Walking on a Dream

Carry the One Radio: The Science Podcast

Are you tossing and turning all night? Well, what’s the secret to a good night’s sleep, anyway? And what really is the answer to Billie Eilish’s album, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?

In this episode, we talk to Dr. Ying-Hui Fu, a professor in the Department of Neurology at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Fu has been researching sleep for decades, and her book Sleep to Thrive is available now. Our conversation with her revealed why it’s important to prioritize sleep in our busy schedules and that there’s so much we can discover from people who can sleep fewer hours and still lead high-functioning, productive lives. She also let us in on the answer to whether dolphins really sleep with one hemisphere of their brain “awake.” Tune in to learn more!

This episode was written and produced by Katie Cabral, Kanchi Mehta, Cindy Liu, and Li Wang. Music in this episode is from the Blue Dot Sessions and Baby Relax Channel on YouTube. Cover art courtesy of Cindy Liu and Kanchi Mehta.

More Resources:

Transcript of episode here.

UC Berkeley researchers identified a unique EEG signature that occurs during REM sleep: Brain noise contains unique signature of dream sleep.