Why We Sleep

Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams

By: Matthew Walker

Narrated by: Steve West

Length: 13 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's summary

The first sleep book by a leading scientific expert - Professor Matthew Walker, director of UC Berkeley's Sleep and Neuroimaging Lab - reveals his groundbreaking exploration of sleep, explaining how we can harness its transformative power to change our lives for the better.

Sleep is one of the most important but least understood aspects of our life, wellness, and longevity. Until very recently, science had no answer to the question of why we sleep, or what good it served, or why we suffer such devastating health consequences when we don't sleep. Compared to the other basic drives in life - eating, drinking, and reproducing - the purpose of sleep remained elusive.

But an explosion of scientific discoveries in the last 20 years has shed new light on this fundamental aspect of our lives. Now, preeminent neuroscientist and sleep expert Matthew Walker gives us a new understanding of the vital importance of sleep and dreaming. Among so many other things, within the brain, sleep enriches our ability to learn, memorize, and make logical decisions. It recalibrates our emotions, restocks our immune system, fine-tunes our metabolism, and regulates our appetite. Dreaming mollifies painful memories and creates a virtual reality space in which the brain melds past and present knowledge to inspire creativity.

Walker answers important questions about sleep: How do caffeine and alcohol affect sleep? What really happens during REM sleep? Why do our sleep patterns change across a lifetime? How do common sleep aids affect us, and can they do long-term damage? Charting cutting-edge scientific breakthroughs and synthesizing decades of research and clinical practice, Walker explains how we can harness sleep to improve learning, mood, and energy levels; regulate hormones; prevent cancer, Alzheimer's, and diabetes; slow the effects of aging; increase longevity; enhance the education and lifespan of our children, and boost the efficiency, success, and productivity of our businesses. Clear-eyed, fascinating, and immensely accessible, Why We Sleep is the crucial account on sleep that will forever change listeners' minds on the subject.

Download the accompanying reference guide.

©2017 Matthew Walker (P)2017 Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Most educational

This is by far the most educational book on sleep. The only way to improve your sleep pattern is to master the science behind. Besides giving the importance of sleep for health, the book also approaches several mysteries about dreaming and sleep which keep the book entertaining. However, do not buy unless particulary interested in sleep. But if you are, this is the best.

excellent

highly recommend this book if you sleep well poorly or not at all. The whole world needs o read this book as through a very methodical method explains how sleep and lack there of affects you mentally physically and emotionally.

This Should Be a Required Read in Every School and University

I don’t know why this is the first time that I’ve heard exactly how important sleep is on every aspect of your life. This is probably the best book I have ever read (listened to). I’m trying to implement these principles in my life and hopefully a lot of aspects of life, home, work, personal, etc. will get better. I can’t thank you enough Dr. Walker and hopefully this isn’t the last thing I read from you. I wouldn’t mind if you can out with sleep products either!

Get some!

I am a sleep deprived individual by choice, sometimes sleeping as low as 1-2 hours per day and trying to make it up on Saturday by getting around 9. I love working at night because as an on the side artist I seem to have more inspiration when there is quiet. Main job is on a night shift as well.

Mainly decided to read this book after an extremely few hard weeks of working 120+ hours. My brain wanted to do more but my body felt like it was collapsing. This book has made me reconsider my choices and think of ways to increase my sleep time because dead people can’t do anything, and I still have many plans xP

Totally loved the fact that he actually presented tried methods instead of random theories. Recommend this book to all coffee junkies like myself. Hopefully on the withdrawals side and getting past it lol

Did not expect how important this book would be

sleep had never been a problem for me until recent years. so I took it for granted, usually getting 8 hours of sleep and playing catch up on the nights when I couldn't, getting extra sleep the next night. I had no idea the effects on health and aging of inadequate, irregular, or disrupted sleep. this book was well performed by the narrator (although be forwarned, he speaks with a British accent, if that is bothersome to you), well-researched, and well-told.

good value, but sometimes repetitive

I'd say that on the whole it was great and I learned a lot of useful stuff, but sometimes I felt that the information I was receiving had already been covered before or simply wasn't all that relevant. This was only occasional, but I figured it might help to just say that if you ever feel like skipping around a bit, you probably aren't missing much. my reccomendation is to use this book to get the essentials and to get some interesting info on studies surrounding sleep and whatnot, but you probably don't need to read every word to get the same amount of value.

Thank you for writing this book!

Well written, well narrated , felt sleepy while listening ( which according to Matt is a compliment) but it emphasizes the calm voice of narration
Excellent book and have recommended my friend circle to listen/ read already !
pD

Definitely a Must Read for Everyone!

Loved the book and actual facts and definitely a must read for everyone... but I can’t stand when people talk about evolution BS (we now have 2 eyes because billions of years ago blah blah blah) PROVE IT!!! Otherwise this book is definitely in my top 10.

worth getting past the first few chapters

I agree with the other readers who found the first few chapters kind of deadly. Printing the PDF does help, but still...uuuuggggghhh.

But keep going: it's worth it! There are some really interesting details about animal sleep and then the important stuff, why we need sleep, how beneficial it is, the social pressures not to sleep, the damaging impact of the macho idea that needing a full night's sleep is lazy...

I was worried that this book would treat sleep as the solution to all ills, some kind of panacea. It kind of does, except I think it's more or less right. I think at least some parts of this text will resonate with your experience. I took notes on relevant issues as I went and wow, I will definitely be changing my behavior. This is a big deal...I have had family and doctors ordering me to sleep more for my entire life and I am finally changing my ways. Thank you, Dr. Walker.

A REVELATION, indeed!

This book, and body of work, was a much needed REVELATION. I really appreciated the research, and all those who provided their "sleep offerings," in support of it. Great Read.