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Modern Wisdom

#883 - Dr Matthew Walker - The Science Of Perfect Sleep

Modern Wisdom

Chris Williamson

Society & Culture, Health & Fitness

4.7 • 4.6K Ratings

🗓️ 30 December 2024

⏱️ 163 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Dr. Matthew Walker is a neuroscientist, professor at UC Berkley, and author. Many of the mental and physical challenges you might be facing could have a surprisingly simple solution: more sleep. But why is sleep so essential? What happens when we sleep, and how can we optimize our sleep to maximize its benefits? Expect to learn what defines good sleep, how stress impacts your sleep, the keys to getting and maintaining a regular sleep pattern, the best sleeping positions, how to stop snoring, why sleeping with your partner is making your sleep worse, if alcohol, THC and other supplements actually give you a better nights rest, the evolutionary reasons why we dream, the latest science and tech for hacking your sleep and much more...  Timestamps: (00:00) Conceptualising Good Sleep (02:08) Becoming an Efficient Sleeper (08:00) How High Stress Impacts Sleep (16:10) Improving Sleep Quality (21:18) How Regular Should Sleep Patterns Be? (32:00) The Danger of Sleep Procrastination (36:35) How Bad is Blue Light Before Sleep? (44:05) The Timing of Your Sleep (55:29) How Sleep Changes as You Age (1:02:08) Do Sleep Positions Matter? (1:11:44) Treating Snoring & Mild Sleep Apnea (1:16:45) Tips for Couples Sleeping Together (1:32:08) How Caffeine & Alcohol Impacts Sleep (1:48:59) Can THC & CBD Help With Sleep? (1:54:06) Using Melatonin & Other Supplements (2:03:18) New Sleep-Aiding Technologies (2:22:30) What Causes Chronic Fatigue? (2:24:08) Why We Dream (2:41:29) Where to Find Matthew  Sponsors: See discounts for all the products I use and recommend: https://chriswillx.com/deals Get the world's comfiest sleep mask at https://mantasleep.com/modernwisdom (use code MODERNWISDOM) Get the best bloodwork analysis in America and bypass Function’s 400,000-person waitlist at https://functionhealth.com/modernwisdom Get a 20% discount on the best supplements from Momentous at https://livemomentous.com/modernwisdom Sign up for a one-dollar-per-month trial period from Shopify at https://shopify.com/modernwisdom Extra Stuff: Get my free reading list of 100 books to read before you die: https://chriswillx.com/books Try my productivity energy drink Neutonic: https://neutonic.com/modernwisdom Episodes You Might Enjoy: #577 - David Goggins - This Is How To Master Your Life: https://tinyurl.com/43hv6y59 #712 - Dr Jordan Peterson - How To Destroy Your Negative Beliefs: https://tinyurl.com/2rtz7avf #700 - Dr Andrew Huberman - The Secret Tools To Hack Your Brain: https://tinyurl.com/3ccn5vkp - Get In Touch: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chriswillx Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/chriswillx YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/modernwisdompodcast Email: https://chriswillx.com/contact - Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

You might be the British man with the best hair that I know at the moment.

0:04.0

I think it is the greatest cry of a midlife crisis that you are ever going to see.

0:10.2

It's a total train wreck.

0:11.6

I'm suggesting that no one told me the pandemic was over and that you can get your hair cut.

0:16.5

Right.

0:16.7

This is the consequence of it.

0:18.0

So for anyone who is watching, any therapy bills that you have to

0:23.8

have after seeing me and being confronted by me, send them to me, I will pay for them. Oh, my

0:30.0

goodness. Fantastic. Well, what a good opening to it. It is what it is. Talking about sleep today,

0:36.5

we had a lot of conversations about it on the show previously,

0:38.7

but I really want to dig into some sort of more rare insights that people probably know that they need to know, but don't yet know.

0:45.7

So just to get started, how do you come to think about what good sleep is? How do we conceptualize good sleep?

0:53.0

Yeah, it's an interesting question because I think everyone,

0:55.9

most mornings, let's say you've got a significant other, you come down the stairs and you say,

1:00.0

you know, how do you sleep? And I'll say, I slept well or I didn't sleep well. So everyone

1:04.3

themselves has a subjective estimate of what this thing called good versus bad sleep is.

1:12.3

Science is a little different, though,

1:18.0

and medicine teaches us that there are essentially what I would describe as the four macros of good sleep. And so three macros of food, fat, carbohydrate, and protein, four of sleep. And you can

1:24.3

remember it by the acronym QQRT, quantity, quality, regularity, timing.

1:31.8

And there's all sorts of stuff on the internet about, you know, take this supplement, do this

1:36.8

particular thing, and it's the changri-lars of all good sleep, and you'll have this utopian blissful

1:42.5

night. Honestly, if you just focus on these four main

...

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