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Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams Hardcover – Illustrated, Oct. 3 2017
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A New York Times bestseller and international sensation, this “stimulating and important book” (Financial Times) is a fascinating dive into the purpose and power of slumber.
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.
An explosion of scientific discoveries in the last twenty 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. 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 accessible, Why We Sleep is a crucial and illuminating book.
- Print length368 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherScribner
- Publication dateOct. 3 2017
- Dimensions15.24 x 2.54 x 22.86 cm
- ISBN-101501144316
- ISBN-13978-1501144318

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Review
—New York Times Book Review
"The director of UC Berkeley's Sleep and Neuroimaging Lab explores the purpose of slumber. Understanding the 'why,' it turns out, just might help you with the 'how to.'"
—People
"A neuroscientist has found a revolutionary way of being cleverer, more attractive, slimmer, happier, healthier and of warding off cancer — a good night’s shut-eye ... It’s probably a little too soon to tell you that Why We Sleep saved my life, but I can tell you that it’s been an eye-opener."
—The Guardian
"This is a stimulating and important book which you should read in the knowledge that the author is, as he puts it, 'in love with everything that sleep is and does.' But please do not begin it just before bedtime."
—Financial Times
"Fascinating ... Walker describes how our resting habits have changed throughout history; the connection between sleep, chronic disease, and life span; and why the pills and aids we use to sleep longer and deeper are actually making our nights worse. Most important, he gives us simple, actionable ways to get better rest—tonight."
—Men's Journal
“Walker is a scientist but writes for the layperson, illustrating tricky concepts with easily grasped analogies. Of particular interest to business owners, educators, parents, and government officials, and anyone who has ever suffered from a poor night’s sleep.”
—Library Journal, starred review
"Why We Sleep is simply a must-read. World-renowned neuroscientist and sleep expert Matthew Walker takes us on a fascinating and indispensable journey into the latest understandings of the science of sleep. And the book goes way beyond satisfying intellectual curiosity, as it explores the cognitive, health, safety and business consequences of compromising the quality and quantity of our sleep; insights that may change the way you live your life. In these super-charged, distracting times it is hard to think of a book that is more important to read than this one."
—Adam Gazzaley, co-author of The Distracted Mind, founder and executive director of Neuroscape, and Professor of Neurology, Physiology, and Psychiatry at University of California, San Francisco
“Most of us have no idea what we do with a third of our lives. In this lucid and engaging book, Matt Walker explains the new science that is rapidly solving this age-old mystery. Why We Sleep is a canny pleasure that will have you turning pages well past your bedtime.”
—Daniel Gilbert, professor of psychology at Harvard and author of Stumbling on Happiness
"In Why We Sleep, Dr. Matt Walker brilliantly illuminates the night, explaining how sleep can make us healthier, safer, smarter, and more productive. Clearly and definitively, he provides knowledge and strategies to overcome the life-threatening risks associated with our sleep-deprived society. Our universal need for sleep ensures that every reader will find value in Dr. Walker's insightful counsel."
—Mark R. Rosekind, Ph.D., former NHTSA Administrator, NTSB member, and NASA scientist
About the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Do you think you got enough sleep this past week? Can you recall the last time you woke up without an alarm clock feeling refreshed, not needing caffeine? If the answer to either of these questions is “no,” you are not alone. More than a third of adults in many developed nations fail to obtain the recommended seven to nine hours of nightly sleep.I
I doubt you are surprised by this fact, but you may be surprised by the consequences. Routinely sleeping less than six hours a night weakens your immune system, substantially increasing your risk of certain forms of cancer. Insufficient sleep appears to be a key lifestyle factor linked to your risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. Inadequate sleep—even moderate reductions for just one week—disrupts blood sugar levels so profoundly that you would be classified as pre-diabetic. Short sleeping increases the likelihood of your coronary arteries becoming blocked and brittle, setting you on a path toward cardiovascular disease, stroke, and congestive heart failure. Fitting Charlotte Brontë’s prophetic wisdom that “a ruffled mind makes a restless pillow,” sleep disruption further contributes to all major psychiatric conditions, including depression, anxiety, and suicidality.
Perhaps you have also noticed a desire to eat more when you’re tired? This is no coincidence. Too little sleep swells concentrations of a hormone that makes you feel hungry while suppressing a companion hormone that otherwise signals food satisfaction. Despite being full, you still want to eat more. It’s a proven recipe for weight gain in sleep-deficient adults and children alike. Worse, should you attempt to diet but don’t get enough sleep while doing so, it is futile, since most of the weight you lose will come from lean body mass, not fat.
