GUEST SERIES | Dr. Matt Walker: The Biology of Sleep & Your Unique Sleep Needs

In this episode 1 of a 6-part special series on sleep with Dr. Matthew Walker, Ph.D., professor of neuroscience and psychology and founder of the Center for Human Sleep Science at the University of California, Berkeley, and the author of the book “Why We Sleep” discusses the essential role that sleep plays in our health. We cover how sleep affects our hormones, immune system, learning and memory, mood, appetite, and weight regulation. We also discuss what causes the urge to sleep, how sleep is structured throughout the night, and the biology of the different phases of sleep. We also teach you how to determine your individualized sleep needs, including your chronotype (best waking and to-bed time), tips for combat snoring and insomnia, and your QQRT (Quality, Quantity, Regularity, and Timing)—a key framework for optimizing your sleep and therefore daytime energy and focus, and overall health. The next episode in this special series explores how to improve one’s sleep. For show notes, including referenced articles and additional resources, please visit hubermanlab.com. Thank you to our sponsors AG1: https://drinkag1.com/huberman Eight Sleep: https://eightsleep.com/huberman BetterHelp: https://betterhelp.com/huberman LMNT: https://drinklmnt.com/huberman InsideTracker: https://insidetracker.com/huberman Momentous: https://livemomentous.com/huberman Timestamps (00:00:00) Importance of Sleep (00:02:24) Sponsors: Eight Sleep, BetterHelp & LMNT (00:06:00) Sleep; Non-REM & REM Sleep (00:11:40) Sleep Cycles, Individuality, Women vs. Men (00:14:49) Tool: Wakefulness in Bed, Insomnia (00:19:08) Non-REM Stages of Sleep (00:27:05) Role of Deep Sleep (00:34:02) Sponsor: AG1 (00:35:15) Light Sleep Stages, Hypnogogic Jerks (00:42:00) REM Sleep, Paralysis & Bizarre Dreams; “Falling” Asleep (00:49:09) Tools: Body Position & Sleep; Snoring & Sleep Apnea (00:57:43) Yawning & Theories, Contagion (01:04:03) Nodding Off, Afternoon & Postprandial Dip (01:08:46) Sponsor: InsideTracker (01:09:51) Sleep, Animals & Evolution (01:14:09) Poor Sleep & Health Consequences, Sleep Deprivation (01:27:13) Positive Effects of Good Sleep, Health Improvements (01:31:56) Sleep & Mood; Appetite & Weight Management (01:42:55) Sleep Deprivation & Looking Tired, “Beauty Sleep” (01:47:57) Tool: Getting Good Sleep, QQRT Macros, Quantity & Quality (01:56:45) Tool: Sleep Regularity, Mortality Risk (02:03:15) Tool: Sleep Timing, Chronotypes (02:14:21) Chronotypes & Insomnia, Circadian Rhythm, Shift Work (02:20:31) Tool: Sleep Tests, Alarm Clock, Micro-Sleeps (02:27:27) Sleep Inertia & Waking; Afternoon Dip, Optimum Performance (02:34:19) Causes of Sleep: Circadian Rhythm, Sleep Pressure (02:43:02) Adenosine & Sleepiness (02:46:13) Tool: Growth Hormone & Deep Sleep (02:50:47) Cortisol & Circadian Rhythm, “Tired But Wired” (02:57:24) Zero-Cost Support, Spotify & Apple Reviews, Sponsors, YouTube Feedback, Momentous, Social Media, Neural Network Newsletter Disclaimer Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Awesome!

Content is easy to understand and very informative. I learned so much and have listened to this, being the first of the series, several times. I highly recommend this podcast.

Matt’s knowledge of sleep is astounding

Matt’s information and explanation of each stage of sleep, and his analogies make it easy for most to understand these incredible insights into sleep. I also appreciate how he makes sure to state the science but emphasizes that it’s not necessarily dire for those of use who struggle with sleep. I also appreciate how he goes into depth about what sleep does for you immune system, cardio health, memories and rebooting of emotional and mood states. I like Huberman a lot and love listening to his podcasts but here I felt as if his interjections threw Matt’s fluid explanations into entirely different directions and even caused a did not allow Matt to fully and comfortably finish thoughts

why sleep is so crucial,

This may be the most important podcast everyone should listen to. Sleep is so crucial to our health and wellbeing but this knowledge did not exist until recently and not widely known. I wish this is in a health class for all high schools and up. Thank you for bringing this topic to us.

Outstanding

Ten stars. Outstanding. A must listen to podcast. Life changing potential information. Two experts sharing essential information for health, wellbeing and longevity.