Lisa L Lewis

What Olympic athletes know about sleep And why it's relevant for the rest of us

You don’t have to be an Olympic athlete to recognize that sleep provides a competitive advantage! For everyone from recreational exercisers to weekend warriors, sleep boosts athletic performance. Read more in my latest newsletter, out today. letstalksleep.substack.com/p/olympic-at...

The Epstein scandal is taking down Europe’s political class. In the US, they’re getting a pass. As Europe moves to address its shame, it’s highlighting the comparative lack of accountability in the U.S.

www.politico.com/news/2026/02...

Solidarity from California (picture taken earlier today)

On the heels of Drowsy Driving Awareness Week comes this article in today’s San Francisco Chronicle about a driver falling asleep while driving the train. Even a microsleep (involuntary, can be less than a second) can have severe consequences while your car (or train) is still moving forward!

Part of a museum display at SFO … feeling old 😂

Decades of research have found that acetaminophen is safe for children when administered as recommended. Misleading claims link the medicine to autism. These false claims send a dangerous message to parents and does a disservice to autistic individuals. www.aap.org/en/news-room...

Current view

Love the lede in @gailcornwall.com's latest . . . plus her thoughtful look at what kids gain when they no longer can access their phones during school hours.

Welp, the California state legislature passed the bill today to authorize putting redistricting on the November
ballot, and the first anti-redistricting mailer showed up in our mailbox
this afternoon

Saw that today is World Brain Day and looked up coverage, and one of the top results said “Brain-eating amoeba found in South Carolina,” which feels very on brand for 2025

More than half of the teens in the study went online when they woke in the middle of the night! We’ve known for some time that the best practices for sleep include getting devices out of the bedroom, and these latest results really underscore why.

My mid-summer news recap on four new sleep studies is now out. Subscribe for free to read more about new studies on screen use, weekend sleep, parent involvement and long-term health. letstalksleep.substack.com/subscribe

Did you know that for $5/month, you can get PBS Passport, a service that unlocks the vastness of the @pbs.org libraries?
Feed your mind while you help PBS stay on the air.

A small good thing in the midst of everything: this flyer, deposited in our mailbox yesterday. Two immediate thoughts:
1. These kids aren’t on their screens!
2. AI may be taking over a lot of functions, but it still can't make cookies and lemonade.

(And P.S. yes, we’ll be stopping by!)

Trump Administration Live Updates: Supreme Court Clears Way for Dismantling of Education Department

This will “effectively gut the department, which manages federal loans for college, tracks student achievement and enforces civil rights laws in schools.” 😢 It’s not like students are our future or anything … www.nytimes.com/live/2025/07...

Measles Cases Hit Record High, 25 Years After U.S. Eliminated the Disease

We are DELIBERATELY regressing.

“Researchers often think of measles as the proverbial canary in a coal mine. It is often the first sign that other vaccine-preventable diseases, like pertussis and Hib meningitis, might soon become more common.” www.nytimes.com/2025/07/09/w...

hard to feel celebratory today

pretty terrifying.

Interesting detail for US readers:

It seems Iranians have a legislative branch that plays a part in war/peace decisions. Imagine that!

__
Quaint background: 2002, Congress debated/voted on Iraq war. Bad outcome, but they had a voice.

2012: Cong insisted on right to review 'Iran deal,' JCPOA.

A post that says, "Breaking: ICE agents are complaining that every time they go out wearing masks in unmarked cars with no uniforms or identification as law enforcement to abduct people, protesters keep dumping pounds of glitter on them so that everyone can tell they're ICE for days afterwards."

Are there any crafters in the audience...? Anyone...? Asking for a friend. 🦝

#Feral
#CivilDisobedience
#PeacefulRainbowGlitterOfLoveAndJoy

#nokings Larkspur, CA

Starting off well-rested (i.e., with more sleep “in the bank”) isn’t a perfect solution: Sleep isn’t a commodity to be neatly deposited & then retrieved when needed. However, sleep banking can help cushion the pending shortfall vs. when you start off already exhausted!

There’s a bidirectional relationship between sleep and mental-health: You can’t look at mental-health issues without looking at sleep, and the reverse is also true.

Read more in this month’s free newsletter, out today, and also find out more about my upcoming events. (Link to read: bit.ly/4329xMD)

NYT headline: “Kennedy Advises New Parents to ‘Do Your Own Research’ on Vaccines” Subheader: “In an interview with Dr. Phil, the health secretary offered false information about vaccine oversight and revealed a lack of basic understanding of new drug approvals.”

“And I’m like, what do you mean, you ‘do your own research’? You running a double-blind study in your living room, dawg?”
- A guy walking ahead of me with his friends on a NYC sidewalk in 2021, also my favorite overheard dialogue of the entire pandemic

When I visit schools to talk about sleep/wellness, I love hearing directly from students. Recently, I asked the kids to write down what they wanted their parents to know. One response: “I need time to relax! I have so much to do in the day and it’s so stressful.” Reminder: They need downtime too.

Anyone else having trouble sleeping lately?!

Graphic: As many as 69 million American women lack access to valid birth certificates

Are you a woman who changed your name when you got married?

Congress is considering a bill that could make it much harder for you to vote.

Call your rep—this is not a drill. indivisible.org/resource/cal...

The teen brain undergoes a MASSIVE, multiyear remodel. This takes place at different times: the prefrontal cortex, which regulates emotions, lags behind the amygdala (AKA the brain’s emotion center). Teens feel things more intensely as a result. (And this is heightened when they’re sleep-deprived!)

Science keeps your dumb ass alive

Sign of the day…

#handsoff San Francisco