Perform Ep 18: Dr. Allison Brager: Improve Sleep Efficiency & Resilience

In this episode, my guest is Dr. Allison Brager, Ph.D., an active-duty Army neuroscientist whose research focuses on physiological resilience in extreme stress environments such as Antarctica and outer space. We discuss how sleep is impacted in these harsh conditions and the broader concept of sleep resilience, which is crucial for athletes, military personnel, and anyone with demanding personal or professional situations. We explain the effects of circadian rhythm (chronotype) misalignment on performance and how different chronotypes align with certain careers and sports. We also outline the key differences in sleep between men and women, including sleep onset, daytime sleepiness, and duration, along with the biological mechanisms that drive sleepiness. Finally, we discuss practical strategies for recovering from poor sleep and improving sleep through behaviors, light exposure, and nutrition. Regardless of your career or lifestyle, this episode provides valuable insights for optimizing your sleep to enhance performance and overall well-being.

Articles

• Circadian rhythms and enhanced athletic performance in the National Football League (Sleep)
• Game Times and Higher Winning Percentages of West Coast Teams of the National Football League Correspond With Reduced Prevalence of Regular Season Injury (Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research)
• Challenging the stigma of workplace napping (Sleep)
• Rotating Night Shift Work and Healthy Aging After 24 Years of Follow-up in the Nurses’ Health Study (JAMA Network Open)
• Total and Cause-Specific Mortality of U.S. Nurses Working Rotating Night Shifts (American Journal of Preventive Medicine)
• Sleep, napping and alertness during an overwintering mission at Belgrano II Argentine Antarctic station (Scientific Reports)
• Limited Efficacy of Caffeine and Recovery Costs During and Following 5 Days of Chronic Sleep Restriction (Sleep)
• Weekend compensatory sleep is associated with reduced risk of heart disease: a prospective UK Biobank-based cohort study (European Heart Journal)
• DEC2 modulates orexin expression and regulates sleep (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)

Books

• The Sports Gene: Inside the Science of Extraordinary Athletic Performance

Other Resources

• WHOOP
• Shiftwave
• Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ)
• FlyKitt
• Gattaca (film)
• Youngstown Boys (documentary)

People Mentioned

• Art Arnold: professor of biology & physiology, University of California Los Angeles
• Fred Turek: professor of neurology & psychiatry, Northwestern Medicine
• Ketema Paul: professor of biology & physiology, University of California Los Angeles
• Rachel Manber: professor of psychiatry, Stanford University
• William Dement: Stanford University, known as the father of sleep medicine
• Frank Rubio: NASA astronaut
• Erin Flynn-Evans: NASA researcher, sleep and fatigue
• Michael Grandner: professor of neuroscience & psychology, University of Arizona
• Oliver Sacks: British neurologist, author
• Maurice Clarett: American football player
• Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini: American boxer
• Bernie Kosar: American football quarterback
• Kelly Pavlik: American boxer