Vault: Sanjay Gupta Joins The Show

Summary

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The Bert Show – “Vault: Sanjay Gupta Joins The Show”

Original Air Date: November 4, 2025
Host: Bert and The Bert Show Cast
Guest: Dr. Sanjay Gupta (CNN Chief Medical Correspondent)

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins The Bert Show to discuss sleep health, the use and risks of prescription sleep aids (like Lunesta and Ambien), and share insights from his upcoming CNN special, "Sleep." Through candid conversation and listener call-ins, Dr. Gupta offers practical advice and scientific explanations, addressing America’s relationship with sleep and the modern reliance on medication over behavioral solutions.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Allure and Risks of Sleep Medications

• Personal Account:
  Bert confides to Dr. Gupta that he began using Lunesta to sleep due to ongoing insomnia, influenced by marketing and his doctor’s assurance that it's "non-addictive" (02:00–03:15). However, after several weeks, he cannot sleep without it.

• Dr. Gupta’s Perspective:

  • Modern prescription sleep aids are “less addictive,” but “none of them are designed to be taken lifelong” (03:29).
  • Sleeping pills are meant for short-term relief during difficult periods, not a permanent solution.

• Quote:

  “None of them are designed to be taken lifelong. I mean, that is not the purpose of them.”—Dr. Sanjay Gupta (03:32)

• Quick-Fix Society:
  Dr. Gupta notes our tendency to skip behavioral fixes and default to medication:

  “We’re a quick-fix society and we are subjected to the marketing, there's no question. But I think too many people in this country probably jump to the pill first before trying things that might be a little bit easier.” (04:41)

2. How Sleeping Pills Work

• Neuroscience Simplified:
  Dr. Gupta explains that sleeping pills reduce the effectiveness of neurotransmitters related to wakefulness, either by quantity or function, thereby promoting sleep.

  • Newer meds have a short half-life, so they “don’t make you groggy the next day” (05:21–06:18).

• Side Effects:

  • Common side effects: dry mouth, headaches, nausea (06:23).
  • Uncommon but alarming: “sleep eating,” especially with Ambien (06:23–07:19).
    • Memorable Story: A woman sleepwalks, cooks, eats, and accuses her housekeeper—zero memory of the event.

3. Recreational and Widespread Use

• Ambien’s Evolving Reputation:
  Some are “using Ambien... as almost like a recreational drug where their sex is better, where they like the high,” posing new dangers (07:19–07:42).

• Youth & Sleep Aids:
  Dr. Gupta is “struck by the number of young people…even in grade school... taking sleeping pills regularly” (07:43).

  • Listener Erin (12:20) confirms high schoolers commonly seek Ambien—sometimes to sleep, sometimes even to skip school and enjoy the drug’s “buzz.”

• Quote:

  “I mean, it was unheard of for someone when I was a kid to take a sleeping pill. That just sounded kind of crazy.”—Dr. Sanjay Gupta (07:55)

4. Sleep Deprivation & Cognitive Function

• Dr. Gupta’s Personal Experiment:
  He stayed awake for 30 hours, then tried flying a 747 simulator at NASA. Even with knowledge and adrenaline, he performed poorly:

  “It was amazing how many of just the takeoff sequences...that I sort of had memorized and thought I had down pat that I had forgotten or I just couldn’t recall as quickly.” (08:23–09:40)

  • Emphasizes real-world risk: 80,000–100,000 crashes a year due to drowsy driving.

• Medicine and Sleep Deprivation:
  Discussion of long hours in medical training, with concerns about residents’ performance under chronic sleep deprivation.

  • Resident work week now capped at 80 hours (09:40–10:32).

5. Call-Ins: Real People, Real Struggles

• Susan:
  Addicted to Ambien for over a year, doesn’t feel refreshed, wonders if dependence is physical or psychological (10:32–11:19).

  • Dr. Gupta: Medically, Ambien “is not supposed to be addictive,” but tolerance and withdrawal do occur. Suggests gradual dose reduction (“weaning”) for safer discontinuation (11:19–12:11).

• Erin:
  Affirms youth Ambien use, describing classmates “skipping school and sleeping” and the drug’s “buzz” (12:20–12:51).

  • Bert compares the sensation: “It kind of gives you this almost buzz, like drunk, like feeling...” (12:51–13:15).

• Jeff Bridges (cast):
  Shares Ambien helped with sleep disrupted by dialysis, but relates to the “loopy and drunk and acting stoned” feeling pre-sleep (13:21).

