EP 19 IAN DUNICAN

In today’s podcast, I spoke with Dr. Ian Dunican. Ian is amongst many other things, a sleep researcher and business consultant. As you will hear, Ian has his fingers in a lot of professional pies, but the through-line is that he is trying to optimize performance in many different fields. Ian has a burgeoning interest in psychedelics, and he first came on my radar when I hear him interview Stephen Bright on his podcast, ‘Learning to Die’. Ian is by no means a strong advocate for psychedelics, and we had an interesting discussion in how he has found a plethora of ways to access a transcendent state of consciousness. He also believes that sleep and psychedelics may have interesting overlaps that we are only just beginning to appreciate. In today's podcast, we discuss... Five to One by the Doors, Ian’s background and time serving in the Irish Military, and his lifelong fascination with learning, Ian’s early personal experience of the deleterious effects of sleep deprivation, The overlap between sleep loss and mental health issues, The history of the human study of sleep, The ‘Grandfather’ of sleep Bill Dement, Matthew Walker’s podcast discussions with Peter Attia, Circadian Rhythm,Chronobiology, Leptin and Grehlin and their relationship with sleep, Performance deficits associated with sleep loss, Night shift work as a ‘possible carcinogen’ - Type 2A carcinogen, Classification of sleep disorders, The difference between a ‘sleep problem’ and a ‘sleep disorder, The societal correlation between poor sleep and lower socio-economic status, The limited efficacy of sleep medicines, the paucity of undergrad education into sleep science for health professionals, and the lack of understanding amongst the general population about good sleep hygiene, The Parliamentary Report ‘Bedtime Reading’ Ian’s business Melius Consulting, and his work with Formula 1 McClaren, and his adjunct researcher work, His two podcasts: sleep4performance, and learning to die,The Stages of Sleep, and sleep spindles, REM rebound, Ian’s theory of REM sleep as a practice of death, The Six Bardos in Tibetan Buddhism, The repudiation of death in our societies, and Ernest Becker’s ‘The Denial of Death’, Zen on the trail and the Marathon Monks, The risks of taking psychedelics, The Effects of Daytime Psilocybin Administration on Sleep: Implications for Antidepressant Action, Sleep as an adjunct for both preparation for and integration of psychedelic trips, The risk of Serious Adverse Events with psychedelic trips, Jennifer Walsh’s study on the impact of CBD on insomnia, The potential need for overnight polysomnography as a preparatory tool for psychedelic trips - perfecting the ‘on ramp’, Ian’s tips for sleeping well, and much more besides!