Ira Glass
👤 PersonAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
Then there's Ron Vagley. He'd wake up after an hour or two of sleep and find himself, for example, still in bed, there with his wife,
Then there's Ron Vagley. He'd wake up after an hour or two of sleep and find himself, for example, still in bed, there with his wife,
Nocturnal seizures... This is from a DVD put together by Drs. Carlos Schenck and Mark Mahowald of the Minnesota Regional Sleep Disorder Center. The number of adults with troubled sleep, they say, is a lot higher than you probably think. Somewhere between 1.5 and 4% of all adults have had recent sleepwalking episodes, depending on what study you look at. That's millions of people.
Nocturnal seizures... This is from a DVD put together by Drs. Carlos Schenck and Mark Mahowald of the Minnesota Regional Sleep Disorder Center. The number of adults with troubled sleep, they say, is a lot higher than you probably think. Somewhere between 1.5 and 4% of all adults have had recent sleepwalking episodes, depending on what study you look at. That's millions of people.
Another 2% engage in sleep-related violence. People eat when they're asleep. They have sex when they're asleep. And one of the most affecting things to watch on this DVD that they assembled to educate people about various sleep disorders is a 51-year-old Japanese man who was videotaped while having a bad dream.
Another 2% engage in sleep-related violence. People eat when they're asleep. They have sex when they're asleep. And one of the most affecting things to watch on this DVD that they assembled to educate people about various sleep disorders is a 51-year-old Japanese man who was videotaped while having a bad dream.
The man later told researchers that in this dream, he's fighting off snakes. And in this kind of grainy nighttime footage, you can see him swat away snakes with his arms. He kicks at one with his foot. The metal sound you're hearing is the bed frame. Finally, he picks up a pillow like it's a rock and beats one away. There's something completely naked about this footage.
The man later told researchers that in this dream, he's fighting off snakes. And in this kind of grainy nighttime footage, you can see him swat away snakes with his arms. He kicks at one with his foot. The metal sound you're hearing is the bed frame. Finally, he picks up a pillow like it's a rock and beats one away. There's something completely naked about this footage.
It's very strange to watch another person at a moment when they are so totally vulnerable and alone and terrified. Welcome to WBEZ Chicago. It's This American Life. I'm Ira Glass. Today on our show, fear of sleep. We have five stories of people who either have a huge fear of sleep or, frankly, they should have a huge fear of sleep. Act one, stranger in the night. Act two, sleep's tiniest enemies.
It's very strange to watch another person at a moment when they are so totally vulnerable and alone and terrified. Welcome to WBEZ Chicago. It's This American Life. I'm Ira Glass. Today on our show, fear of sleep. We have five stories of people who either have a huge fear of sleep or, frankly, they should have a huge fear of sleep. Act one, stranger in the night. Act two, sleep's tiniest enemies.
Act three, the bitter fruits of wakefulness. Act four, Hollywood-induced nightmare. Act five, a small taste of the big sleep. Stay with us.
Act three, the bitter fruits of wakefulness. Act four, Hollywood-induced nightmare. Act five, a small taste of the big sleep. Stay with us.
It's American Life. Today's show is a rerun, act one, Stranger in the Night. There's a poem by Raymond Carver that goes, I woke up with a spot of blood over my eye, a scratch halfway across my forehead. But I'm sleeping alone these days. Why on earth would a man raise his hand against himself, even in sleep?
It's American Life. Today's show is a rerun, act one, Stranger in the Night. There's a poem by Raymond Carver that goes, I woke up with a spot of blood over my eye, a scratch halfway across my forehead. But I'm sleeping alone these days. Why on earth would a man raise his hand against himself, even in sleep?
It's this and similar questions I'm trying to answer this morning as I steady my face in the window. Well, that is probably about as good an introduction as you could get for this first story. From Mike Brubiglia, he told it in front of a live audience at The Moth in New York.
It's this and similar questions I'm trying to answer this morning as I steady my face in the window. Well, that is probably about as good an introduction as you could get for this first story. From Mike Brubiglia, he told it in front of a live audience at The Moth in New York.