Dr. Rhonda Patrick

Thank you so much for listening and I'll talk to you soon.

That's right. Great to be here.

That's right. Great to be here.

Well, so the first question is, how much sleep do people need? And it's a little bit of... There's a general answer because, and I say this because, believe it or not, there are something called chronotypes where people actually, there's genes that affect how much sleep they actually need. And most people, okay, most people need seven to nine hours of sleep a night.

Well, so the first question is, how much sleep do people need? And it's a little bit of... There's a general answer because, and I say this because, believe it or not, there are something called chronotypes where people actually, there's genes that affect how much sleep they actually need. And most people, okay, most people need seven to nine hours of sleep a night.

However, I will caveat that with that, you know, those outlier people that have certain genes that make them not require quite as much and they can actually function quite well with less than seven hours. That's the exception, not the rule.

However, I will caveat that with that, you know, those outlier people that have certain genes that make them not require quite as much and they can actually function quite well with less than seven hours. That's the exception, not the rule.

It's really interesting because it has to do with their circadian rhythm. So this 24-hour clock that our body is on, all of our cells are on, our metabolism, our neurotransmitter production, our hormone production. And when that circadian rhythm is disrupted, things kind of go haywire. And so their circadian rhythm, it's like a fundamental difference where it's just a little different.

It's really interesting because it has to do with their circadian rhythm. So this 24-hour clock that our body is on, all of our cells are on, our metabolism, our neurotransmitter production, our hormone production. And when that circadian rhythm is disrupted, things kind of go haywire. And so their circadian rhythm, it's like a fundamental difference where it's just a little different.

And so because of that, they can actually be healthier and healthy with less sleep. And I don't know so much about that exception, so I don't want to focus on that.

And so because of that, they can actually be healthier and healthy with less sleep. And I don't know so much about that exception, so I don't want to focus on that.

I don't know what percent. It's not a lot, but it does exist. And I just want to acknowledge its existence because people will hear this seven to nine hours, and then there's that whatever, 1% to 3% of people that will yell and scream about how they don't need that.

I don't know what percent. It's not a lot, but it does exist. And I just want to acknowledge its existence because people will hear this seven to nine hours, and then there's that whatever, 1% to 3% of people that will yell and scream about how they don't need that.

That's a good question.

That's a good question.

Well, if you think about sleep, I mean, It's definitely a time of rejuvenation, of repair. So all of our repair processes are happening when we're sleeping, whether that's repairing damage to our DNA to prevent us from getting cancer-causing mutations, so they're oncogenic mutations,

Well, if you think about sleep, I mean, It's definitely a time of rejuvenation, of repair. So all of our repair processes are happening when we're sleeping, whether that's repairing damage to our DNA to prevent us from getting cancer-causing mutations, so they're oncogenic mutations,

Whether we're repairing our brain, so we're cleaning out a lot of gunk that builds up in our brain throughout the day. These are things that are like little pieces of protein fragments and aggregates. And so when we sleep, it's like we clean that all out.

Whether we're repairing our brain, so we're cleaning out a lot of gunk that builds up in our brain throughout the day. These are things that are like little pieces of protein fragments and aggregates. And so when we sleep, it's like we clean that all out.

There's a process called the glymphatic system that gets activated and it literally squirts this lymphatic fluid throughout our brain kind of like a wash, like a cleansing. And it physically forces it out through the lymphatic system. And it's very important for preventing the buildup of protein aggregates like amyloid beta, which is involved in Alzheimer's disease.