6. Alternatives & Healthy Sleep Hygiene

• Dr. Gupta’s Recommendations:
  Most people neglect basic sleep practices. He lists essentials:

  • Remove distractions from bedroom
  • Thermostat between 66–70°F
  • Blackout curtains
  • Address persistent worries by writing them down
  • Notes a case study: Busy woman, total skeptic, but basic sleep hygiene raised her sleep to 7–8 hours a night (13:54–15:02).

• Quote:

  “Every sleep specialist we talked to said, you know what? You got to use that because it works for the vast majority of people.” (14:15)

7. The High Cost of Sleep Loss

• Long-term Impact:
  Chronic sleep deprivation (5–6 hours/night versus 8) raises risk of obesity, metabolism disorders, chronic diseases (heart, lung) and memory impairment (15:02–16:17).

• Memorable Explanation:

  “You may remember this conversation a couple of weeks from now, but probably not a few months from now because your body just isn’t able to restore and retrieve those memories as well because of lack of sleep.” (15:35)

8. New Drugs: Stimulants like Provigil

• Caller Ken:
  Asks about "Provigil" (modafinil), a stimulant prescribed for wakefulness. Bert notes his doctor offered it as an alternative to diet pills for staying alert during the day (16:47–17:23).
  • Dr. Gupta: “It’s a different premise altogether...we’re talking about keeping people awake as opposed to getting them sleep.” Military uses, but “we just don’t know the long-term effects of that as of yet.”
  • He’s personally cautious, suspects it’s not healthy long-term (17:06–17:57).

9. Upcoming Special: “Sleep”

• CNN Air Date: March 26, 10 PM
  • The special covers all the issues discussed, with stories, science, and practical advice.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

| Timestamp | Quote | Speaker | |------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------| | 03:32 | “None of them are designed to be taken lifelong.” | Dr. Sanjay Gupta | | 04:41 | “We're a quick-fix society…” | Dr. Sanjay Gupta | | 06:23 | “One of the medications, Ambien, has come under some criticism... sleep eating episodes.”| Dr. Sanjay Gupta | | 07:55 | “Unheard of for someone when I was a kid to take a sleeping pill.” | Dr. Sanjay Gupta | | 09:20 | “I was amazed how many of the just takeoff sequences...that I had forgotten.” | Dr. Sanjay Gupta | | 14:15 | “It works for the vast majority of people.” | Dr. Sanjay Gupta | | 15:35 | “You may remember this conversation a couple weeks from now, but probably not a few months from now because your body just isn’t able to restore and retrieve those memories as well because of lack of sleep.” | Dr. Sanjay Gupta | | 17:06 | “It’s a different premise altogether... we’re talking about keeping people awake as opposed to getting them sleep.” | Dr. Sanjay Gupta | | 19:03 | “We spent a lot of time coming up with that title [‘Sleep’].” | Dr. Sanjay Gupta |

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Important Timestamps

• 02:00–03:15 – Bert describes personal sleep struggles and Lunesta use
• 03:29–04:41 – Are sleep aids addictive? Societal quick-fix mentality
• 05:19–06:18 – How sleep medications change brain chemistry
• 06:23–07:19 – Side effects, including bizarre “sleep-eating”
• 08:23–09:40 – Dr. Gupta on sleep deprivation experiment & risk
• 10:32–12:11 – Callers Susan and Erin: real-life Ambien stories, Dr. Gupta’s advice
• 13:54–15:02 – Sleep hygiene and practical tips
• 15:02–16:17 – The physical and mental cost of sleep deprivation
• 16:47–17:57 – The “go drug” Provigil: risks and unknowns

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Flow of Conversation

The episode is informal, direct, and humorous, balancing education with relatability. Dr. Gupta’s expertise is grounded and compassionate, and the show freely acknowledges the real-world urgency (and sleepiness) of the cast and callers. Bert and listeners' personal experiences make for a practical, accessible discussion about sleep.

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Final Thoughts

This episode is a must-listen for anyone struggling with sleep, considering sleep aids, or interested in the science of sleep and the importance of healthy habits over quick pharmaceutical fixes. Dr. Gupta’s upcoming CNN special “Sleep” promises further exploration of these timely and personal issues.

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Transcript

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[Adam Grant]

This is the Bird Show.

[Bert (Host)]

Sanjay Gupta from CNN joins us right now. Hey, Sanjay.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

Hey guys. How you doing?

[Bert (Host)]

Good. How are you?

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

I'm doing well, thanks for having me.

