SoS 248: Leela McKinnon explains how our environment affects our sleep

Leela McKinnon is a PhD Candidate in Evolutionary Anthropology at the University of Toronto and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from Penn State University. Her PhD research examines sleep health in Indigenous Wixárika communities in Jalisco, Mexico, with a particular focus on the effects of rural-to-urban migration on sleep and circadian rhythms. Leela explores the environmental and social factors influencing the sleep health of urban Wixárika migrants. Beyond her dissertation research in Mexico, Leela has also studied sleep in a Guatemalan Maya community, investigating how urbanization and market economy integration shape sleep patterns in rural settings. She is trained in the quantitative analysis of sleep data using accelerometry and is proficient in mixed methodologies, including survey data collection and qualitative interviewing. ------------------------------ Find the paper discussed in this episode: McKinnon, L., Shattuck, E. C., Samson, D. R. (2022). Sound reasons for unsound sleep: Comparative support for the sentinel hypothesis in industrial and nonindustrial groups. Evol Med Public Health, 11(1):53-66. doi: 10.1093/emph/eoac039. ------------------------------ Contact Leela McKinnon: [email protected] X account: @leela_mckinnon The Sleep and Human Evolution Lab's website is https://www.utm.utoronto.ca/shel/ ------------------------------ Contact the Sausage of Science Podcast and the Human Biology Association: Facebook: facebook.com/groups/humanbiologyassociation/, Website: humbio.org, Twitter: @HumBioAssoc Chris Lynn, Co-Host Website: cdlynn.people.ua.edu/, E-mail: [email protected], Twitter:@Chris_Ly Anahi Ruderman, SoS Co-Producer, HBA Junior Fellow E-mail: [email protected],