Terrifying and completely reasonable

I found this book to be very insightful. For those that read the book, learning the evolutionary reasons behind sleep is fascinating. Matthew also does give the reader a few tips on getting a better night's sleep: Among them are: Go to bed and wake up at the same time everyday. Avoid exercise 3 hours before bedtime, because of the increased body temperature at the core, which is not conducive towards getting to sleep faster. Stop drinking coffee by noon. Avoid a large meal right before bed time Block all blue lights in the bedroom, and make the bedroom gadget free. It's ideal for your sleep pattern to match the circadian rhythm of the day.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ "Why We Sleep" by Matthew Walker is an incredibly informative and thought-provoking book that delves deep into the science behind sleep and its importance for our overall well-being. With its wealth of research and engaging writing style, Walker successfully sheds light on the fascinating and often misunderstood realm of sleep. One of the standout qualities of this book is its ability to present complex scientific concepts in a way that is accessible to both experts and general readers. Walker navigates through a myriad of topics, including the different stages of sleep, the effects of sleep deprivation, the impact of dreams, and the role of sleep in memory consolidation. He presents these subjects with clarity, ensuring that readers can easily grasp the significance of sleep in various aspects of our lives. Throughout the book, Walker supports his arguments with compelling facts and studies. For instance, he highlights the detrimental effects of chronic sleep deprivation, such as increased risks of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and impaired cognitive function. The author also explains how sleep is intricately linked to our mental health, emphasizing the correlation between sleep disorders and conditions like depression and anxiety. Another intriguing aspect of "Why We Sleep" is its exploration of the evolutionary and historical perspectives on sleep. Walker takes readers on a journey through time, examining how sleep patterns have evolved across different species and civilizations. This broader context adds depth to the book and helps us appreciate the vital role that sleep has played in human development. Despite its strengths, the book occasionally becomes overly technical, which may pose a challenge for readers without a scientific background. Some chapters delve deeply into intricate neurological processes and complex sleep disorders, requiring closer attention to fully grasp the information presented. Nevertheless, Walker's enthusiasm and genuine passion for the subject shine through, making even the more challenging sections worth the effort. In conclusion, "Why We Sleep" is an excellent resource for anyone seeking to deepen their understanding of sleep and its profound impact on our lives. Matthew Walker's ability to blend scientific research, personal anecdotes, and practical advice creates an engaging and enlightening reading experience. Although the occasional technicality might be a slight hurdle for some readers, the book's overall value and wealth of information make it a highly recommended read.

One of the best books I’ve read on a while due to its immense educative value. If you care about your health or that of your loved ones, read it. Read it as soon as you possibly can.

This book could be both - a 1/5 and a 5/5. If you consider reading this book, make sure to check this article: https://guzey.com/books/why-we-sleep/

As a College student, this had indeed been a much needed wakeup call for me, that my unhealthy habits of mugging late into the night was doing more harm than good that I'd thought it would. Definitely a book I would recommend reading for those who had the misconception that sleeping is a waste of time.

Only 3 stars because the writing isn't amazing, it probably could have been about 2/3rdsthe size and the small solutions section at the end relies on a glib acceptance of the Internet of Things which I'm opposed to for other reasons, however EVERYONE SHOULD READ THIS BOOK. Don't let my star rating lead you to believe that I think this book is unimportant. The undervaluing of sleep by our society is a tragedy and this book does a good job of highlighting that.

Everyone should read it, especially the gouvernoment lol

Loved this! I found it so insightful, well researched and well written. The author truly knows what he's talking about and he constantly proves this with data from research he or others have conducted. I'm currently recommending this to everyone I know and looking to buy it for my mum!

Required reading for anyone who sleeps.

My review: https://mattstein.com/books/why-we-sleep

Must read for the sake of your health. Sleep more and sleep better!

This is a must for every human being who wants to live a healthy life. The benefits of sleep are just too many to count. Matthew Walker outlines and explains sleep from a biological, psychological, and even evolutionary perspective. I personally found this book easy to read. It brought me back to my uni days when I was studying psychology so I found this easy to consume. If that's not your style, I still recommend you try reading/listening to it. The sleep education he gives you are just too good to ignore.