[Bert (Host)]

The last time I saw you, we were holding the camera for each other, taking pictures with Bono.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

Yeah, that's a pretty good intro, isn't it?

[Jeff Bridges]

Isn't it?

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

We were hanging out with Bono.

[Bert (Host)]

We were hanging out with Bono. Yeah, it was only for three seconds, but yeah, we were together with Bono. Hey Sanjay, I'm glad you're joining us this morning because, man, I am a prime example of somebody that fell into the marketing trap. And maybe you can give me more of a medical opinion on this, but you know, I'm watching these Lunesta commercials over the last couple of months and over the last, over the same amount of time, the last couple of months, I have just been having the toughest time sleeping. Like there's not a stupid amount of stress on me. I'm not up at night thinking of anything really important. My mind just wanders from topic to topic to really superficial topics. And I haven't been able to sleep, I mean probably two, three hours a night. And when you get up at 3:30 in the morning, you have to kind of be on your game. In a job like this, I'm willing to do anything to get like at least six hours of sleep. So when Lunesta came on and they said, look, you can use our sleeping pill, it's non addictive, you can use it long term. I got all excited about it. I went on the Internet, I did my research on it just to make sure it was true. Then I talk to my doctor about it. My doctor says, you know what, for your case, don't worry you're taking half a pill. It's only one and a half milligrams rather than the three that it comes in. It's just go ahead, do what you got to do. So I started doing that and I guess I've been on it for about six weeks now. And from time to time I try to sleep without the Lunesta and it's not even a possibility. I don't get a wink of sleep.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

Wow.

[Bert (Host)]

So I guess my first question for you, and then we're going to talk more here about your special coming up, is are these pills really addictive? And if they are, how can they market themselves as not mean?

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

Well, you know, and there' sthere's lots of different pills out there. So, you know, it's, it's a, I don't want to speak generally for all the sleeping pills, but you know, a lot of them now, especially the ones that have come out most recently, are less addictive. When I say less on purpose because none of them are designed to be taken lifelong. I mean that is not the purpose of them. They're supposed to get you through periods of your time periods of your life when you're having difficulty sleeping, but then you're supposed to come off of them. It sounds like you, Bert. Let me just say a couple things. One is that morning anchors tend to have a difficult job no matter what. I don't mean to bum you out here or anything, but you guys have the hardest job in the world of actually trying to maintain some sort of sleep schedule because the body's not designed really to be awake and asleep at these sorts of hours. Your cortisol levels are different. Lots of things are telling your body you should be asleep when you're actually awake and vice versa. So it is hard for you, which is why sleeping pills, maybe your doctor said that this might be an okay alternative for you. I take it you tried all the different things like blackout curtains for your house, for your room where you sleep, things like that. The good sleep hygiene, as they say.

[Caller or Guest]

Nitrous oxide.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

What's that?

[Caller or Guest]

He has nitrous oxide balloons in his room. He uses those.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

But just things like that before you go to the sleeping pills. We're a quick fix society and we are subjected to the marketing, there's no question. But I think too many people in this country probably jump to the pill first before trying things that might be a little bit easier.

[Bert (Host)]

What does long term use mean? Is that four weeks? Is that six weeks? Is that six months?

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

Usually means months as opposed to years and months as opposed to weeks. So they're not real specific in terms of long term, but long term could be up to six months, maybe even a little bit longer.

[Caller or Guest]

Dr. Gupta, how does Lunesta or Ambien or what's the other one? Isn't there a third one on the market?

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

There's Restoril, there's a few others out there.

[Caller or Guest]

How do they like, what changes do they do in your body that allow you to fall asleep?

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

You know, you have these neurotransmitters in your brain. You guys are asking good questions, which basically, you know, fire and they conduct signals throughout your brain, give you a certain level of wakefulness. What these medications typically do is sort of decrease the amount of neurotransmitters either by the number or, or by the way that they actually work. And that's some of the differences in the different types of medications. Some of them actually take away some of the neurotransmitters, and some of the medications make those neurotransmitters less effective. And that's basically what happens. The key to these medications, what makes them different than generations past, is that they come into your body work right away, and then when they're done working, they're out of your body. So they have what's called a very short half life. So they don't make you groggy. They're not supposed to make you groggy the next day, like a Valium water or some of the older generation medications.

