In this episode of The Sean Trace Show, I sit down with Dr. Alison Kole, a triple board certified sleep medicine specialist and the host of Sleep Is My Waking Passion, to unpack what actually happens in your brain while you sleep and why sleep is one of the biggest levers for health, performance, and emotional stability.

We talk about the glymphatic system and how sleep helps your brain clear out “junk,” why deep sleep and REM sleep matter for memory consolidation, learning, and emotional processing, and how sleep deprivation can wreck decision making by taking your prefrontal cortex offline and putting your amygdala in charge. I share my own experiences with late night schedules, stress, anxiety spikes, and the way smartphones can quietly sabotage sleep quality, plus why a single massage reminded me what real restorative sleep feels like. Dr. Kole explains how circadian rhythm and schedule consistency impact energy even when you think you’re getting enough hours, how sleep problems can affect metabolism, hunger hormones, insulin resistance, weight gain, and long term risks like heart disease, and why shift work and circadian misalignment can change who you are as a person.

We close with simple, real advice for better sleep tonight, including the mindset shift that helps most, stop obsessing over sleep, build a wind down routine, and protect your decompression time so you can show up as a better partner, parent, leader, and human.