WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA?
SCIENCE UNLOCKED: BECOME YOUR OWN SLEEP SCIENTIST
The last decade has seen an explosion of interest in sleep. Scientists have found that, in a nutshell, your Mum was right: sleep is crucial, and most of us aren't getting enough.
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In today's 24/7 society, natural sleep patterns are under threat. Many of us don't realise that our daily routines interfere with our in-built circadian rhythm, a 24-hour cycle which all our cells are programmed to follow.
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On the plus side, if you can optimise sleep and get your body clocks working in sync, you can take control of an incredibly powerful lever for improving performance, health and wellbeing.
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Few of us learned about sleep in school. The Sleep Scientist aims to make the latest sleep science more accessible: to answer questions based on evidence, to highlight new research, to signpost evidence-based resources and share advice from sleep scientists... to get started, please see the Resources page.
If the science is easy to follow, hopefully we can all become experts in our own sleep.
ABOUT THE FOUNDER
The Sleep Scientist was launched by Dr Sophie Bostock with the aim of helping more people to sleep well, wake up with more energy and thrive. Sophie is a scientist and speaker with a bias for action.
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Sophie has always been intrigued by why what makes us feel good and function well. She studied medicine at Nottingham University, followed by an MSc in Entrepreneurship. After several years in consulting, she completed a PhD in Health Psychology at University College London (UCL), investigating why happiness protects against heart disease, and how to improve wellbeing at work.
Sophie's research pointed to sleep an unsung hero of mental and physical resilience. She spent the next 5 years working on Sleepio, Big Health's award-winning digital sleep improvement programme, first as a research scientist, then UK Innovation Lead. She has published research in collaboration with the Sleep and Circadian Neuroscience Institute in Oxford, and international researchers, demonstrating the impacts of better sleep on mental health and performance.
Sophie became a passionate advocate for the importance of sleep, and evidence-based therapy. She was awarded an NHS Innovation Accelerator Fellowship in 2016, and helped to make Sleepio available on the NHS to a fifth of the UK population. Sophie has been invited to deliver talks for Tedx and Talks@Google, and regularly features as a sleep expert in national media.
Sophie now works as an independent Sleep Evangelist. Recent clients include the National Police Wellbeing Service, the Royal Marines, Bensons for Beds, Google, Unilever and Virgin Management. Sophie rowed around Britain in 2021 to raise £10k for the British Heart Foundation. She competed for GBR in the World Coastal Rowing Championships in 2022, and for GBR Outrigger Canoe team in Samoa in 2023.
When not sleeping, eating, rowing, paddling, climbing, swimming or windsurfing, Sophie provides keynote conference talks, consultancy and coaching for teams and individuals interested in improving their sleep patterns to boost wellbeing and performance.
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Sophie posts sleep videos regularly on Instagram - connect with Sophie on LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram.
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Sophie is a member of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the British Sleep Society. She remains a shareholder at Big Health and has consulted for sleep companies; any potential conflicts will be explained in individual posts. All hyperlinks are free of sponsorship.