The Science of Sleep

For thousands of years, we've regarded sleep as nothing more than a way to charge our batteries. But now, thanks to revolutionary new technology, innovative animal research and extraordinary advances in genetics, that view is about to change. Once seen as a blank screen, the sleeping brain is emerging as an energetic and purposeful machine. "In parts of sleep, the brain is at least as active and maybe more active than it is during waking," says Dr. Robert Stickgold, one of the world's leading sleep researchers. From controlling our weight, to helping us learn, to washing our brain, and fighting off disease like Alzheimer's, around the world researchers are attempting to penetrate the mysterious world of sleep and decipher its secrets – secrets that could change our lives. Join Dr. Jennifer Gardy as she goes on an extraordinary odyssey from a city that never sleeps to an isolation chamber in the Colorado Rockies, from one of the most unique research centres in the world to the world of dreams. (Academia Film Olomouc)