The Mel Robbins Podcast

Dr. Gina Poe: How To Get Better Sleep And Boost Your Learning, Memory & Energy | Mel Robbins Podcast

Order your copy of The Let Them Theory 👉 https://melrob.co/let-them-theory 👈 The #1 Best Selling Book of 2025 🔥 Discover how much power you truly have. It all begins with two simple words. Let Them. — Are you getting the sleep you need? Do you wish you could improve your sleep, but you’re not sure how? Dr. Gina Poe is an accomplished researcher and trained neuroscientist with a PhD in basic sleep. Currently a professor at UCLA, Dr. Poe has been researching the functions of #sleep for over 30 years and has authored nearly 200 publications on the topic. Today, Dr. Poe is here to answer your questions like, Why do you sleep? What is your brain doing as you sleep? What is REM sleep? What are sleep cycles? What are circadian rhythms? And perhaps most importantly, you’ll get 5 research-backed recommendations from Dr. Poe on how anyone, including you, can not only improve their sleep but also get a “perfect” night’s sleep, as defined by a neuroscientist. In this conversation, Dr. Poe discusses topics such as: What is the “perfect night's sleep”? How long are you supposed to sleep every night? What is a sleep cycle, and why should you care? What is N1 sleep? What is N2 sleep? What is N3 sleep? What is paradoxical sleep and how can you tell someone’s in that state? What REM sleep really is and how often we must be in it The physiological and neurological difference between being awake and asleep What a neurotransmitter is and how it changes composition when asleep What the functions of our brain’s two hemispheres are How sleep cleans the brain The connection between sleep and neuroplasticity The link between sleep and brain health The scientific reason why they call it “falling” asleep How sleep directly affects longevity and vitality Why you don’t remember your dreams How sleep impacts how we learn during the day What happens to your body and brain when you close your eyes at night The one phase of sleep you cannot miss A neuroscientist's top 5 recommendations for better sleep What the purpose of vasodilation is Which hours of sleep are absolutely critical for memory processing How many hours of sleep you really need for optimal functioning Why a consistent bedtime is the start of the best sleep of your life --- Follow Dr. Poe: Instagram: instagram.com/poe.gina Webpage: bri.ucla.edu/people/gina-poe-ph-d/ Watch the episodes on YouTube: https://bit.ly/45OWCNr My book! ‘High 5 Habit’, here: https://a.co/d/g1DQ8Pt Follow me: The Mel Robbins Podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/themelrobbinspodcast/ --- This podcast is presented for educational and entertainment purposes. I’m just your friend. I am not a licensed therapist, and this podcast is NOT intended as a substitute for the advice of a physician, professional coach, psychotherapist, or other qualified professional. Got it? Good. I’ll see you in the next episode. In this episode: 00:00 Intro 03:40 Why the heck do we even need sleep? 04:40 The difference in our brain between sleep and wakefulness. 06:37 A perfect night’s sleep looks like this. 14:11 Your brain cleans itself during this stage. 15:54 REM is not just a rock band; this is where your dreams happen. 23:29 The ideal number of sleep cycles you should have per night. 25:03 The first half of your sleep vs. the second half. 27:31 Good sleep habits can help your body heal from mental trauma. 29:14 Here’s how to help reset your circadian rhythm. 32:20 A consistent bedtime will produce this important hormone. 35:29 How does a bath before bed help with sleep? 37:34 The sleep routine for the world’s top sleep researcher. Wait…what? 40:39 Here’s my top 3 tips for getting a great night’s sleep. What’s yours? #sleephack #sleeping — Follow Mel: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melrobbins/ TikTok: http://tiktok.com/@melrobbins Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/melrobbins LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melrobbins Website: http://melrobbins.com — Sign up for Mel’s newsletter: https://melrob.co/sign-up-newsletter A note from Mel to you, twice a week, sharing simple, practical ways to build the life you want. — Subscribe to Mel’s channel here: https://www.youtube.com/melrobbins?sub_confirmation=1 — Listen to The Mel Robbins Podcast 🎧 New episodes drop every Monday & Thursday! https://melrob.co/spotify https://melrob.co/applepodcasts https://melrob.co/amazonmusic — Looking for Mel’s books on Amazon? Find them here: The Let Them Theory: https://amzn.to/3IQ21Oe The Let Them Theory Audiobook: https://amzn.to/413SObp The High 5 Habit: https://amzn.to/3fMvfPQ The 5 Second Rule: https://amzn.to/4l54fah

Mel RobbinshostDr. Gina Poeguest

Nov 2, 202341mWatch on YouTube ↗

WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT

Sleep Scientist Reveals Simple Daily Habits To Supercharge Brain Health

Mel Robbins interviews UCLA neuroscientist Dr. Gina Poe about the science of sleep and how it impacts learning, memory, emotional health, and physical repair. Dr. Poe explains sleep stages, REM and non-REM functions, and why the brain does essential “work” only during sleep, including waste cleanup and memory integration. They cover circadian rhythms, light exposure, and growth hormone release, showing how inconsistent bedtimes, late screens, and poor routines sabotage this system. The episode ends with practical, research-backed habits anyone can adopt to dramatically improve sleep quality and, in turn, cognitive performance and healing.

IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING

5 ideas

Treat sleep as active brain work, not passive rest.

Sleep isn’t laziness; it is when your brain performs critical tasks—immune support, neural repair, emotional processing, creativity, and memory consolidation—that cannot happen efficiently while awake.

Protect deep sleep early in the night for brain ‘cleaning’.

Slow-wave (N3) sleep, which predominates in the first half of the night, runs powerful, wave-like activity that helps clear metabolic waste and repair the brain; staying up too late can cause you to miss much of this phase.

Use REM sleep to solidify learning, habits, and emotional healing.

REM sleep integrates new information into existing schemas, supports creativity, and ‘de-links’ painful memories from their raw emotional charge—processes that are essential for habit formation and trauma recovery.

Anchor your circadian rhythm with morning light and reduced evening light.

Getting outside into natural light soon after waking powerfully resets your internal clock, while avoiding or filtering bright blue light at night prevents your brain from misreading evening as ‘morning’ and delaying sleep.

Keep a consistent bedtime to leverage melatonin and growth hormone surges.

Going to bed around the same time each night allows melatonin and growth hormone to peak together, increasing growth hormone release up to tenfold and enhancing tissue repair, protein synthesis, and memory consolidation.

WORDS WORTH SAVING

5 quotes

Sleep is great for the immune system, it's great for cognition, it's great for the emotional system, it's great for growth and repair.

— Dr. Gina Poe

If you think of sleep as laziness or a time when you're not doing anything, then it's harder to justify in our workaholic world.

— Dr. Gina Poe

During the day you can collect the LEGO pieces, but you don't assemble them into a coherent schema until you sleep.

— Dr. Gina Poe

Sleep is another ‘work time’ for your brain, even though it feels quite different than waking work.

— Dr. Gina Poe

Having good sleep habits and consistent sleep habits actually can help you heal… it's not only helpful, it's necessary to heal.

— Mel Robbins and Dr. Gina Poe (paraphrased agreement)

Why we sleep and the multiple systems it supports (immune, cognitive, emotional, repair)Sleep architecture: stages N1, N2, N3 (deep sleep) and REM, and 90-minute cyclesMemory, neuroplasticity, habit formation, and creativity during sleep (especially REM)Brain “cleaning” and metabolic waste clearance during deep slow-wave sleepCircadian rhythms, light exposure, and their role in setting the body’s internal clockGrowth hormone, consistent bedtimes, and nighttime bodily repairPractical sleep-improvement strategies and Dr. Gina Poe’s personal sleep routine

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