Add the above health consequences up, and a proven link becomes easier to accept: relative to the recommended seven to nine hours, the shorter your sleep, the shorter your life span. The old maxim “I’ll sleep when I’m dead” is therefore unfortunate. Adopt this mind-set, and it is possible that you will be dead sooner and the quality of that (shorter) life will be worse. The elastic band of sleep deprivation can stretch only so far before it snaps. Sadly, human beings are in fact the only species that will deliberately deprive themselves of sleep without legitimate gain. Numerous components of wellness, and countless seams of societal fabric, are being eroded by our costly state of sleep neglect: human and financial alike. So much so that the Centers for Disease Control declared insufficient sleep as a public health epidemic. It may not be a coincidence that countries where sleep time has declined most dramatically over the past century, such as the US, the UK, Japan, and South Korea, and several in western Europe, are also those suffering the greatest increase in rates of the aforementioned physical diseases and mental disorders.
Scientists such as myself have even started lobbying doctors to start “prescribing” sleep. As medical advice goes, it’s perhaps the most painless and enjoyable to follow. Do not, however, mistake this as a plea to doctors to start prescribing more sleeping pills—quite the opposite, in fact, considering the evidence surrounding the deleterious health consequences of these drugs.
But can we go so far as to say that a lack of sleep can kill you outright? Quite posssibly—on at least two counts. First, there is a very rare genetic disorder that starts with a progressive insomnia, emerging in midlife. Several months into the disease course, the patient stops sleeping altogether. By this stage, they have started to lose many basic brain and body functions. Few drugs that we currently have will help the patient sleep. After twelve to eighteen months of no sleep, the patient will die.
Second is the deadly circumstance of getting behind the wheel of a motor vehicle without having had sufficient sleep. Drowsy driving is the cause of hundreds of thousands of traffic accidents and fatalities each year. And here, it is not only the life of the sleep-deprived individuals that is at risk, but the lives of those around them. Tragically, one person dies in a traffic accident every hour in the United States due to a fatigue-related error.
Society’s apathy toward sleep has, in part, been caused by the historic failure of science to explain why we need it. Sleep remained one of the last great biological mysteries. All of the mighty problem-solving methods in science—genetics, molecular biology, and high-powered digital technology—have been unable to unlock the stubborn vault of sleep. Minds of the most stringent kind, including Nobel Prize–winner Francis Crick, who deduced the twisted-ladder structure of DNA, famed Roman educator and rhetorician Quintilian, and even Sigmund Freud had all tried their hand at deciphering sleep’s enigmatic code, all in vain.
To better frame this state of prior scientific ignorance, imagine the birth of your first child. At the hospital, the doctor enters the room and says, “Congratulations, it’s a healthy baby boy. We’ve completed all of the preliminary tests and everything looks good.” She smiles reassuringly and starts walking toward the door. However, before exiting the room she turns around and says, “There is just one thing. From this moment forth, and for the rest of your child’s entire life, he will repeatedly and routinely lapse into a state of apparent coma. It might even resemble death at times. And while his body lies still his mind will often be filled with stunning, bizarre hallucinations. This state will consume one-third of his life and I have absolutely no idea why he’ll do it, or what it is for. Good luck!”
Astonishing, but until very recently, this was reality: doctors and scientists could not give you a consistent or complete answer as to why we sleep. Consider that we have known the functions of the three other basic drives in life—to eat, to drink, and to reproduce—for many tens if not hundreds of years now. Yet the fourth main biological drive, common across the animal kingdom—the drive to sleep—has continued to elude science for millennia.
Addressing the question of why we sleep from an evolutionary perspective only compounds the mystery. No matter what vantage point you take, sleep would appear to be the most foolish of biological phenomena. When you are asleep, you cannot gather food. You cannot socialize. You cannot find a mate and reproduce. You cannot nurture or protect your offspring. Worse still, sleep leaves you vulnerable to predation. Sleep is surely one of the most puzzling of all human behaviors.
On any one of these grounds—never mind all of them in combination—there ought to have been a strong evolutionary pressure to prevent the emergence of sleep or anything remotely like it. As one sleep scientist has said, “If sleep does not serve an absolutely vital function, then it is the biggest mistake the evolutionary process has ever made.”II
Yet sleep has persisted. Heroically so. Indeed, every animal species carefully studied to date sleeps.III This suggests that sleep evolved with—or very soon after—life itself on our planet. Moreover, the subsequent perseverance of sleep throughout evolution means there must be tremendous benefits that far outweigh all of the obvious hazards and detriments.
