Sleep and Circadian Rhythm
114 episodes
#6020: What Buildings Do to Your Body
Measured cortisol, pupil dilation, and fractal dimensions reveal how traditional and modernist buildings shape your nervous system.
#5863: What Shabbat Does to Your Brain That Sleep Can't
Shabbat's real power isn't sleep — it's psychological detachment. And the data says a vacation day doesn't do the same thing.
#5854: Why Quiet Weekends Make the Jackhammer Worse
Daniel's Jerusalem construction site goes silent on Saturdays — and that's exactly why Sunday's jackhammer hits so hard. The neuroscience of habitu...
#5762: Why 8 PM Bedtime Feels Wrong for Night Owls
A night-owl dad asks if 8 PM bedtime is "for old people" — and the circadian science on wake maintenance zones says his instinct is right.
#5755: What Makes a School System "Best"?
Korea tops the test scores, Finland skips the pressure. What are we actually measuring when we rank schools?
#5750: Neurodesign: Building for the Human Nervous System
What if a building could restore your attention instead of draining it? Inside the emerging field of neuroarchitecture.
#5723: Task Lighting Spec Sheets: Wattage, CRI, Kelvin & Dimming
What the box tells you, what it hides, and the four numbers that actually predict how a task lamp behaves.
#5693: Head-of-Bed Elevation for Nighttime Reflux
Five trials, 228 patients, and a wedge pillow that was never actually studied. What the evidence really says about sleeping on an incline.
#5670: Circadian Policy: Light, Schedules, and Public Health
What if a task force treated light and time as public infrastructure? The science of circadian alignment — and the policies that follow.
#5668: Why Depression Drains Your Energy
Light, melanopsin, and inflammation — the two very different mechanisms behind seasonal and non-seasonal depression fatigue.
#5641: Burnout: When Rest Stops Working
Burnout isn't in the DSM, but Sweden made it a diagnosis. What the research says about a fatigue that sleep can't fix.
#5616: What Your Window View Does to Your Brain
A 1984 Science study, cortisol in cord blood, and why trees beat sky and grass — the research on what your window view actually does to you.
#5600: Alien Abductions: 4 Million Claims, Zero Evidence
Nearly four million Americans say they've been abducted. Not one has produced a lab-verifiable artifact. What's going on?
#5470: What a Hot Bath Actually Does for You
A friend's "you're stewing in your own dirt" comment ruined baths for Daniel for years. Here's what the research actually says.
#5418: Why Dehydration, Not Hunger, Is the Real Risk of a 25-Hour Fast
Twenty-five hours without water is a different problem than twenty-five hours without food. Here's the physiology of dehydration — and how to prepare.
#5269: Why 4 A.M. Wake-Ups Hit Different
A listener asks why 4 a.m. wake-ups feel so much worse than 1 a.m. — and what the insomnia science actually says to do about it.
#5258: Vyvanse, Alcohol Withdrawal, and the Titration Problem
A listener's water-titration experiment with Vyvanse leads to a bigger question: can medicine model neurotransmitter systems in real time?
#5174: Why Caffeine Can't Push You Through Cognitive Fatigue
What actually happens in your brain when you hit the wall — and why caffeine keeps you awake but can't restore hard thinking.
#5151: Why Dry Heat Is a Different Animal
Dry heat at 45°C can be survivable while humid 35°C kills. The physics of sweat, the limits of acclimatization, and what Bedouin trackers see in sand.
#5106: Why a Jackhammer Still Wins Against Acoustic Windows
A quiet room isn't quiet when the noise travels through the building itself. We break down why acoustic windows fail against low-frequency percussion.
#5031: Circadian Lighting: Sunset vs. Your Body Clock
Is your smart home's "red light before bed" actually synced to your biology? We dig into chronobiology, latitude, and lighting design.
#5028: What 670nm Red Light Actually Does for Sleep
670nm is a badge, not a mechanism. Here's how to actually shop for a sleep light.
#5027: The 670nm Sleep Light Myth: What That Number Really Means
That "670nm" on your sleep light isn't about melatonin at all. It's about copper atoms in your mitochondria — and the dose is probably fictional.
#4914: Why Aviation's Fatigue Rules Work
How aviation built a system that treats exhaustion as a design problem — and what other industries can learn from it.