In today’s episode, we’re talking about Exploding Head Syndrome. It sounds like the stuff of nightmares, but in reality, it’s a sleep disorder where sufferers hear a deafening bang just before they fall asleep.

Little is known about the condition, so last year, the Focus team and a group of scientists from Goldsmiths University, Harvard Medical School and Argosy University launched a study to find out more. The goal was to get a sense of how common the condition might actually be and hopefully to crowdsource the beginnings of a treatment for it.

The results of our experiment will be published later in the year in BBC Focus magazine, but with World Sleep Day just around the corner, we thought it this would be a good moment to catch up with professor Brian Sharpless, one of the world’s leading experts on the syndrome and one of the scientists leading our study.

Exploding Head Syndrome

Some of the brightest names in science and technology talk to the BBC Focus magazine team about the ideas and breakthroughs shaping our world. Every issue our team of scientists, doctors and expert writers explain how advances in science and technology are creating a better, brighter future.

Exploding Head Syndrome

Science Focus