REGISTER: https://www.oblongbooks.com/event/sara-mednick-power-of-downstate

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Drawing on her original findings—and those of others across many fields of medicine—author and professor Sara Mednick creates a comprehensive picture of the Upstate/Downstate rhythms that orchestrate all of our bodies’ vital systems, along with a novel theory that aging is caused by spending less and less time in Downstate activities. The Power of the Downstate offers practical, evidence-based insight into how we can all enable those systems to work together in better harmony.

Sara C. Mednick is a professor of cognitive sciences at the University of California, Irvine, where she directs the Sleep and Cognition (SaC) lab. Her first book, Take a Nap! Change Your Life put forth the scientific basis for napping to improve productivity, cognition, mood, and health. A world-renowned scientist, Mednick’s lab investigates the mind and body mechanisms that support performance improvement. Her work has been continuously federally funded with grants from the National Institute of Health, National Science Foundation, Department of Defense Office of Naval Research, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), a United States Department of Defense agency. She has been interviewed by every major magazine and newspaper, including the New York Times, New Yorker, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, and BBC, and has been featured on Good Morning America and TODAY, among others. She resides in San Diego, and with her wife in the Hudson Valley.