • 20 min
Welcome back, neuron lovers! In this week's episode of From Our Neurons to Yours, we're talking about the neuroscience of sleep. Why is slumber so important for our health that we spend a third of our lives unconscious? Why does it get harder to get a good night's sleep as we age? And could improving our beauty rest really be a key to rejuvenating our bodies and our minds?
To learn more, I spoke with Luis de Lecea, a professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Stanford, who has been at the forefront of sleep science since leading the discovery of the sleep-regulating hormone hypocretin 25 years ago.
De Lecea's research aims to understand the mechanisms behind sleep regulation and develop interventions to improve sleep quality and efficiency. With support from the Knight Initiative for Brain Resilience at Wu Tsai Neuro, De Lecea is collaborating with Stanford psychiatry professor Julie Kauer and colleagues to understand the role of sleep centers in neurodegeneration.
In our conversation, de Lecea explains the role of the hypothalamus and the sleep hormone hypocretin in regulating sleep and we discuss how lack of sleep can cause damage to cells and organ systems, leading to effects similar to premature aging.
As usual, Shakespeare put it best:
“Sleep that knits up the raveled sleave of care,
The death of each day's life, sore labor's bath,
Balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course,
Chief nourisher in life's feast.”
—Macbeth
Links
- Learn more about the de Lecea laboratory
- Why Does My Sleep Become Worse as I Age? (New York Times, 2022)
- Losing sleep in adolescence makes mice less outgoing as adults (Stanford Scope Blog, 2022)
- Sleep and the Hypothalamus (Science, 2023)
- Hyperexcitable arousal circuits drive sleep instability during aging (Science, 2022)
Episode Credits
This episode was produced by Michael Osborne, with production assistance by Morgan Honaker, and hosted by Nicholas Weiler. Cover art by Aimee Garza.
Thanks for listening! If you're enjoying our show, please take a moment to give us a review on your podcast app of choice and share this episode with your friends. That's how we grow as a show and bring the stories of the frontiers of neuroscience to a wider audience.
Learn more about the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute at Stanford and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
Welcome back, neuron lovers! In this week's episode of From Our Neurons to Yours, we're talking about the neuroscience of sleep. Why is slumber so important for our health that we spend a third of our lives unconscious? Why does it get harder to get a good night's sleep as we age? And could improving our beauty rest really be a key to rejuvenating our bodies and our minds?
To learn more, I spoke with Luis de Lecea, a professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Stanford, who has been at the forefront of sleep science since leading the discovery of the sleep-regulating hormone hypocretin 25 years ago.
De Lecea's research aims to understand the mechanisms behind sleep regulation and develop interventions to improve sleep quality and efficiency. With support from the Knight Initiative for Brain Resilience at Wu Tsai Neuro, De Lecea is collaborating with Stanford psychiatry professor Julie Kauer and colleagues to understand the role of sleep centers in neurodegeneration.
In our conversation, de Lecea explains the role of the hypothalamus and the sleep hormone hypocretin in regulating sleep and we discuss how lack of sleep can cause damage to cells and organ systems, leading to effects similar to premature aging.
As usual, Shakespeare put it best:
“Sleep that knits up the raveled sleave of care,
The death of each day's life, sore labor's bath,
Balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course,
Chief nourisher in life's feast.”
—Macbeth
Links
- Learn more about the de Lecea laboratory
- Why Does My Sleep Become Worse as I Age? (New York Times, 2022)
- Losing sleep in adolescence makes mice less outgoing as adults (Stanford Scope Blog, 2022)
- Sleep and the Hypothalamus (Science, 2023)
- Hyperexcitable arousal circuits drive sleep instability during aging (Science, 2022)
Episode Credits
This episode was produced by Michael Osborne, with production assistance by Morgan Honaker, and hosted by Nicholas Weiler. Cover art by Aimee Garza.
Thanks for listening! If you're enjoying our show, please take a moment to give us a review on your podcast app of choice and share this episode with your friends. That's how we grow as a show and bring the stories of the frontiers of neuroscience to a wider audience.