Ultimately, asking “Why do we sleep?” was the wrong question. It implied there was a single function, one holy grail of a reason that we slept, and we went in search of it. Theories ranged from the logical (a time for conserving energy), to the peculiar (an opportunity for eyeball oxygenation), to the psychoanalytic (a non-conscious state in which we fulfill repressed wishes).
This book will reveal a very different truth: sleep is infinitely more complex, profoundly more interesting, and strikingly health-relevant. We sleep for a rich litany of functions, plural—an abundant constellation of nighttime benefits that service both our brains and our bodies. There does not seem to be one major organ within the body, or process within the brain, that isn’t optimally enhanced by sleep (and detrimentally impaired when we don’t get enough). That we receive such a bounty of health benefits each night should not be surprising. After all, we are awake for two-thirds of our lives, and we don’t just achieve one useful thing during that stretch of time. We accomplish myriad undertakings that promote our own well-being and survival. Why, then, would we expect sleep—and the twenty-five to thirty years, on average, it takes from our lives—to offer one function only?
Through an explosion of discoveries over the past twenty years, we have come to realize that evolution did not make a spectacular blunder in conceiving of sleep. Sleep dispenses a multitude of health-ensuring benefits, yours to pick up in repeat prescription every twenty-four hours, should you choose.
Within the brain, sleep enriches a diversity of functions, including our ability to learn, memorize, and make logical decisions and choices. Benevolently servicing our psychological health, sleep recalibrates our emotional brain circuits, allowing us to navigate next-day social and psychological challenges with cool-headed composure. We are even beginning to understand the most impervious and controversial of all conscious experiences: the dream. Dreaming provides a unique suite of benefits to all species fortunate enough to experience it, humans included. Among these gifts are a consoling neurochemical bath that mollifies painful memories and a virtual reality space in which the brain melds past and present knowledge, inspiring creativity.
Downstairs in the body, sleep restocks the armory of our immune system, preventing infection and warding off all manner of sickness. Sleep reforms the body’s metabolic state by fine-tuning the balance of insulin and circulating glucose. Sleep further regulates our appetite, helping control body weight through healthy food selection rather than rash impulsivity. Plentiful sleep maintains a flourishing microbiome within your gut from which we know so much of our nutritional health begins. Adequate sleep is intimately tied to the fitness of our cardiovascular system, lowering blood pressure while helping keep our hearts in fine condition.
A balanced diet and exercise are of vital importance, yes. But we now see sleep as a preeminent force in this health trinity. The physical and mental impairments caused by one night of bad sleep dwarf those caused by an equivalent absence of food or exercise. It is difficult to imagine any other state—natural or medically manipulated—that affords a more powerful redressing of physical and mental health at every level of analysis.
Based on a rich, new scientific understanding of sleep, we no longer have to ask what sleep is good for. Instead, we are now forced to wonder whether there are any biological functions that do not benefit by a good night’s sleep.
Emerging from this research renaissance is an unequivocal message: sleep is the single most effective thing we can do to reset our brain and body health each day—Mother Nature’s best effort yet at contra-death. Unfortunately, the real evidence that makes clear all of the dangers that befall individuals and societies when sleep becomes short have not been clearly telegraphed to the public. It is perhaps the most glaring omission in the contemporary health conversation. In response, this book is intended to help address this unmet need, and provide what I hope is a fascinating journey of discoveries. It aims to revise our cultural appreciation of sleep, and reverse our neglect of it.
Personally, I should note that I am rather in love with sleep (not just my own, though I do give myself a non-negotiable eight-hour sleep opportunity each night). I am in love with everything sleep is and does. I am in love with discovering all that remains unknown about it. I am in love with communicating the relevance of it to the public. I am in love with finding any and all methods for reuniting humanity with the sleep it so desperately needs. This love affair has now spanned a twenty-plus-year research career that began when I was a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and continues now that I am a professor of neuroscience and psychology at the University of California, Berkeley.
It was not, however, love at first sight. I am an accidental sleep researcher. It was never my intent to inhabit this esoteric outer territory of science. At age eighteen I went to study at the Queen’s Medical Center in England: a prodigious institute in Nottingham boasting a wonderful band of brain scientists on its faculty. Ultimately, medicine wasn’t for me, as it seemed more concerned with answers, whereas I was always more enthralled by questions. For me, answers were simply a way to get to the next question. I decided to study neuroscience, and after graduating, obtained my PhD in neurophysiology supported by a fellowship from England’s Medical Research Council, London.
