Do You Have Trouble Sleeping?

October 19, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

Do You Have Trouble Sleeping?

Sleep researcher Chris Barnes opens with a haunting personal story. In 2019, exhausted from caring for newborn twins and a three-year-old, he got a 3 a.m. call that his father was in the hospital. He drove an hour to see him, then drove back — and fell asleep at the wheel on the freeway for three to five seconds at highway speed. "I still think about that moment," he says, "and I think about the fact that in the multiverse, some swath of that multiverse, I am the villain in some family story."

Barnes studies what happens when the need for rest collides with the demands of work and life. His central argument: we dramatically underestimate how sleep deprivation shapes behavior, judgment, and ethics — and we misunderstand it as a personal failing rather than a systemic problem.

When sleep deprivation becomes a public safety crisis

The episode opens with two rail disasters. In 2013, train operator William Rockefeller sped through a 35-mph curve at nearly 80 mph, killing four people and injuring 60. He had sleep apnea and had recently switched from a day to a morning schedule. In 2001, motorist Gary Hart fell asleep at the wheel, drove onto train tracks, and triggered a head-on collision that killed ten people in the UK's worst 21st-century rail disaster.

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What you'll learn

1 (00:03) **Introduction: The Sleep Crisis** - Shankar Vedantham introduces the episode's topic: the widespread sleep crisis and its profound, often underestimated consequences.
2 (03:24) **Guest Introduction & The Train Crash** - Host introduces sleep researcher Chris Barnes, who opens with a story about a catastrophic train derailment caused by operator fatigue.
3 (07:41) **A Second Disaster & The Systemic View** - Barnes recounts a similar, even deadlier UK rail disaster caused by a drowsy motorist, arguing that we must look beyond individual blame.
4 (11:22) **A Personal Wake-Up Call** - Barnes shares a harrowing personal story of falling asleep at the wheel after a sleepless night with his newborn twins and a family emergency.
5 (16:25) **Data on Sleep and Crashes** - Barnes presents research showing a measurable spike in car crashes in Asia following major soccer games played in Europe.
6 (19:10) **Mid-Episode Break & Sponsor Ads** - A brief intermission with a teaser for the next segment and advertisements for various products and services.
7 (21:15) **Sleep Deprivation and Unethical Behavior** - Barnes explains how a lack of sleep erodes self-control and moral awareness, leading to poor decisions and unethical conduct.

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Show Notes

Millions of us move through our days without getting enough sleep. We know that sleep deprivation can affect our physical health and our mood. But sleep researcher Chris Barnes says a chronic lack of good sleep can also affect how we make decisions and even what we value. He joins us to explore the forces that keep us from getting the rest we need, and offers practical strategies for getting better sleep. Later, psychologist Rachel Zoffness returns to answer your questions about the experience of pain, in our latest installment of "Your Questions Answered."

Is your parenting style preventing your child from thriving? We explore this question — and share five practical parenting strategies we've featured on Hidden Brain — in our latest YouTube video. Check it out here, and share your parenting strategies with us in the comments!

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