A bad night's sleep can leave you waking up drained. But unlike a phone, your energy doesn't necessarily keep falling throughout the day. In workplace research, people often report a rise in energy during the morning, a peak around midday, and a decline later.

Dr. Oliver Weigelt, assistant professor of organizational psychology at the University of Groningen, joins Neil Hedley to discuss what sleep quality changes about our starting point, the effort paradox, why afternoon fatigue is more complicated than it seems, and where shift work fits—or doesn't fit—into the evidence.

This observational study followed 106 employees across up to 10 workdays; its group-level patterns are not universal recommendations or sleep treatments.

Research: Handschuch, Weigelt and colleagues, Journal of Business and Psychology (2026). Guest: Dr. Oliver Weigelt, University of Groningen.

British Columbia stopped changing its clocks on November 1, 2026. But there's a catch: ending the twice-yearly switch and choosing which time to keep are two different questions.

In this episode, Neil Hedley talks with Dr. Ralph Mistlberger, a professor of psychology and circadian-rhythm researcher at Simon Fraser University, about why he believes permanent standard time is better aligned with our biology than permanent daylight time. Mistlberger is a co-author of a new Canadian Medical Association Journal analysis examining the potential health, education and economic trade-offs of these policies.

They explore how morning light resets the human body clock, why darker winter mornings may worsen the mismatch between biological time and school or work schedules, and what researchers mean by social jet lag. Their discussion also considers the political appeal of brighter evenings—and why popularity doesn't necessarily answer the biological question.

Most importantly, the conversation distinguishes between the disruption of changing clocks twice a year and the consequences of living on a particular time year-round. The CMAJ paper reviews evidence and identifies risks; it does not establish that every person will experience the same effects.

Further reading: Lam RW, Mistlberger R, Baylis P, Choi A. Analysis of health impacts associated with adopting permanent standard time or permanent daylight saving time to inform policy in Canada, CMAJ (October 2026). B.C. government's announcement of permanent Pacific Time (UTC−7). Dr. Mistlberger's SFU profile.

What does a sleep tracker actually measure when it tells you that you slept badly—and how much should you trust the score?

Stanford sleep and circadian researcher Dr. Jamie Zeitzer joins Neil Hedley to unpack the gap between a precise-looking number and the evidence behind it. They discuss why wrist-based devices can estimate sleep duration reasonably well for some people yet struggle when sleep is fragmented, what proprietary sleep scores leave unexplained, and why a single night's rating may be less useful than patterns over time.

Neil shares how wearable data prompted him to seek a formal sleep assessment. They also explore what a more useful future could look like: changes that prompt better questions for a clinician, links between daytime behavior and nighttime sleep, and feedback about a bedroom environment that could be adjusted.

Important distinction: Consumer sleep trackers estimate aspects of sleep; a sleep score is not a medical diagnosis. The future applications discussed are possibilities, not established benefits of every device.

Further reading: Jamie M. Zeitzer, The utility of sleep wearables—well, that depends, SLEEP (2024), read the editorial. Zeitzer, A time for change: actigraphy in the age of consumer wearables, SLEEP (2026), read the editorial. Dr. Zeitzer's Stanford profile.