John Axelsson

John Axelsson, PhD, is a professor at Stockholm University and an associate professor at Karolinska Institutet. With my research I aim to increase the knowledge and awareness of how sleep in the rapidly developing 24-hour society affects health, cognitive processes and social behaviour. Our research is strongly interdisciplinary, and we have carried out research showing that the concept of ‘Beauty sleep’ is no myth, that sleep is important for motivational states and for how old we feel, and that sleep is important for how we fight infections. The research questions I find particularly intriguing and work on at present include: How do we adapt to long-term sleep loss? How fast does the brain wake up from sleep? And why are we so differently affected by sleep loss?