The Sleep Scientist (NEW RESEARCH): Sleeping Patterns Can Predict Future Diseases! Sleep Deprivation Is A Silent Killer! The Painful Trick To Fix Poor Sleep - Dr Guy Leschziner

Guy Leschziner (0:00)

I've seen patients cooking a meal in their sleep, who've driven in their sleep, committed crimes in their sleep.

Steven Bartlett (0:06)

So what is the story of Kenneth Parks?

Guy Leschziner (0:07)

He drove several miles to his in-law's house, bludgeoned his mother-in-law to death, and then tried to kill his father-in-law. But it was deemed he was sleepwalking, and he was actually acquitted.

Steven Bartlett (0:20)

That's crazy.

Guy Leschziner (0:21)

Dr. Guy Leschziner is a leading neurologist and sleep physician at one of Europe's largest sleep clinics.

SPEAKER_3 (0:26)

And with over 25,000 studies of over 100,000 patients, his pioneering research in sleep medicine has provided the answers we need to improve our sleep.

Guy Leschziner (0:35)

So many people are chronically sleep deprived. 30% will experience insomnia, and 80% of people in the UK don't know that they've got sleep apnea. This is the problem. But the majority can be helped.

Steven Bartlett (0:47)

So let's get into that. Is there such a thing as healthy sleep?

Guy Leschziner (0:51)

Somewhere between seven and eight and a half hours a night. Now what's difficult to explain is why your all-cause mortality goes up if you're sleeping more than eight and a half hours.

Steven Bartlett (1:00)

Is there a link between sleep deprivation and weight gain increases?

Guy Leschziner (1:03)

So even a single night of sleep deprivation can result in a dramatic increase in calorie intake, and that's because of that.

Steven Bartlett (1:09)

What hope would you offer insomniacs?

Guy Leschziner (1:11)

There are very effective treatments for insomnia, for example. If you... We know that helps about 80% of individuals.

Steven Bartlett (1:18)

Are you a fan of sleep tablets?

Guy Leschziner (1:21)

As a general will know, because there are many non-drug-based techniques.

Steven Bartlett (1:24)

What are these techniques to improve our sleep?

Guy Leschziner (1:27)

The gold standard treatment now is...

Steven Bartlett (1:30)

Guy, why do we drink?

Guy Leschziner (1:32)

That's a really important question. The honest answer is...

Steven Bartlett (1:42)

Shall I say, Dr. Guy? What is it that is at the very sort of heart of your personal curiosity? Because as I look at your work and what you've committed your career to, there seems to be a bit of a through line as to sort of the subject matters that have captured you.

Guy Leschziner (1:59)

So I've always been fascinated why we are the way that we are. And obviously from a scientific perspective, the core of that is our brain. And in the course of my clinical practice, I come across a whole host of individuals who really sit at the extremes of the human experience. You know, people who are sometimes afflicted by very serious neurological conditions, who experience the world in a very different way to how we do. So really at the core of what I do, particularly in the public facing work that I do, it's looking at those people at the extremes of the human experience and trying to work out what it tells us about all of us, about how we all work.

Steven Bartlett (2:42)

When you say the extremes of the human experience, what does that mean?

Guy Leschziner (2:45)

So individuals who see the world in a very different way, experience the world in a very different way, understand the world in a very different way. So from when it comes to individuals who have very extreme sleep disorders, to individuals in whom the perception of reality is very different from our own, or to people who behave in a very different way. So when it comes to things like aggression or the way their relationship with food, or their personality traits, I think in every area of clinical neurology, you see individuals in whom something has happened to their brain that fundamentally changes the way they see the world, interpret the world, or behave within that world.

Steven Bartlett (3:35)

And what's your sort of day-to-day? And if I was to take a look at your CV, what would I see on your CV?

Guy Leschziner (3:42)

I studied medicine at Oxford and then at Imperial, and very early on in my career, started training in the world of neurology. Did a PhD at Imperial and Cambridge.

Steven Bartlett (3:53)

What is neurology?

Guy Leschziner (3:54)

Neurology is the clinical study of the brain. So the brain in its diseased state. So we see individuals with epilepsy, with Parkinson's disease, with nerve problems, with certain types of sleep disorders. Basically any disease or disorder that influences how the brain and the nervous system works. So I did a PhD at Imperial and Cambridge, looking at the genetics of epilepsy, and then started working as an NHS consultant in 2010