Welcome to “Chasing Sleep”

Did you know bad sleep can lower your libido? Or that as we get older our circadian rhythms may shift, turning us from night owls into early birds? Though it may seem like your “off” time, the sleep you get is connected to everything you feel and do. In our new season of “Chasing Sleep,” we’re teaming up with new hosts—actors and real-life married couple Katie Lowes and Adam Shapiro—to explore how sleep affects love, the way we parent and the way we connect with colleagues at work. We’re also exploring how sleep changes as we age, why we dream and how to interpret dreams.

A New Episode Every Week

Listen in as Katie and Adam host a lively conversation tackling real questions and issues about sleep in our everyday existence. Together, they’ll learn tips and get answers to their questions about how sleep can improve every facet of life, whether in love, family dynamics, creative pursuits or work performance.

Get the Healthy Sleep That Fits Your Life

In every episode, our hosts are joined by leading experts and best-selling authors in the fields of sleep science, psychology and medicine, including our own Mattress Firm and Sleep.com advisers, Dr. Chris Winter and Jade Wu, Ph.D. Dive into the fascinating and far-reaching web of sleep and discover tips and tricks you can use every day to better your sleep and improve your own performance at work, at home and on the go, no matter where you are.

Listen now here, on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

Episode 1: Sleep and Love

In the first episode of “Chasing Sleep” Season 2, new hosts Katie Lowes and Adam Shapiro talk with expert guest Dr. Wendy Troxel about how quality sleep can improve your relationship by boosting your mood, empathy, and even sex drive. They also dish about the challenges many couples encounter in the bedroom, from snoring to temperature differences, to going to bed at different times – all of which can negatively affect not only sleep quality, but also your relationship chemistry. In pursuit of solutions, they learn more about “sleep divorce” and chat with Ky and Val, a young couple from Brooklyn who find sleeping in separate bedrooms boosts their intimacy and enables them to sleep better together — and separately. “Chasing Sleep” is an iHeart Radio production in partnership with Mattress Firm.

Episode 2: Sleep and Dreams

In this episode of “Chasing Sleep,” Co-hosts Katie Lowes and Adam Shapiro delve into the fascinating world of dreams to uncover what we know – and don't know – about what happens to our brains when we sleep. Katie and Adam reveal some of their own dreams to guest Justina Lasley, author of “Wake Up to Your Dreams,” and are amazed to discover how their dreams’ meaning may be connected to events, emotions, and concerns in their conscious lives. Plus, preeminent dream researcher Robert Stickgold explains why we dream and how important it is to our memory consolidation and learning.

Episode 3: Sleep and Parenting

Getting quality sleep as a parent may be one of the tougher parts of being, well, a parent. Join hosts Katie Lowes and Adam Shapiro as they learn about achieving good, quality sleep for both children and parents. Dr. Jade Wu, a behavioral sleep medicine specialist at Duke University, shares tips on how parents can make sure they get good sleep themselves despite changing sleep patterns as children age. Pediatric sleep consultant Meg from Infinite Connection explains how babies and toddlers sleep better when feeling safe alone in their own beds.

Episode 4: Sleep and Aging

We’ve all heard of “early bird specials,” but does that mean we’re all destined for dinner at 4 p.m. and bedtime at 8 p.m.? Do we need more sleep as we age and what role does sleep play in the way we maintain health as we age? In this episode, Katie and Adam talk with UCLA behavioral sleep medicine specialist Dr. Jennifer L. Martin and geriatric care expert Sarah Brown and learn how quality sleep can enhance quality of life by supporting immune system health, memory consolidation, mental alertness, and even a healthy sex life. Plus, find out how sleep impacts our body’s aging process.

Episode 5: Sleep and Creativity

In this episode of "Chasing Sleep," hosts Katie Lowes and Adam Shapiro dive into the connection between sleep and creativity, exploring the value of quality sleep to the creative process. Dr. Sara C. Mednick, author of "The Power of the Downstate" and "Take a Nap! Change Your Life," explains how specific sleep phases like REM sleep influence physiological processes and brain waves to enhance creativity. We're also joined by musical composer Andrew "Drew" Edwards, renowned for his work in film and TV scoring. Drew shares his personal story of how getting on a sleep schedule that aligned with his sleep cycles allows for maximum creativity.