Hiver, it's Matt here and welcome back to the podcast. Today, we're going to be exploring

the critical topic of prescription sleeping pills and we will delve into what sleeping pills

are, how they work, the different classes of these medications will speak about their benefits

and will also speak about their side effects, their risks. And at the end of this episode,

what I simply hope that you have is a more comprehensive understanding, both of the mechanisms

that underlie these sleeping pills, how they work, in other words,

and also the types of considerations that you may wish to have if you want to reach out to your

doctor and think about their use. I couldn't do this topic justice by myself. So today,

I am joined by a fantastic guest, Dr. Ranji Vargas.

He is a distinguished expert in sleep medicine.

And Dr. Bargis is the medical director at the Minnesota Regional Sleep Disorders Center.

He received his degree from the University of California, Irvine.

And he completed his residency

in general psychiatry at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, where he also served as chief resident.

He holds double board certifications, both in psychiatry and in sleep medicine. His interests

are so wide-ranging from neuroscience consciousness,

the relationship between sleep and mental health. He's also an assistant professor of neurology

at the University of Minnesota. And you'll see, based on his nature, he's such a lovely guy,

just wonderful empathetic sensitivity.

You'll see why he's been recognized as one of the top sleep doctors by Minnesota Monthly.

Welcome to the show, Ranji.

It is such a privilege to have this chance to both interview you and your quite brilliant mind on this topic that, as I said,

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