Brain on Sports Podcast: How teams use the science of sleep

How significant are the benefits of a good night’s sleep at the highest athletic level? A sleep expert joins the show to discuss how closely teams pay attention to the shut-eye their players are getting.

“This is Your Brain on Sports” is a weekly podcast from Sports Illustrated in which SI executive editor Jon Wertheim and Tufts University psychology professor Sam Sommers explore the intersection of sports and human nature—what the world of sports has to teach us about who we are, what we care about and the forces that shape our behavior.

Scott Kutcher, a clinical professor of psychiatry and behavior sciences at the Stanford Center for Sleep Sciences and Medicine, joins the show this week to talk about the scientific world of sleep and what other teams can learn from the Yankees’ decision to start their spring training workouts later in the day than usual. How significant are the benefits of a good night’s sleep at the highest level of athletic performance?

Listen below and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or on Stitcher, and check back every week for a new episode.