Investing in Sleep

Guest: Michael Scullin, Ph. D., Director of the Sleep Neuroscience and Cognition Laboratory at Baylor University  People who burn the candle at both ends will sometimes say, “I’ll sleep when I’m old” – or even, “I’ll sleep when I’m dead.” There’s a persistent notion in America that time spent sleeping is time lost. Increasing research shows that sleep is important to health and brain function – particularly when we’re young. That link doesn’t appear to be so strong once we hit old age – which is probably lucky, since older people tend to sleep a lot less. The question on neuroscientist Michael Scullin’s is whether or not getting more sleep when we’re younger has carryover effects on brain function in old age?