It was during my PhD work, conducted mostly at Newcastle University, that I began making my first scientific contributions in the field of sleep research. I was examining patterns of electrical brainwave activity in older adults in the early stages of dementia. Counter to common belief, there isn’t just one type of dementia. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common, but is only one of many types. For a number of treatment reasons, it is critical to know which type of dementia an individual is suffering from as soon as possible.
I began assessing brainwave activity from my patients during wake and sleep. My hypothesis: there was a unique and specific electrical brain signature that could forecast which dementia subtype each individual was progressing toward. Measurements taken during the day were ambiguous, with no clear signature of difference to be found. Only in the nighttime ocean of sleeping brainwaves did the recordings speak out a clear labeling of my patients’ saddening disease fate. The discovery proved that sleep could potentially be used as a new early diagnostic litmus test to understand which type of dementia an individual would develop.
Sleep became my obsession. The answer it had provided me, like all good answers, only led to more fascinating questions, among them: Was the disruption of sleep in my patients actually contributing to the diseases they were suffering from, and even causing some of their terrible symptoms, such as memory loss, aggression, hallucinations, delusions? I read all I could. A scarcely believable truth began to emerge—nobody actually knew the clear reason why we needed sleep, and what it does. I could not answer my own question about dementia if this fundamental first question remained unanswered. I decided I would try to crack the code of sleep.
I halted my research in dementia and, for a post-doctoral position that took me across the Atlantic Ocean to Harvard, set about addressing one of the most enigmatic puzzles of humanity—one that had eluded some of the best scientists in history: Why do we sleep? With genuine naïveté, not hubris, I believed I would find the answer within two years. That was twenty years ago. Hard problems care little about what motivates their interrogators; they meter out their lessons of difficulty all the same.
Now, after two decades of my own research efforts, combined with thousands of studies from other laboratories around the world, we have many of the answers. These discoveries have taken me on wonderful, privileged, and unexpected journeys inside and outside of academia—from being a sleep consultant for the NBA, NFL, and British Premier League football teams; to Pixar Animation, government agencies, and well-known technology and financial companies. These sleep revelations, together with many similar discoveries from my fellow sleep scientists, will offer proof about the vital importance of sleep.
A final comment on the structure of this book. The chapters are written in a logical order, traversing a narrative arc in four main parts.
Part 1 demystifies this beguiling thing called sleep: what it is, what it isn’t, who sleeps, how much they sleep, how human beings should sleep (but are not), and how sleep changes across your life span or that of your child, for better and for worse.
Part 2 details the good, the bad, and the deathly of sleep and sleep loss. We will explore all of the astonishing benefits of sleep for brain and for body, affirming what a remarkable Swiss Army knife of health and wellness sleep truly is. Then we turn to how and why a lack of sufficient sleep leads to a quagmire of ill health, disease, and untimely death—a wakeup call to sleep if ever there was one.
Part 3 offers safe passage from sleep to the fantastical world of dreams scientifically explained. From peering into the brains of dreaming individuals, and precisely how dreams inspire Nobel Prize–winning ideas that transform the world, to whether or not dream control really is possible, and if such a thing is even wise—all will be revealed.
Part 4 seats us first at the bedside, explaining numerous sleep disorders, including insomnia. I will unpack the obvious and not-so-obvious reasons for why so many of us find it difficult to get a good night’s sleep, night after night. A discussion of sleeping pills then follows, based on scientific and clinical data. Details of new, safer, and more effective non-drug therapies for better sleep will then be described. Transitioning from bedside up to the level of sleep in society, we will subsequently learn of the sobering impact that insufficient sleep has in education, in medicine and health care, and in business. The evidence shatters beliefs about the usefulness of long waking hours with little sleep in effectively, safely, profitably, and ethically accomplishing the goals of each of these disciplines. Concluding the book with genuine optimistic hope, I lay out a road map of ideas that can reconnect humanity with the sleep it remains so bereft of—a new vision for sleep in the twenty-first century.
I should note that you need not read this book in this progressive, four-part narrative arc. Each chapter can, for the most part, be read individually, and out of order, without losing too much of its significance. I therefore invite you to consume the book in whole or in part, buffet-style or in order, all according to your personal taste.
