“Poor sleep is pervasive in our culture and is thought of as being…dispensable, and this has consequences that range from motor vehicle accidents to cancer,” says Michael Howell, MD, and co-founder of Sleep Performance Institute. He’s been practicing sleep medicine for years now and realizes all too well how many people don’t consider their sleep challenges serious enough to seek help when in most cases all they need is a bit of knowledge and understanding in order to identify and fix their sleep issues. He also realizes the widespread impact of poor sleep on performance in general, and the Sleep Performance Institute focuses on helping organizations achieve their best performance by helping their employees achieve the best sleep. Dr. Howell offers an impressive amount of information on everything sleep, including natural circadian rhythms and how they vary from individual to individual, the circumstances under which overnight work schedules can be detrimental, the process of lymphatic clearance during sleep, what happens during REM versus non-REM sleep, circadian realignment strategies, why many people don’t enjoy or aren’t hungry for breakfast in the morning, and tips on achieving just the perfect nap.  The team at Sleep Performance Institute is developing a web-based application that will help people better understand their natural circadian rhythm, which is the first step to achieving better sleep that’s more aligned with the needs of individual bodies. Tune in for all the details and visit sleepperformanceinstitute.com for more.