Andrew Colsky on The Future of Sleep Science

Sleep is no longer a silent subject. Once overlooked by both science and culture, it has now become one of the fastest growing areas of research and innovation. In the final feature of our four part series, Andrew Colsky looks ahead to the future of sleep science and asks how technology, education and cultural change will shape the way we rest in the decades to come.

From wearable devices and home testing to online therapies and global support groups, Colsky highlights how innovation is expanding access to treatment. He also stresses the dangers of misinformation and the persistence of myths, reminding us that true progress will depend on education as much as technology. For him, the most powerful transformation lies not in gadgets but in changing how society values sleep itself.

You have spoken about sleep as a field that is still evolving. What excites you most about the research being done now? 

Wow. Well, sleep is really exploding now. And there's a lot of research that's happening from so many different angles. We have ⁓ sleep measurement devices, your wearables, your nearables. ⁓ AI impacting the ability to sleep and to help us study sleep. Certainly those can have some negatives as well because people get too caught up with the numbers and there's actually a sleep disorder called orthosomnia, which is when people get so wrapped up with their sleep numbers that they have such anxiety that they can't sleep and they've created their own sleep problem by trying to improve their sleep.

But the fact that we're now looking at sleep in general, the different types of sleep problems and educating people about it and educating people about sleep hygiene, the number of sleep products that are coming out and the different types of mattresses and pillows and ⁓ other options to help people improve their sleep environment. The fact that sleep tourism is becoming a big area that people are actually looking to disconnect when they go on vacation as opposed to going to the big crowded populated tourist trap sites when they go on vacation and then they come home and they need a vacation from their vacation. Research into blue light and its impact on sleep. Research into sleep apnea and ways to address that. Research into insomnia.

People attempting to use ⁓ the internet as a way to reach out to people who need sleep help but can't get access to a qualified behavioral sleep medicine specialist or sleep MD. I developed my own online CBTI platform called ⁓ CBTICoachLive.com that people can go to and get CBTI coaching from wherever they are at a low cost rather than having to pay full price to meet with a sleep doctor. So that brings access to people who don't otherwise have access to CBTI. So, you know, it's really an area that is exploding and evolving.

And ⁓ I could go on and on and on about this. thinking to myself about the research that's being done for sleep and cancer patients. There's some really great programs out there now ⁓ to help in that area, whereas before it would have been just a side effect that was ignored. So that's a show in and of itself. 

Technology is moving fast. Do you see wearable devices as a genuine aid to sleep or more of a distraction?

Good question. The answer is both. ⁓ For purposes of research and learning and learning about yourself, wearables and nearables, these are all devices that can be helpful to us to learn more about situations that we can address and resolve.

The fact that we now have home sleep apnea testing gives access to people ⁓ who otherwise would have had to wait months for a very expensive in clinic polysomnography ⁓ session where they study their sleep overnight. But with an at home test, you can just wear a little thing on your finger or your wrist or there's all different types out there and get a pretty good idea whether or not you have an issue with sleep apnea.

Then thee’s technology for sleep apnea and we have the CPAPs. But is it, you know, the only thing that can address sleep apnea? Well, no, there's other things that are that are out there now too. You've got your hypoglossal nerve stimulator. That's technology. You've got ⁓ dental ⁓ devices, your mandibular advancement devices. You've got so many different players entering the market related to sleep apnea.

Then of course you talk about your measuring, your Apple watch, your Fitbit, your Garmin, Oura Ring. There's a lot of players coming into the market that are measuring sleep. The problem and the concern with those consumer devices is what I talked about before being orthosomnia, that people get so hooked on trying to get this perfect sleep score that they build their anxiety to the point that they can no longer sleep.

And one of the other problems is that the companies who develop these sleep programs like Apple or Fitbit or any of the others, they don't share their algorithms with sleep researchers. So we have no idea what they're measuring or how they're measuring it or whether the data is valid or not. And people are making sleep choices, life choices based on this data and nobody knows what it really looks like from a scientific end, there’s challenges that are there as well. 

Overall, technology is offering a lot of improved options for us. You just have to be ⁓ reasonably cautious about it. 

What role do you want the National Sleep Center to play in shaping how people think about sleep in the years ahead? 

That's a great question. I've spent a lot of time thinking about that as to Who am I? Who is the company? What are we doing? And I realized that number one, I can't look at things in a vacuum. So it's important that we educate people about scientifically valid relevant information related to sleep so that they can make good choices about their own sleep. And this is why I do interviews like this. This is why I have my radio program. This is why I wrote my book. This is why I do the YouTube and the social media. It's all about educating people about sleep science and trying to find a way to make sleep relatable to people, hitting both the younger generation as well as the older generation. And so I have to hit a lot of different formats from the long form serious radio shows with the sleep researchers to the short form quirky little tips and tricks on ⁓ Instagram or TikTok to capture the younger audience's attention. 

So that's one piece is the education piece. The second piece is technology. Creating opportunities to bring sleep treatment to people all across the globe at a low cost where it's accessible to them.

