[The Knowledge Project Ep. #167] Dr. Gina Poe: The Science of Better Sleep

Shane Parrish: Let’s start by diving in and talking about sleep, which is sort of the focus of this episode. I guess I want to start with “What is sleep and what is it for?” Which sounds like a very simple question, but I don’t know if it’s that simple.

Gina Poe: Yeah, it’s for a lot of things, and that’s what’s great about it. It’s not a waste of time. Your brain is really active while you’re asleep. And we know a lot about the functions of sleep right now, whereas even 30 years ago, we basically had very little idea. Or actually rather lots of ideas, but very little hard evidence that it was for anything in particular.