New Sleep Class Could Be Among The Most Important Harvard Students Take

The research is clear: not sleeping is dangerous. Inadequate sleep causes more than a thousand fatal car accidents a year, and contributes to obesity, diabetes, cancer, Alzheimer's and heart disease. It even makes flu shots less effective.

Yet, for many, sleep is still elusive. That's why Harvard University sleep expert Dr. Charles Czeisler unveiled a new online sleep class for all incoming freshmen — a program so successful that it's going to be offered to upperclassmen as well.

Here & Now's Robin Young speaks with Czeisler, chief of the Division of Circadian Disorders at Brigham and Women's Hospital, where he runs the Sleep Matters Initiative.