Sleep Unplugged with Dr. Chris Winter

Afleveringen

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  #215 - Seqoquel and Insomnia: Same Thing From The Same Old Cause 03.08.2026 41min

  Ten million prescriptions a year, and most of them aren't for what the drug was built to treat. Seroquel started life as an antipsychotic — engineered to quiet psychosis, not close your eyes. Somewhere along the way it became one of the most common "off the record" sleep aids in America, riding on a side effect nobody set out to sell. The evidence behind that shift is thinner than most people assume — and Seroquel isn't the only drug doing this. In this episode we will: Trace quetiapine from ...
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  #214 - Top 10 Sleep Threat Power Rankings: They Couldn’t See It 27.07.2026 40min

  Most "top sleep threats" lists stick to one lane — pediatric or adult, clinical or cultural. Dr. Funke Afolabi-Brown's list refuses to. It jumps from kids' airways to menopause to AI chatbots, and by the end a pattern emerges: the same symptom, in different bodies, keeps getting waved off as normal. In this episode we will: Work through pediatric snoring dismissed as harmless and untreated mouth breathing, and why both are often lead to the same airway problem Get into exhaustion worn as...
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  #213 - Research from the 2026 SLEEP Scientific Conference: Something New 20.07.2026 47min

  Every June, thousands of sleep researchers descend on one city and quietly rewrite what we think we know about a third of our lives. This year it was Baltimore's turn, for the 40th annual SLEEP meeting — and the data that came out of it hits closer to home than usual: blood pressure, diabetes, teenage phones, and why "night owl" might really mean "lonely." Here are my Top 10 studies from SLEEP 2026 most likely to actually change how you sleep. In this episode we will: Break down why being sle...
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  #212 - Deep Sleep and REM Sleep: A Deeper Understanding, Lost In A Dream 13.07.2026 41min

  Deep sleep and REM sleep get lumped together as "good sleep," but they're almost opposite states — one is the quietest your brain gets all night, the other is nearly as active as being awake. In this episode we pull the two apart: how we stumbled onto each of them, what's happening chemically while they run, and why one of them quietly shrinks as we age while the other holds steadier. In this episode we will: Break down what's actually happening in slow-wave sleep versus REM — brainwaves, mus...
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  #211 - Insomnia and Sleep Apnea: Just Don’t Know 06.07.2026 37min

  We tend to think of insomnia and sleep apnea as two completely different sleep disorders. One means you can't sleep. The other means you stop breathing. Simple, right? Not so fast. In reality, many people with sleep apnea don't complain about snoring or excessive daytime sleepiness. Instead, they complain that they wake up repeatedly throughout the night and can't stay asleep. In this episode we will: Explain why sleep apnea often causes insomnia-like symptoms rather than daytime sleepiness&n...
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  #210 - Top 10 Sleep Threat Power Rankings: Stop Right Now, Thank You Very Much 29.06.2026 37min

  This week marks the 12th month we have put out the Top 10 Sleep Threats Power Rankings, and this week, we have a special guest assessor, Upneet Chawla, MD (@sleeping.beauty_md). Upneet is an internist and board-certified sleep specialist. In this episode, she has graciously provided us her list. In this episode we will: Find out what Dr. Chawla thinks are the top threats to your sleepIncorporate abstracts from the 2026 Sleep meeting to illustrate her pointsOriginal intro music Vigilante...
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  #209 - Sleep Quantity or Consistency…which is Queen?: Your Future’s At Stake 22.06.2026 35min

  Sleep duration has always been the headline number in sleep science, but mounting research is pushing the conversation toward something less obvious: how consistent your timing is from night to night. In this episode we dig into a debate that's far from settled, and into a statistical trap that may be quietly distorting it. WIn this episode we will: Break down the four separable pillars of sleep health: duration, consistency, continuity, and circadian alignmentWalk through the landmark UK Bio...
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  #208 - Menopause and Sleep Update: Outside This Woman's Work 15.06.2026 33min

  Menopause has always been linked to sleep disruption, but the story has changed dramatically since we last covered it in episode 3. Hot flashes and night sweats still matter, but newer research is pushing us to think more broadly about brain temperature regulation, insomnia, mood, sleep apnea, cardiometabolic risk, and a new generation of nonhormonal medications that directly target vasomotor biology. In this episode we will: Revisit why menopause so often produces sleep-maintenance ins...
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  #207 - Insomnia and Narcolepsy: Tired of the Same Old Story 08.06.2026 36min

  Narcolepsy is often described as a disorder of excessive daytime sleepiness, but that description only tells part of the story. Many people living with narcolepsy also struggle with fragmented, restless, and unrefreshing sleep at night; and these symptoms that can look a lot like insomnia. In recent years, researchers have increasingly viewed narcolepsy as a disorder of sleep-wake instability, where the boundaries between wakefulness, non-REM sleep, and REM sleep become less secure. Understan...
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  #206 - Sleep Trackers in the Clinic--Help or Harm?: I Guess I Gotta Buy It 31.05.2026 41min

  Sleep trackers have become one of the fastest-growing trends in modern health culture. Rings, watches, apps, and mattress sensors now promise to measure everything about your sleep, but are these devices actually helping us sleep better…or simply giving us one more thing to worry about? In this episode, we will: Discuss whether sleep trackers improve sleep health or simply increase sleep-related anxietyExplore whether sleep trackers are evolving from wellness gadgets into legitimate hea...
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  #205 - Socks In Bed: Taking All The Heat On Your Feet 25.05.2026 28min

