In her new book Overloaded, Cosmic Shambles Network regular Ginny Smith looks at how every aspect of our lives are influenced by our brain chemicals.

One of the people she spoke to in researching the book, particularly for the chapter about sleep, was our own Science Shambles co-host Dr Helen Czerski. As part of various research trips Helen has spent a lot of time at sea and in areas of the world with 24 hour daylight. So she and Ginny speak about how our brains need rhythm and routine to function properly so we need to artificially inject it even when it’s not present. Just because 4am is meaningless, it doesn’t mean we still don’t want to get up ‘early’…

And these issues have come even more to the forefront during the COVID 19 pandemic and lockdown as days all seem to flow into each other and time seems to lose all its meaning…

Ginny’s book is available now right here. Helen co-hosts Science Shambles live every Sunday with Robin Ince.