Your Sleep, Your Health
Why do we sleep? What happens in the brain and body while we rest? And why does sleep become so elusive during life's most stressful moments?
Drawing on her research into the connections between the brain, body, and behavior, Dr. Allison Waters explains how sleep shapes emotional regulation, mental health, resilience, and overall wellbeing. Together, she and host Stephen Calabria examine the powerful relationship between sleep and stress, what actually happens in the brain while we sleep, and why protecting sleep is crucial for mental health.
The conversation also tackles common questions about sleep deprivation, insomnia, sleep aids, and emerging technologies designed to improve sleep health. Along the way, Dr. Waters offers practical strategies for building healthier sleep habits and reflects on what sleep can teach us about balance, vulnerability, and the human need for restoration.
Whether you're struggling to get a good night's rest or simply curious about the science of sleep, this episode offers valuable insights into one of the foundations of resilience.
Stephen Calabria: From the Mount Sinai Health System in New York City, this is Road to Resilience, a podcast about facing adversity. I'm your host, Stephen Calabria, Mount Sinai's director of podcasting.
Sleep is one of the most universal human experiences. We spend nearly a third of our lives doing it, yet many of us struggle to understand it, protect it, or appreciate just how deeply it shapes our physical health, emotional well-being, and resilience.
On today's episode, we're joined by Dr. Allison Waters, a neuroscientist and sleep researcher at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, whose work explores the connections between the brain, the body, and the restorative power of sleep.
Drawing from research spanning mental health, physiology, and emerging neurotechnologies, Dr. Waters helps us understand why sleep is far more than simply rest.
It's a critical foundation for emotional regulation, stress recovery, cognitive performance, and overall wellbeing. Together, we'll explore what [00:01:00] happens in the brain while we sleep, the effects of such substances as alcohol and cannabis on sleep, and what science can tell us about sleep aids, mental health, and resilience itself.
Allison Waters, welcome to Road to Resilience.
Allison Waters: Thank you, Stephen.
Stephen Calabria: Historically, what have been the various explanations for why humans and other living beings sleep?