NOVA on Sleep

My friend Mike in Richmond, VA flagged for me a PBS NOVA episode on the importance of sleep.  He brought it to my attention because they spent time discussing the role of sleep in both fighting and aggravating Alzheimer's disease.  So I looked the episode up and found that it was the perfect length for one run on the treadmill at the gym.

I was well rewarded for the time I spent watching it.  I had recently updated my video on sleep posted on my YouTube channel, and I covered what I believe are the main takeaways from the NOVA presentation with respect to Alzheimer's disease.  But you will see that NOVA's production quality is a lot better than mine.  (I'm still learning, and I need a better studio.)

I have been sleeping better recently, and I feel (a dangerous word) that my cognition is doing better.  I don't know if it's cause and effect, coincidence, or the power of suggestion, but an improvement in sleep coincided with doing intermittent fasting for four or five weeks.

On the other hand, I did experience some improvement in sleep last fall.  This coincided with the longer nights we have here in the Pacific Northwest in the fall and winter.  After moving here from Hawaii, I have always slept better in those seasons, and it was April of last year when I seemed to lose ground on cognition.  April is the month when the suddenly longer days have always hit me.

The one day of the year I hate the most is when we start Daylight Saving Time, and that's tonight.  The governor said he was going to get rid of it in Washington, but he hasn't kept his promise.  (Or rather, he was going to put us on permanent DST.)  Statistically, we have a national jump in heart attacks and car accidents on that day, when we lose that hour of sleep.  I wonder what they would find if they measured everyone's cognition on that day.