It's a great book a real eyes opener for the importance of sleep and its beneficial impact on memorizing new information, well-being, and performance. Highly recommend it to every software developer.

[The following review is too credulous: I wrote it before it became clear that the book is at best a noble-lie exaggeration and at worst statistical fraud with unjustified practical claims. Downgrade your credence in all nonfiction that's outside your expertise, including reviews like this one.] Walker: Scientists have discovered a revolutionary treatment that makes you live longer. It enhances your memory and makes you more creative. It makes you look more attractive. It keeps you slim and lowers food cravings. It protects you from cancer and dementia. It wards off colds and the flu. It lowers your risk of heart attacks and stroke, not to mention diabetes. You’ll even feel happier, less depressed, and less anxious. Are you interested? Important topic: he claims there's a free, riskless intervention to add years to your lifespan and fundamentally improve your mind. (The flip side of this claim is a horror story about a society that mentally disables its members.) Our school system, ladies and gents: More than 80 percent of public high schools in the United States begin before 8:15 a.m. Almost 50 percent of those start before 7:20 a.m. School buses for a 7:20 a.m. start time usually begin picking up kids at around 5:45 a.m. As a result, some children and teenagers must wake up at 5:30 a.m., 5:15 a.m., or even earlier, and do so five days out of every seven, for years on end. This is lunacy... Previously, we noted that the circadian rhythm of teenagers shifts forward dramatically by one to three hours. So really the question I should ask you, if you are an adult, is this: Could you concentrate and learn anything after having forcefully been woken up at 3:15 a.m., day after day after day? Would you be in a cheerful mood? Would you find it easy to get along with your coworkers and conduct yourself with grace, tolerance, respect, and a pleasant demeanor? Of course not. Why, then, do we ask this of the millions of teenagers and children in industrialized nations? And elsewhere he notes that time in school is useless without restfulness. Burn it down. Insufficient sleep has also been linked to aggression, bullying, and behavioral problems in children across a range of ages. A similar relationship between a lack of sleep and violence has been observed in adult prison populations; places that, I should add, are woefully poor at enabling good sleep that could reduce aggression, violence, psychiatric disturbance, and suicide The theory of sleep (circadian rhythm and adenosine cycle determining when, NREM and REM determining what) is very neat but I'm not qualified to say if it's mature. There's also vast and baffling cross-species variation, which Walker doesn't pretend to understand: "amount (e.g., [hours per day]), form (e.g., half-brain, whole-brain), and pattern (monophasic, biphasic, polyphasic)" or ground / tree. The adenosine cycle - the absolutely failsafe connection between activity and fatigue - is one of my favourite theories in biology. (The account here doesn't do it justice.) He's sceptical of oral melatonin therapy, but he doesn't consider the main argument in favour, which is that our many hours of blue-light at night is a systematic deviation from ancestral conditions, with no sensible alternative mitigation (f.lux can only do so much). (He instead puts faith in warm LEDs and smart bulbs, currently thousands of dollars each.) At least he doesn't spread the unsupported idea that taking it results in negative hormonal feedback. This doesn't surprise me: Scientific evaluations of over-the-counter brands have found melatonin concentrations that range from 83 percent less than that claimed on the label, to 478 percent more than that stated - but this is the price of having it over-the-counter in the first place. (It is anyway completely safe to take a 6x dose, just much less effective.) He's very in favour of afternoon naps, the "biphasic" pattern, based on relatively weak observational evidence: those that abandoned regular siestas went on to suffer a 37 percent increased risk of death from heart disease across the six-year period, relative to those who maintained regular daytime naps." There's lots of evolutionary speculation, which really pisses off some readers for some reason, even when tagged as speculation. (e.g. Do teenagers stay up later to procreate outwith parental supervision?) He is a crusader all right - for instance, he doesn't really do any cost-benefit consideration, instead just maximising sleep, even instead of taking your asthma meds. Yes, the costs of sleep deprivation are extremely high - but so's the cost of spending 30 years in a coma. I think I'm pretty much optimised: I already quit caffeine, redshifted all screens, got 0.3mg melatonin, started wearing an eye mask, don't drink much, exercise every day, fixed a bedtime, and live somewhere quiet with big bedroom windows. (I also got a less melodramatic and anxious worldview by studying economic history, which Walker doesn't cover - fair enough, since the intervention can only help scared intellectuals.) Things which I enjoy enough to handle the sleep cost: nicotine and eating late. Twelve Tips for Healthy Sleep: 1. Go to bed and wake up at the same time each day. 2. Exercise is great, but not too late in the day. 3. Avoid caffeine and nicotine. 4. Avoid alcoholic drinks before bed. 5. Avoid large meals and beverages late at night. 6. If possible, avoid medicines that delay or disrupt your sleep. 7. Don’t take naps after 3 p.m. 8. Relax before bed... reading or listening to music, should be part of your bedtime ritual. 9. Take a hot bath before bed. 10. Dark bedroom, cool bedroom, gadget-free bedroom. 11. Have the right sunlight exposure. Try to get outside in natural sunlight for at least thirty minutes each day. 12. Don’t lie in bed awake... get up and do some relaxing activity until you feel sleepy.

