Guest Series | Dr. Matt Walker: The Biology of Sleep & Your Unique Sleep Needs
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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.
Journal Articles
- Coordinated human sleeping brainwaves map peripheral body glucose homeostasis (Cell Reports Medicine)
- Partial sleep deprivation reduces natural killer cell activity in humans (Psychosomatic Medicine)
- Daylight Saving Time and Acute Myocardial Infarction: A Meta-Analysis (Journal of Clinical Medicine)
- Sleepy Punishers Are Harsh Punishers: Daylight Saving Time and Legal Sentences (Psychological Science)
- Effects of insufficient sleep on circadian rhythmicity and expression amplitude of the human blood transcriptome (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)
- A systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the relationship between sleep duration/quality, mental toughness and resilience amongst healthy individuals (Sleep Medicine Reviews)
- Negative effects of restricted sleep on facial appearance and social appeal (R. Soc. Open Sci)
- Sleep regularity is a stronger predictor of mortality risk than sleep duration: A prospective cohort study (Sleep)
Other Resources
People Mentioned
- Allan Rechtschaffen: sleep research pioneer
About this Guest
Dr. Matthew Walker
Matthew Walker, Ph.D., is a professor of neuroscience and psychology and founder of the Center for Human Sleep Science at the University of California, Berkley, and the author of the book, “Why We Sleep.”
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