[Jeff Bridges]

What are some of the warnings they give you when you get on a medication like that.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

Well, you know, it's interesting for the most part, they talk about some physical side effects, like you might have dry mouth, you might have headaches. Sometimes people get nausea or vomiting. What's been fascinating lately, and you guys have probably heard about this, is that one of the medications, Ambien has come under some criticism recently for a very small study from Minnesota talking about the fact that in your brain, the area where you sleep and the area where you eat, those areas of the brain are kind of close together. So people are having these bizarre sort of sleep eating episodes while on Ambien. This one woman who actually, you know, was completely asleep, walked down the stairs, went to her oven, turned it up to 500 degrees, cooked a meal, ate it, went back upstairs, and the next morning accused her housekeepers of stealing her food. She had no recollection of this happening at all, really. And it's rare. You know, the majority of people listening who ever taken a sleeping pill are not going to have these sorts of problems, but there are some side effects with any medication you got to sort of be concerned about.

[Bert (Host)]

Ambien may be a little bit of a different deal too, because actually I saw this on CNN yesterday, but the volume was down. So I don't know if this was part of your report or not, but like, people are using Ambien now as almost like a recreational drug where their sex is better, where they like the high of the Ambien. They're not using it to go to sleep, but they like the dizzy feel that it gives them. So it's very dangerous that way also, right?

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

It is. It can be. It can be for some people. And what's striking to me as we were working on this special, Bert, as we travel around the country, is the number of young people that have started taking sleeping pills regularly, even in high school, even in grade school. That's a bit concerning. And I don't know if it's actually for sleep or to some extent there's this recreational component to it. But obviously that's concerning. I mean, we never took many. I mean, it was unheard of for someone when I was a kid to take a sleeping pill. That just sounded kind of crazy.

[Bert (Host)]

You did a very interesting kind of self test on yourself also where you stayed up 30 straight hours and realized that's the kind of effect that sleep deprivation can have on you. Can you tell everybody about that?

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

Yeah, absolutely. It was interesting. I wanted to sort of put it to the Test myself and as a doc, you know, I mean, we went through residency training, and you have a lot of people who have problems with. With that while they're in terms of lack of sleep. But I wanted to see. I flew the 747 simulator, which is just like flying a plane. I mean, it is an amazing simulator. I did it out at NASA in San Francisco, and then I basically sleep deprived myself for 30 hours and did it again after having gone through all the instruction, all the training. What was remarkable to me is when I came back in 30 hours later, I was obviously tired, but I was kind of like charged up to do this, you know, this pretty cool simulator thing again. It was amazing how many of sort of the just takeoff sequences and things like that that I sort of had memorized and thought I had down pat that I had forgotten or I just couldn't recall as quickly. Certainly not quickly enough to be flying a plane safely. And also just the mechanics of it, you know, keeping the nose sort of flat and level as I'm cruising across the horizon at 600 miles an hour. I was having a harder time just doing that. I really had to exercise some effort to do that. And I think it just shows, you know, people drive on very little sleep. You have 80 to 100,000 crashes a year because of drowsy driving people. It's not a drop of alcohol. There's been concerns about pilots and doctors as well, you know, as I mentioned.

[Bert (Host)]

Yeah. There's the irony in the whole thing, Dr. Gupta, is that I think in your industry, it's notorious for these interns to be staying up, I mean, for 30 straight hours, or doctors, 30 straight hours.

[Caller or Guest]

It's a good thing they're not landing.

[Bert (Host)]

A plane and doing procedures on people, too, you know.

[Susan (Caller)]

Yeah.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

You know, and, you know, honestly, you know, having been in this medical industry for a long time, you know, it's one of those things where I don't see. I haven't seen the consequences, you know, the bad sort of outcomes as a result of lack of sleep. I just haven't seen that. But certainly you worry about it every single day. And, you know, it's part of the reason the nation as a whole has tried to restrict work hours for residents. And, you know, when I was a resident in neurosurgery, you know, working 100, 110 hours a week was. Was not uncommon. And now, you know, the federal law, national law, says residents can work no more than 80 hours a week. And it's targeting this very issue.

[Bert (Host)]

Couple of questions coming in for you, boy. Susan can speak for me here. Hey, Susan.

[Susan (Caller)]

Hi. Hi. Good morning, everybody. I have to say that, first of all, I am addicted to Ambien. I think I've been on Ambien probably about a year, two years, and now I'm doing Ambien cr. And just yesterday I called up and was like my pharmacist to make sure that I had another refill. I need to get off of it. My sleep is not great. And now I'm trying to figure out if it's more of a physical addiction or if it's really just a mental addiction, because I cannot sleep, quote, unquote, without it. So what are the best recommendations, Dr. Gupta, that you could recommend? To kind of get myself off of it? Feel refreshed, because I don't even feel refreshed anymore, even after taking and the ncr.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

That's an important point right there. So it sounds like it's probably not working as well for you as it once did. You're not supposed to develop an addiction to this medication, which I'm not saying that you haven't, but it's physically not supposed to be addictive, nor are you supposed to develop that much of a tolerance. How much are you taking?