This book is pretty terrifying. We have a societal sleep deficiency, and the impact of not sleeping enough is much worse than I expected. There are a lot of comparisons of how too little sleep can quickly impact you, for example if you wake up at 7am, go to work, go out after work with friends and *don’t* drink, but you drive home at 2am you will be impaired enough from sleep to have your behavior reflect that of someone over the legal drinking limit. There are also many impacts a lack of sleep seem to have on learning. All very concerning when looking at things like the early start times of schools. Sometimes I was annoyed by some sloppiness of the writer around causation, but it didn’t detract too much from the book. Recommended read for anyone who enjoys (a lack of) sleep.

Finally finished the last 20% of this book maybe after a year 😂 - but the first 80% was absolutely transformative. It had made me rethink my relationship with sleep as well as other habits such as coffee drinking, exercising. It had also allowed me to be more conscious and be able to say no to activities that could damage my sleep. I also found this to be an amazing positive feedback loop e.g. better sleep > healthier body, mind and relationships > higher performance at work and exercises > be more happy, fulfilled in life > better sleep 1000% recommend to everyone to at least read the first two chapters of the books. One for the lifetime!

Life-changing!

Mind blowing. It’s sometimes scary to learn so many of the facts about sleep and the consequences of sleep deprivation. Written in a very approachable yet scientific way, this book is a must read and a must recommend.

If sleep were packaged as a pill, we’d be emptying our wallets for it. It reduces the risk of cancer, heart attacks, stroke, colds, and flu; enhances our sex lives, memory, creativity, and happiness; decreases anxiety, depression, and weight. So why it is valued so poorly in modern culture? Matthew Walker steps us through the evolutionary biology, scientific discoveries, and current research findings in this book that sets out clearly—sleep is foundational, non optional, and critical for our mental and physical health. Occasionally long on analogies, it’s still an accessible read. I recommend it.

Everyone should read it, especially the gouvernoment lol

Un asunto de salud del que se habla muy poco y por lo general no se divulga mucha información al respecto. En este libro se recopilan muchos aspectos de lo que se ha investigado en como afectan tener hábitos/desórdenes de sueño.

The author goes out of his way to present the latest findings on the sleep, all well-meaning and well constructed, the points may seem trite at the edges at times. The book's section on substances that affect sleep misses cannabis - given the release date, and growing appeal of the under-researched impact of endocannabinoids on sleep patterns could help light sleepers to understand the effects the substances really has on the quality of sleep. Should you find yourself short on time to read/listen to this, just keep in mind that imporving/fixing your health should always start with an examination of your sleep. If you are looking to have a better shot at life, sleep well, listen to what your body tells you, don't neglect the 8h routine and try to get drunk early in the morning if you ought to.

Very Informative. Will write in detail.