Learn more about the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute at Stanford and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
Previous Episode
Where ant colonies keep their brains | Deborah Gordon
Welcome back to "From Our Neurons to Yours," a podcast from the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute at Stanford University.
In this episode, we explore the collective intelligence of ant colonies with Deborah Gordon, a professor of biology at Stanford, an expert on ant behavior, and author of a new book, The Ecology of Collective Behavior.
We discuss how ant colonies operate without centralized control, relying on simple local interactions, such as antennal contact, to coordinate their behavior. Gordon explains how studying ant colonies can provide insights into the workings of the human brain, highlighting parallels between different types of collective behavior in ants and the modular functions of the brain.
Listen to the episode to learn more about the intelligence of ant colonies and the implications for neuroscience.
Links
Dr. Gordon's research website
What ants teach us about the brain, cancer and the Internet (TED talk)
An ant colony has memories that its individual members don’t have (Aeon)
The Queen does not rule (Aeon)
Local links run the world (Aeon)
The collective wisdom of ants (Scientific American)Deborah Gordon: Why Don't Ants Need A Leader? (NPR)
What Do Ants Know That We Don't? (WIRED)
Episode Credits
This episode was produced by Michael Osborne, with production assistance by Morgan Honaker, and hosted by Nicholas Weiler. Cover art by Aimee Garza.
Thanks for listening! If you're enjoying our show, please take a moment to give us a review on your podcast app of choice and share this episode with your friends. That's how we grow as a show and bring the stories of the frontiers of neuroscience to a wider audience.
Learn more about the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute at Stanford and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
Next Episode
Seeing sound, tasting color | David Eagleman
Imagine Thursday. Does Thursday have a color? What about the sound of rain — does that sound taste like chocolate? Or does the sound of a saxophone feel triangular to you?
For about 3% of the population, the sharp lines between our senses blend together. Textures may have tastes, sounds, shapes, numbers may have colors. This sensory crosstalk is called synesthesia, and it's not a disorder, just a different way of experiencing the world.
To learn about the neuroscience behind this fascinating phenomenon and what it tells us about how our brains perceive the world, we were fortunate enough to speak with David Eagleman, a neuroscientist, author, and entrepreneur here at Stanford. Eagleman has long been fascinated by synesthesia and what it means about how our perceptions shape our reality.
We also discuss Eagleman's work with Neosensory, a company that develops technology to help individuals with hearing loss by translating sound into vibrations on the skin. The episode highlights the adaptability and plasticity of the brain, offering a deeper understanding of how our perceptions shape our reality.
In addition to his research, Eagleman is a prolific communicator of science — the author of several books including Livewired and Incognito and host of the PBS series "The Brain with David Eagleman" and the new podcast series "Inner Cosmos".
Enjoy!
Links
- Livewired (book)
- Incognito (book)
- Wednesday Is Indigo Blue (book)
- Neosensory (website)
- Synesthete.org (website)
- Inner Cosmos with David Eagleman (podcast)
Episode Credits
This episode was produced by Michael Osborne, with production assistance by Morgan Honaker, and hosted by Nicholas Weiler. Cover art by Aimee Garza.
Thanks for listening! If you're enjoying our show, please take a moment to give us a review on your podcast app of choice and share this episode with your friends. That's how we grow as a show and bring the stories of the frontiers of neuroscience to a wider audience.
Learn more about the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute at Stanford and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
From Our Neurons to Yours - Why sleep keeps us young | Luis de Lecea
Transcript
Nicholas Weiler:
This is From Our Neurons to Yours, a podcast from the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute at Stanford University. On this show, we crisscross scientific disciplines to bring you to the frontiers of brain science. I'm your host, Nicholas Weiler.
Today, we are starting deep in the midbrain in a structure called the hypothalamus. This is a control center for keeping the body's key systems regulated and in balance. Here, specialized clusters of neurons pro
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