And that's the whole concept of CBTICoachLive.com to help people with CBTI at a low cost where they can get basic treatment. Is it as good as working one-on-one with a full-time sleep professional? No, it's not. But it's also a lot less expensive and a lot more accessible. So if you can't get one thing, at least you can get something.

I also have been working on developing technology, an app called "Counting Sleep”, where it helps CBTI professionals gather the data they need from their patients to be able to do CBTI and help them learn. So there's some quick examples of some of the technology that I've personally been building. 

And then there's the treatment side. I pride myself on staying on top of the cutting edge information and being educated about the areas where I practice. And there's so much happening in the sleep area and it's happening so quickly that you have to stay on top of things if you're going to provide the best treatments to your patients. So for me, I focus on making sure that anybody that I work with personally is going to have a clear understanding of what's going on for them. They're going to have a clear understanding of what treatment we're providing and why and how it works. And they're not going to just be relying upon, you know, a nondescript, here's a pill and call me in the morning type of thing. I don't prescribe medications. I'm not an MD. I'm a JD, but I'm also a licensed mental health practitioner. 

So, those are sort of the three areas that I think National Sleep Center is trying to be a leader or at least ⁓ heavily involved. The technology piece, the education piece, and the high quality treatment piece. 

Do you believe that in the future sleep will be treated as seriously as diet and exercise in mainstream health advice?

I certainly hope so and I think that it will. ⁓ I think you see a lot of people out there now who are concerned about dementia and rightfully so. And sleep as well as ⁓ diet and exercise are all important in doing what we can to head off dementia or minimize our, ⁓ you know. ⁓

the possibilities that we will be impacted. So as sleep becomes more talked about and more mainstream, I think people will recognize that it is part of that current, I'll call it trifecta, diet, exercise and sleep. Personally, I focus on three things. I use the acronym ⁓ SBSM, which is social, body, sleep and mind. In order for us to function well as a system, we need to have good social contacts and keep ourselves socially involved. We need to focus on our body, meaning our physical health, going to the gym, exercising and what we eat. So diet and exercise. Sleep, obviously is something that's important based on all we've been talking about. And mind, we have to keep our mind active. We have to keep learning. We have to keep ⁓ reading and getting involved. So a lot of seniors can take college level classes at their local universities for free by auditing. And universities have programs set up for this. There's also lots of online opportunities to learn; TED Talks and YouTube videos and discussion groups through Meetup and just book clubs and on and on and on. So ⁓ social, body, sleep and mind is where I focus.

Which innovation discovery do you think has the potential to transform the way we treat insomnia?

I'm going to give you a non-traditional answer here. ⁓ The internet. Why do I say the internet? Because the internet allows us to get information out to people who don't otherwise have access to the information. And the biggest innovation in treating insomnia is educating people about why they have insomnia and what they need to do to fix the insomnia. Then there's plenty of innovations out there that can be used to help them in the process to treat their insomnia. But until they understand what insomnia is, why they have it, how you treat it, and everything else related to it, they're not going to benefit as much. So I think the getting out quality, meaningful, scientifically valid information is the biggest innovation. 

Along those lines, I also have decided to run a free support group for people. ⁓ And to make it easier for people to find, I simply got the domain name sleepsupportgroup.com. And they can sign up there and come, and we do free support groups. And we talk about sleep issues, and we talk about how they can improve their sleep, and we talk about sleep problems they have. ⁓ So another free resource to get that information out there.

If you could remove one myth about sleep from the public conversation, what would it be? 

The myth to me is the belief that I need some sort of a pill or a crutch or an aid to be able to sleep. Because no, you don't. Your body knows how to sleep. You just have to give it the ability to do so.

What is your ideal vision of global sleep health look like 20 years from now? ⁓

There's a temptation to want to talk about technology and some pie in the sky ideals, but I don't think that's my answer. I think my answer is an ideal vision of global sleep health in 20 years, that people are better educated about sleep, that the scientists have an opportunity to learn more about sleep, that employers and school systems understand sleep as a part of a human being's functioning and design programs to take sleep into consideration along with all of the other factors that they take into consideration and not just dismiss it as something someone is weak because they need sleep. 

So I think that with the work we're doing here with the education, with the scientific studies, with the ability to measure sleep more not only do we have the ability to measure it, but the fact that we're measuring it brings it to people's, you the forefront of their mind. So again, it's that awareness. I think those things are going to improve our global sleep health over the years, because now it will be part of the conversation, whereas for so long it has not been at the table when we have these conversations about health.

With that, I believe we've addressed the questions in the interview, and I'm happy to answer any other questions for follow-up that you may have. Thank you for the opportunity.

This concluding conversation with Andrew Colsky frames sleep as the next great frontier in health. The future will not only bring new devices and treatments but also a wider recognition that rest stands alongside diet and exercise as a fundamental pillar of wellbeing. Colsky’s vision of global sleep health is one in which education, research and cultural awareness dismantle stigma and put sleep at the heart of everyday life.

Together, these four interviews have revealed sleeplessness as a cultural epidemic, explored the psychology of rest and dreams, positioned sleep as the secret pillar of performance and finally, looked ahead to the possibilities of science. Colsky leaves us with a challenge: to treat sleep not as a luxury, but as an essential part of how we live, work and thrive.