[Susan (Caller)]

I'm just taking one. I think it's more.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

What, 10 milligrams.

[Susan (Caller)]

I think it's 10 milligrams. Is it? Yeah, I think it's 10 milligams.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

One thing you could try doing, and a lot of people do with all sorts of medications, is just sort of trying to wean your yourself down. So some of those 10 milligram tablets are scored so you can actually break it in half. You may want to just do that and start trying to take progressively lower doses and see if you can get yourself off that way. Sometimes with any medication, either for mental or for whatever reason, they are hard to come off of. If you wean yourself off of it, you might have much better luck.

[Susan (Caller)]

Okay, thank you so much. Good morning, everybody. Have a good day.

[Bert (Host)]

Good morning. Thanks, Susan. Aaron with a comment also. Good morning, Erin. You are on with CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

[Susan (Caller)]

Hi. I was just calling to say I graduated last year from high school, and I just heard a comment that he made about younger people starting to get into all these sleeping pills. And I just remember everybody was looking for Ambiens all the time. It's so popular now with high school.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

Why was that? Was it they wanted to sleep or was it more of the recreation?

[Susan (Caller)]

No, they were taking it. They were skipping school. I mean, skip school a lot myself. Skipping school and sleeping school all the time. Popping them in at 10 o' clock in the morning and just staying up all day, you know, just feeling it, you know.

[Bert (Host)]

Yeah, I could tell you because I was taking Ambien before I was taking Lunesta. And before you go to sleep, what it does is it kind of gives you this almost buzz, like, drunk, like feeling. You're almost stoned on it, where your balance isn't quite right, and you're almost in this, like, high, almost dreamlike state before you go to sleep. And you can force yourself to stay awake and continue that high or you can go to sleep on it.

[Caller or Guest]

I think they're just lazier these days. And now when they skip school and they get to drugs, they just want a nap.

[Jeff Bridges]

Well, no, I mean, I agree with Burt, because when I was on dialysis, that messes up your sleep pattern. And so I was prescribed Ambien to help me get a consistent sleep when I was sick. And that was the joke before I would fall asleep is the fact of how I was acting and loopy and drunk and acting stoned and all this stuff right before I went to sleep.

[Bert (Host)]

And.

[Jeff Bridges]

And it was. I can see what the draw is to that drug because it is a fun feeling before you go to sleep. Dr. Gupta, you said earlier in the conversation that a lot of people jump to these pills quickly without doing some of the other things that can help you get to sleep. What are those other things?

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

Well, you know, they talk about things like a good sleep, hygiene. And it's funny, even as I talk about that, people are like, ah, it's not going to work for me, you know, and then it's sort of amazing when you talk about things like getting all the distractions out of your bedroom, setting your thermostat between 66 and 70 for you guys who have to go to bed earlier, getting blackout curtains so you can really knock any visual light stimulation into your eyes, which can keep you awake, things like that. The reason I bring them up is because every sleep specialist we talked to said, you know what? You got to use that because it works for the vast majority of people. Now, other things, you know, in terms of, you know, if there are particular concerns or worries that you have, writing those down, sometimes recording those even. We have a woman that we follow along in our sleep special who is a total skeptic of all these types of techniques, and we got her on a sleep schedule that ends up working very well for her. She has two kids. She Works in a busy ENT clinic. She has lots of concerns and worries at the end of the day and then she's got to cook meals for her kids at night and everything. Just a busy life. But now she's sleeping seven to eight hours a night and she's pretty pleased with it because of some pretty simple non medication related techniques.

[Bert (Host)]

Dr. Gupta, long term, when you're not getting eight hours of sleep, let's say you're just getting six or you're getting five, what kind of effect does that have on your body?

[Caller or Guest]

We don't want this answer, especially here in this room.

[Bert (Host)]

I know, right?

