Sleep Unplugged with Dr. Chris Winter
No holds barred, unscripted discussion on a wide range of sleep topics - from sleep disorders to current research and controversies in the field. No topic is off limits! Dr. Chris Winter is a clinician, a board certified neurologist and double boarded sleep specialist with 30 years of clinical experience. He is the author of The Sleep Solution and The Rested Child, and is a popular consultant and speaker, working for many professional sports teams. He is well known for his unique perspective and ability to demystify sleep, all of which he brings to Sleep Unplugged.
Sleep Unplugged with Dr. Chris Winter
#7 - Why No One Cares Your Child Is Sleepy
After sleep apnea, narcolepsy is the most common cause of excessive sleepiness in sleep clinics across the country. A large portion of the nearly 200,000 people who have narcolepsy in this country alone are children and teenagers. As these individuals struggle with disabling sleepiness, why is their plight (a treatable plight) largely ignored? In this episode, we will:
- define narcolepsy and look briefly at its origins
- recast the image of a narcolepsy patient from something cartoonish and unhelpful to a real person with an unfathomable degree of sleepiness
- contrast the disability of sleepiness with other "seen" disabilities
- explore why disorders of excessive sleepiness are largely ignored by the media while conditions like insomnia are embraced and reinforced at all levels
- understand why narcolepsy and disorders of hypersomnolence are routinely mistaken for other disorders or dismissed by clinicians entirely (even many sleep specialists)
- learn that these conditions are not rare and their sufferers are often unseen--they are in fact people we know and work with on a daily basis--and they need our support.
Produced by: Maeve Winter
More
- Twitter: @drchriswinter
- IG: @drchriwinter
- Threads: @drchriswinter
- Bluesky: @drchriswinter
- The Sleep Solution and The Rested Child
Thanks for listening and sleep well!