Once upon a time there was sleep. A beautiful story, in four episodes imagined by Jérôme Sandlarz and hand-stitched by Agnès Cathou, to be found in "LSD, the documentary series" on France Culture.
A sensitive and scholarly story, funny and sweet, sometimes difficult too, especially when sleep is lacking, and which begins as follows: "On the couch among friends chatting, at the cinema, at the theater, at work or even while driving (which gave me some scares), for a long time, I fell asleep everywhere without warning, to the point that it had become a subject of ridicule. Until the moment when I finally decided to consult, it was three years ago. It must also be said that the series is wonderfully embodied by Jérome Sandlarz himself with the complicity of Fanny Leroy, companion of his restless nights.
It all started at the Veille Sommeil Medical Center (CMVS), located in the 17th arrondissement of Paris, and, very quickly, the diagnosis of sleep apnea was made. Since then, Jérôme Sandlarz has been sleeping with a mask. Above all, he then joined the large family of bad sleepers - half of French adults -, this "jungle made up of pathologies with bizarre and exotic names, TCSP, paralysis, narcolepsy".
"Digesting" Our Emotions
So many terms, symptoms and therapies that Isabelle Arnulf, head of the sleep pathologies unit at the Parisian Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital, and Marie Amélie Dalloz, neurologist at the Pitié and the CMVS, give us intelligible.
The following episode is particularly interested in the benefits of sleep. Because, even if it is far from having revealed all its secrets, sleep, examined from every angle since the 19th century especially, is - all scientists agree on this point - absolutely necessary for our mental and physical health. : it allows us to "digest" our emotions, to stabilize the cardiovascular, metabolic and immune systems. We know that there is an increased risk of cancer in people who sleep less.
In short, sleep is a public health issue, as episode 3 explores, which is absolutely fascinating. And all the more so as the French sleep less and less and less and less well (in part because they are more exposed to the infernal trio noise-heat-light, in particular the blue light from our screens which disturbs our falling asleep).
In the delicious last episode, Jérôme Sandlarz opens the door to bedrooms for us throughout history (by questioning Michelle Perrot in particular, but also the psychoanalyst Linda Gandolfi) and takes us to a bedding store where Jeannette officiates, who now watches over the nights of Jérôme Sandlarz, and a little about ours.