  People tend to have surprisingly strong opinions about wearing socks in bed. Some people swear by them, claiming they fall asleep faster and sleep more deeply. Others find them uncomfortable, claustrophobic, or far too warm. But beneath this oddly polarizing sleep habit lies some genuinely fascinating science involving thermoregulation, circulation, and the body’s preparation for sleep. In this episode, we will: Explore why warming your feet may actually help cool your core body temperatureRe...
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  #204 - Nidra for RLS: Voltage Running Through Your Skin 18.05.2026 25min

  Restless Legs Syndrome has long been treated as a medication problem. But what if one of the most important clues was hidden in the thing patients already know: movement helps. Nidra, a prescription neuromodulation device using tonic motor activation, attempts to borrow the benefit of movement without requiring patients to pace the bedroom at 2:00 AM. In this episode we will: Review how Nidra stimulates the peroneal nerves to engage movement-related pathwaysExplore the RESTFUL pivotal trial a...
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  #203 - What’s Next To Your Bed?: In The Dark, Try To Make It Work 11.05.2026 29min

  What’s on your bedside table? A lamp? A phone? A book? A bottle of melatonin gummies? A tangled charging cable? In this episode we explore what our bedside environments reveal about our relationship with sleep itself. Using real listener-submitted nightstands and bedside drawers — including my own — we introduce the Sleep Sanctuary Index (SSI™), a playful but evidence-informed scoring system designed to determine whether the things beside our bed are helping or hurting sleep. Along the way we...
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  #202 - AI Sleep Therapists: Machines to Save Our Lives, Machines Dehumanize 04.05.2026 38min

  Artificial intelligence is quietly moving into one of the most human spaces we have: therapy. Chatbots now deliver cognitive behavioral strategies, respond with empathy, and are available 24/7 at a fraction of the cost of traditional care. But does that mean the therapist is on the verge of extinction? Or are we misunderstanding what therapy actually is? In this episode, we explore the science, the promise, and the limits of AI in mental health, and ask a deeper question about connection, lon...
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  #201 - Top 10 Sleep Threat Power Rankings: I Should Be Scared, But I Feel No Fear 27.04.2026 28min

  This week marks the 11th month we have put out the Top 10 Sleep Threats Power Rankings, and this week, we have a special guest assessor, Ellen Wermter FNP-BC. Ellen is a nurse practitioner and board-certified behavioral sleep specialist. In this episode, Ellen has graciously provided us her list. In this episode we will: Find out what Ellen thinks are the top threats to your sleepFocus on how nurse practitioners and physician assistats are playing a increasing large role in sleep medici...
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  #200 - Sleep Reflections and Hopes: 200 More Before I Sleep 20.04.2026 42min

  Sleep has never been more visible...or more complicated. In a world of sleep scores, optimization strategies, and endless advice, the pursuit of better sleep has quietly shifted into something more rigid, and for many, more stressful. At the same time, the science of sleep has never been stronger, and the opportunity to reshape how we think about insomnia and restoration has never been greater. Now, we step back and take stock. We examine the unintended consequences of modern sleep culture wh...
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  #199 - Sleep Fixes With Fine Print: The Only Risk That You Would Take 13.04.2026 35min

  Sleep fixes are everywhere—magnesium, melatonin, mouth taping, CPAP, turmeric, even that glass of wine before bed. And the truth is, most of them work. But what often gets left out is the fine print: the dosing, the timing, the patient selection, and the unintended consequences that can quietly turn a good idea into a bad outcome. In this episode we will: Examine how magnesium supplementation can drift into unsafe territory, especially in the setting of renal impairment Revie...
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  #198: The Loneliness Epidemic and Insomnia: Out by Myself 06.04.2026 38min

  Insomnia is often framed as a nighttime disorder—but what if, for many patients, it’s also a daytime problem of disconnection? As loneliness emerges as a major public health issue, a growing body of research suggests that social isolation and poor sleep may be deeply intertwined, each reinforcing the other in a self-sustaining cycle. Drawing on the work of Vivek Murthy and current sleep science, this episode explores how loneliness affects insomnia, how insomnia may worsen social disconnectio...
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  #197 - Top 10 Sleep Threat Power Rankings: The Challenges We're Facing 30.03.2026 31min

  This week marks the 10th month we have put out the Top 10 Sleep Threats Power Rankings, and this week, we have a special guest assessor, Vanderbilt Professor of Neurology and Sleep Medicine Dr. Beth Malow. In addition to promoting her new book Beyond the Politics of Contempt—Practical Steps to Build Positive Relationships in Divided Times, Dr. Malow has graciously provided us her list. In this episode we will: Find out what Dr. Malow thinks are the top threats to your sleepFocus on how Dr. Ma...
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  #196 - Red Light Therapy: All I See Is Red 23.03.2026 27min

  Red light therapy has moved well beyond the world of skincare and into something far more biologically intriguing. From mitochondrial function to retinal aging to chronic tendon pain, specific wavelengths of light, particularly in the 630 to 670 nm range, are being studied for their ability to influence how our cells produce energy, respond to stress, and recover from injury. While the science is promising, it is also uneven, with strong signals in some areas and much thinner evidence in othe...