Intellectual Forum to run a week of events on sleep
The Intellectual Forum will be running a week of events on sleep in partnership with the University of Cambridge’s ThinkLab.
From Sunday 7 March 2021, a range of experts will share their knowledge about sleep in a series of online talks and Q&As.
Whether you want to know more about the science of sleep, learn how technology companies are assisting with global sleep research, or you have a baby who doesn't sleep as much as you would like, their line-up includes something for everyone.
Normal infant sleep: ask an anthropologist
Sunday 7 March 11am
Why are WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialised, Rich, Democratic) societies unusual when it comes to infant sleep? How can we alter expectations and address cultural pressure around the sometimes contentious subject of babies' sleep?
In this Q&A session for the Intellectual Forum and ThinkLab's Sleep Week, Professor Helen Ball, Director of Durham University's Parent-Infant Sleep Lab, will answer questions about the work she presents in this recorded lecture.
Children’s sleep: Facts, myths, and when it depends
Monday 8 March 7.30pm
Are early bedtimes best? Does cereal before bed help? Is sleeping in motion bad? The answers may surprise you.
In this session Jessica Toh and Erin Flyn-Evans from the baby tracking and sleep improvement app Huckleberry will break down the baby sleep facts from myths. They will examine what kinds of advice work for some children, but make matters worse for others - all based on sleep science, data from hundreds of thousands of families, and specific examples.
Sleep, health, society and technology
Tuesday 9 March 7.30pm
Sleep is an important part of overall health. Dr Michael Grandner will provide a brief overview of how sleep is related to mental and physical health and performance, and how social and environmental factors influence real-world sleep.
He will also talk about ways of improving sleep health and the role of emerging consumer technology in opening the door to better sleep health.
An introduction to Sleep Cycle
Thursday 11 March 7.30pm
In 2020 alone, Sleep Cycle analysed over 2.9 billion hours of sleep, hundreds of millions of snoring minutes, billions of inhalations and exhalations and hundreds of thousands of other sound clips from our users' sleep environments.
Sleep Cycle's CTO Mikael Kågebäck and Malin Abrahamsson, Director of PR and Partnerships will join us to talk about how their AI technology is trying to solve the global problem of poor sleep by giving people tailored analysis and information about their nocturnal habits.
Why sleep matters: counting the costs of insufficient sleep
Friday 12 March 7.30pm
Lack of sleep is costing the global economy billions of dollars in lost productivity every year.
Michael Whitmore, a consulting senior research fellow at RAND Europe, will join us to talk about how organisations, society and individuals alike benefit from a good night’s sleep. He will spotlight the economic impact of insufficient sleep, the key drivers of poor sleep and ask: How can we mitigate the risk of a poor night’s sleep?