It is worthwhile pointing out that this book is not designed to be a self-help guide. It is not written to target or treat sleep disorders, including insomnia. There are books that do this, and many of them will recommend speaking to a doctor if you suspect you have a sleep disorder. I am also very understanding of, and sympathetic to, those people who struggle with sleep and are most anxious about it. For these individuals, it is possible that their anxiety may increase when reading about the impact of insufficient sleep, including information contained in the book. I therefore want to alert the reader to this possibility, allowing for reader discretion on this matter.
In closing, I offer a disclaimer. Should you feel drowsy and fall asleep while reading the book, unlike most authors, I will not be disheartened. Indeed, based on the topic and content of this book, I am actively going to encourage that kind of behavior from you. Knowing what I know about the relationship between sleep and memory, it is the greatest form of flattery for me to know that you, the reader, cannot resist the urge to strengthen and thus remember what I am telling you by falling asleep. So please, feel free to ebb and flow into and out of consciousness during this entire book. I will take absolutely no offense. On the contrary, I would be delighted.
I. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) stipulates that adults need seven hours of sleep or more per twenty-four hours.
II. Dr. Allan Rechtschaffen.
III. Cirelli, C., and Tononi, G. (2008). “Is sleep essential?” PLoS Biology. 6, e216.
Product details
- Publisher : Scribner
- Publication date : Oct. 3 2017
- Edition : Illustrated
- Language : English
- Print length : 368 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1501144316
- ISBN-13 : 978-1501144318
- Item weight : 544 g
- Dimensions : 15.24 x 2.54 x 22.86 cm
- 鶹 Rank: #78,325 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1 in Age-Related Sleep Disorders
- #3 in Neurology of Neuroscience
- #3 in Anatomy (Books)
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Customers find the book life-changing, interesting, and excellent to understand the latest research on the necessity of a good night's sleep. They mention it's written by an expert with remarkable research and clinical experience. Readers describe the content as informative, insightful, and full of facts. They describe the book as a must-read for pretty much everyone, easy to read, and one of the best they have read this year.
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Customers find the book amazing, interesting, and excellent to understand the latest research on the necessity of a good night's sleep. They say it's written by an expert with remarkable research and clinical experience. Readers also mention the structure of the book is quite useful and essential reading for the young and their carers.
"Great book, very straight forward." Read more
"Great read, too bad the real author isn’t the narrator because he’s very good. But the content is so important." Read more
"Excellent book! I really enjoyed it. The writing is fluid and easy. There is a lot of information...." Read more
"Amazing book. Some very bold claims were made, and they were all backed up by clear evidence...." Read more
Customers find the book profound to their existence. They say it will give them a deep understanding of everything sleep-related, from sleep in the womb to sleep after birth.
"This is an excellent book that everyone should read. Good sleep is nonnegotiable and you will definitely understand after this book." Read more
"...and Matthew knows his so much subject as he is one of the best sleep expert scientist in the world...." Read more
"...take advantage of one of the most powerful wellness tools - a goodnight's sleep, provided by the nature for health, vitality, and productivity...." Read more
"...outstanding book of researched based knowledge about how profound sleep is to our existence...." Read more
Customers find the book informative, insightful, and full of facts. They say it enabled them to discuss the topic in greater detail. Readers also mention the points are easy to understand and the author knows his subject.
"This book is very well written and informative. Lots of things I'm going to apply. I highly recommend this book." Read more
"...Overall, I found the book fascinating and insightful...." Read more
"Excellent book! I really enjoyed it. The writing is fluid and easy. There is a lot of information...." Read more
"...This book has great insights how your sleep affects your major decision like doctors cause many errors in surgeries if not slept well...." Read more
Customers find the book readable, easy, and one of the best they have read this year. They say it's a must-read for pretty much everyone. Readers also mention mostly each chapter can be read individually.
"Easy to read and Full of information that everyone should have access to. Worth the read for sure" Read more
"...I agree with the author’s claim that mostly each chapter can be read individually and out of order without losing the grip on the overall narrative...." Read more
"Covers many things we wouldn't think about sleep. Well written, easy to read" Read more
"...Honestly, an absolute must read for just about anyone. And by that, I mean literally everyone...." Read more
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- Reviewed in Canada on June 19, 2025Verified PurchaseThis is an excellent book that everyone should read. Good sleep is nonnegotiable and you will definitely understand after this book.
- Reviewed in Canada on November 21, 2023Verified PurchaseI learned a lot of things about sleep, this book is great and Matthew knows his so much subject as he is one of the best sleep expert scientist in the world.
