This webinar explores the fundamentals of sleep, including its function, mechanisms, and methods of study, alongside the bidirectional relationship between sleep and hormonal changes across the cycle. Participants will gain insights into sleep-related menstrual disorders, the role of sleep spindles in the luteal phase, and how sleep deprivation and circadian disruption impact menstrual physiology.

Fiona Baker, Ph.D., is the Director of the Center for Health Sciences and the Human Sleep Research Program at SRI International. She focuses on understanding the interplay between sleep physiology and human health across the lifespan. Baker is a world expert on issues of sleep in women. Her areas of research include sleep EEG, sex differences in sleep, sleep in menopause, relationships between sleep and cardiovascular functioning, and interactions between brain development, sleep, and behaviors, such as alcohol use, across adolescence.

Marie Gombert, Ph.D. is a postdoctoral fellow working on several NIH-funded projects to better understand the importance of biological rhythms and sleep in human health. Her interests are particularly the menstrual variations in physiology and also in how the socioeconomic context of individuals shapes their life habits and health.