What is this workshop about?
As our lives accelerate, it becomes increasingly difficult to find time to rest. Resting has become synonymous with wasting time. For this reason, spending 8 hours a day lying down with our eyes closed, without performing any activity, seems almost a crime against productivity, especially in an increasingly demanding society. Sleep is not perceived as a necessity, and it is sometimes difficult to find logical reasons that justify the survival of this daily ritual throughout the evolution of species.
This workshop explores what sleep is and why it is so essential for our survival. We will dive into the importance of sleep for our emotional regulation, cognitive functioning, cardiovascular health, immune system, cancer, and even productivity! Our goal is that by the end of the workshop, the idea of sleeping 5 hours a day to increase productivity will seem as absurd to you as it does to us!
What we’ll talk about
1. The basis for mother’s advice to “go to bed early!” - multisystemic consequences of sleep deprivation
a. Sleep and the brain: memory, attention, emotional (dys)regulation, and Alzheimer's disease
b. Sleep and the cardiovascular system
c. Sleep and the immune system
d. Sleep and metabolic syndromes
e. Sleep and productivity
2. So, what is sleep?
a. Circadian rhythms: cortisol, melatonin, adenosine... and caffeine?
b. Stages of sleep
3. Self-assessment of sleep quality
4. Twelve rules to improve your sleep