Delegate: Pietro-Luca Ratti
Affiliation: Al Centro del Sonno (Venice), and Associazione Italiana di Medicina del Sonno (AIMS)
Short Bio: Current appointment:
Senior researcher at the Neurocenter of Southern Switzerland, Ente Ospedaliero Cantonale, Lugano, Switzerland
Neurologist, Al Centro del Sonno, Venice, Italy
Previous experience:
April 2020-December 2021: Neurologist for the Covid-19 emergency at the ULSS3 “Serenissima” of Venice
November 2018-December 2020: head of the Clinical Neurophysiology Unit at the Martinique University Hospital, Fort-de-France, French West Indies
December 2013-November 2017: senior resident at the Sleep and Epilepsy Centre and then at the Movement Disorders Centre of the Neurology Service at the Neurocenter of Southern Switzerland, Ente Ospedaliero Cantonale, in Lugano, Switzerland
November 2010-October 2013: PhD in Neurosciences at the University of Toulouse, France, working on sleep disturbances in patients with Parkinson’s disease and related disorders.
February 2010-January 2011: clinical researcher at the Sleep Medicine and Epilepsy Unit of the “Casimiro Mondino” National Neurological Institute in Pavia, Italy.
March-November 2008: resident at the Multidisciplinary Sleep Unit of the Hospital Clínic i Provincial in Barcelona, Spain
November 2003-February 2008: resident at the Neurology Service and the Centre for the treatment and study of cognitive disorders at the “Luigi Sacco” University Hospital in Milan, Italy
Education:
Doctor of Philosophy in Neurosciences, PhD (2014), University of Toulouse, France
Specialist in Neurology (2008) – University of Milan School of Medicine, Italy
Expert in Sleep Disorders (2008) – Italian Sleep Medicine Association (AIMS)
Doctor in Medicine, MD (2003) – University of Milan School of Medicine, Italy
Activity: To match the spirit of the unique city of Venice, the topic of this year’s World Sleep Day was declined getting inspired by the relationships among sleep, science, and art. In fact, we consider that the arts are a way to give voice to the dreams, with the positive or negative emotions related this experience. The arts and the sciences are the highest expression of a “sound mind”, and both rely on “quality sleep”. On the other side, beauty and science can together foster “quality sleep” and contribute to an “happy world”.
The chosen venue to meet the public was an art gallery, which was opened for us on Sunday 20th March from 10 am to 8 pm.
Different workshops were organized as people came in:
– a practical demonstration of a polysomnography: a volunteer was equipped with full polysomnography and he was given the possibility to sleep in a bed. We got him asleep indeed!
– several short talks around the basic principles of sleep regulation and function, sleep disorders and treatments, held by two sleep physicians (Dr. Pietro-Luca Ratti, Dr. Alice Cabianca) and a sleep technician (Dr. Elena Burattin) in the open-air courtyard of the gallery.
– the artist Andreina Battel exposed and explained her portfolio of charcoal paintings “Mind wandering of dreams” to the public.
– The artist Nathalie Rodach meet the public to collect narrations of their dreams to create a new work of conceptual art and illustrated her previous work “The book of dreams” performed with the same method.
– Sleep hygiene was explained by a 15-question quiz that the people could answer from a tablet or via a link on their smartphone, followed by a discussion with a sleep physician.
– To close the day, the writer Gabriella Gamberini gave a lecture on sleep in the literature, reading literary essays on sleep, followed by a toast.
The program of the event can be found here: www.cortedellarte.com
Location: “La Corte dell’Arte art gallery”, Venice
Date of Activity: 20th March 2022
Submitted by: Pietro-Luca Ratti