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

It is remarkable. I will tell you. Lack of sleep. One of the interesting things is we found that nobody really knows why exactly we sleep, but we do know that what happens if we don't sleep enough and that is that, for instance, somebody who's chronically sleep deprived will have a higher likelihood of being overweight because their cortisol levels are different than the average population. They have a likelihood of developing more chronic diseases such as sleep apnea, pulmonary diseases as well, and heart disease, which I'm not trying to bum you guys out here, but these are some of the things related to lack of sleep. Also just the whole process of sleep. I mean, this whole idea that you have these days, activities. We're having a conversation right now and when you sleep tonight, you're going to lay down the memories into your brain in some sort of way that you can retrieve those right now. If you're not getting enough sleep, you may remember this conversation a couple of weeks from now, but probably not a few months from now because your body just isn't able to restore and retrieve those memories as well because of lack of sleep. So there's all sorts of different physical and mental effects when from the lack of sleep.

[Bert (Host)]

Dr. Gupta's special is on CNN March 26th at 10 o'. Clock. And it's going to attack all of these issues. Do you have to take off real quick or can you take another couple of questions?

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

We can take a couple questions.

[Bert (Host)]

You don't have a brain surgery to do.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

Actually, I'm running into the hospital here, but go ahead.

[Caller or Guest]

All right, well, first question is, currently I'm on Ambien. Can you get me a prescription to unassume.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

No prescriptions over at the Burt Show.

[Bert (Host)]

Good morning, Ken. You are on the Burt show with Sanjay Gupta.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

Good morning, everyone. Hi, Dr. Gupta. I was wondering about the use of Provigyl as opposed to doing sleep products like Ambien and Lunesta now we have.

[Bert (Host)]

To explain what that is because that's what the doctor just gave me and I haven't tried that yet. That is something that's supposed to stimulate you in the afternoon, right? To keep you awake.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

Keeps you awake. It's a go drug and they've been using it for a while. They, they tested it in the military for some time for pilots who had to stay up for a long time, cross Atlantic flights, things like that. It's a different premise altogether, Ken. We're talking about keeping people awake as opposed to getting them sleep. And it's an interesting question. I mean, this has been a philosophical as well as a medical question. If we don't really know why we sleep in the first place, is it possible to just keep people awake? And there's a lot of studies being done on people who take this pretty Provigil drug sort of chronically who are just staying up for 72 hours at a time and then maybe getting a night of sleep. And we just don't know the long term effects of that as of yet. You know, for me, it strikes me as one of those things where you sort of guess that probably isn't going to be good for you. We don't know exactly why, but it just strikes me as something that's probably not going to be good for you. So I'm personally staying away from it.

[Bert (Host)]

What my doctor told me, because, I mean, Sanjay, obviously when you're not getting enough sleep, then you're tired during the afternoon. So what I was doing was I was taking diet pills to keep me up during the middle of the day just to get me through meetings. And my doctor recommended this drug, the one that our listener was just talking about it. But he said there's going to be a steep price to pay for this because, I mean, you're keeping your body up all day at a very high speed and then you're knocking it out at night.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

So, yeah, it's, it's an interesting problem. And we just don't know. I'm always a little reluctant to sort of criticize or endorse anything without knowing the long term results. But yeah, again, you know, there's gotta be some restorative effects of sleep on our body that we need. And that's important as kids, it's important as adults. The Provigil might be something that's, you know, the context came up as, what about, you know, college students who are studying for exams? What if they wanted to stay up for 72 hours studying? I don't know, you know, are they going to be able to remember those things, things as well if they've never had a chance to actually lay down those memories? I'm just not sure.

[Bert (Host)]

March 26, 10 o'. Clock. The name of the show is Sleep. Right?

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

That's it. We spent a lot of time coming up with that title. That's what we came up with.

[Bert (Host)]

We love having you on. We really, really do. Whenever you have a special on or you just want to stop by, Dr. Gupta, please call anytime.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

I appreciate that. Anytime, Bert. Talk to you guys soon.

[Bert (Host)]

And we'll also put a link up to the website, over to CNN and the specifics on your show.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

Great. Appreciate it.

[Bert (Host)]

All right. Have a good.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

All right. If you can.

[Bert (Host)]

All right. Thank you.

[Adam Grant]

This is the Birchow. Hey, it's Adam Grant from Ted's podcast Work Life. And this episode is brought to you by ServiceNow. AI is only as powerful as the platform it's built into. That's why it's no surprise that more than 85% of the Fortune 500 companies use the ServiceNow AI platform. While other platforms duct tape tools together, ServiceNow seamlessly unifies people, data workflows and AI connecting every corner of your business. And with AI agents working together autonomously, anyone in any department can focus on the work that matters Most. Learn how ServiceNow puts AI to work for [e-mail].

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