3Qs at the U with Science Sam: (Ep. 3) David Samson on sleep

We know sleep is important, and yet sometimes we just can’t get enough. What should we do to try to get a better night's rest?

In episode three of 3Qs at the U, Samantha Yammine – a University of Toronto alumna, neuroscientist and science communicator better known as Science Sam on social media – speaks with David Samson, a sleep expert from U of T Mississauga.

“You want good sleep hygiene and you want good light hygiene,” says Samson, an assistant professor of anthropology who studies the connection between sleep, our health, and other cognitive functions. “Sleep hygiene means that the environment that you're sleeping in is distraction-free. You don't want any big LCD screens blasting you with blue-wave light because blue-wave light … is going to inhibit melatonin and melatonin is the principal hormone that drives your sleep-awake regulation.”

3Qs at the U is a weekly video series in which Yammine asks a U of T researcher three questions on a timely topic. It’s produced by U of T Scarborough interactive digital producer Cory Lawrence.

See a complete list of episodes