I even subscribed to the Masterclass platform in part to watch his video Masterclass, which is essentially a condensed version of the book but to hear him talk with passion about his subject was very complementary to the book. He is very well articulated and speaks clearly.
Conclusion: Everyone should read this book. Sleep is so underrated in our society.
- Reviewed in Canada on January 16, 2022Verified PurchaseI picked up this book for the winter holidays and I think the timing worked well as I had time to evaluate and test some of the key concepts presented by the author. Since my twelfth grade, I assumed that six hours of sleep which many times used to end up less than six hours was enough. After reading this book I realized how under-slept I was during most of my youth years as such, it explains why at times I was less effective in learning newer skills faster than what was normally expected. I have experienced memory loss, not being able to recall during the exam what I studied nights before, lack of energy, unexplained body pain, and even anomalies in the routine blood test results. My hope now is that every night I will take advantage of one of the most powerful wellness tools - a goodnight's sleep, provided by the nature for health, vitality, and productivity.
I found the structure of the book quite useful. I agree with the author’s claim that mostly each chapter can be read individually and out of order without losing the grip on the overall narrative.I felt some of the theories are based on assumptions that are not necessarily scientifically proven. It is up to the readers how much discount they are willing to give and accept those theories unless proven incorrectly. I also thought some of the facts presented were slightly inflated to make a plausible case, but the central theme about the necessity of good sleep to enable human body systems upgrades, memory data backup, defragmentation, synchronization, biological firewall protection, and a re-set, that cannot be neglected.
Overall, I found the book fascinating and insightful. As a design consultant in the building industry, my biggest takeaway is to look for opportunities to help build spaces and integrate technologies to support quality sleep and rest for the well-being of its occupant.
- Reviewed in Canada on November 27, 2024Verified PurchaseAn outstanding book of researched based knowledge about how profound sleep is to our existence. Clearly written, with beautiful explanations and examples, it is simply the best book that explains one- third of our existence. I’ve studied the practical side of neuroscience for over 20 years. This book is the missing link that rounds out what we know about the brain.
- Reviewed in Canada on May 11, 2018Verified PurchaseWritten in an engaging and conversational way, this fascinating book is full of the latest research on sleep. We spend hours asleep each day, but why? Aren't we more efficient and productive if we sleep less? The answer is absolutely not, and the reasons are so many. Add 20 more years to your life by reading this book, then pass on that knowledge to your kids and grandkids.
Sleeping and dreaming, those mysteries of our biology, are no longer mysterious. Rather than being an absence of wakefulness, they perform essential biological functions in memory, creativity, immunity, cancer prevention, emotional and mental health, and learning.
I needed to know how sleep helps me so that I could be inspired to give it the priority it deserves. Most of my daily complaints are easily correctable with adequate sleep, but they weren't always obviously connected. I'm going to reread this book, then read it again and again until my sleeping brain had integrated all this knowledge.
As a teacher, I was also fascinated to learn how sleep will help my students remember new skills, integrate them into their previous knowledge, and creatively make new connections.
A great read. Highly recommend.
- Reviewed in Canada on November 4, 2024Verified PurchaseCovers many things we wouldn't think about sleep. Well written, easy to read
- Reviewed in Canada on May 26, 2025Verified PurchaseLove this book
- Reviewed in Canada on October 20, 2022Verified PurchaseI have personally experienced sleep challenges throughout my adult life. After reading Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker, I now have an improved understanding of why sleep should be a priority for me and for society at large. Furthermore, I gained many practical tips from reading this book that I have already applied in my own life. Now, I am confident that I can consistently obtain a high quality and quantity of sleep each night. Thank you, Matthew Walker!
Top reviews from other countries
- MMAArchReviewed in Spain on October 12, 2024
5.0 out of 5 stars Sleep is the foundation
Verified PurchaseWhy We Sleep offers a sophisticated and comprehensive exploration of the vital role that sleep plays in the human condition, extending beyond mere rest to encompass profound physiological, cognitive, and existential dimensions. Matthew Walker meticulously elucidates the multifaceted mechanisms by which sleep serves as the foundation for neurocognitive enhancement, emotional resilience, and somatic restoration, positioning it as an indispensable pillar of holistic well-being. His rigorous synthesis of empirical research and theoretical insights compels the reader to reevaluate the pervasive underestimation of sleep’s ontological significance, making this text an essential treatise for those seeking to optimize the human experience through the lens of restorative science.
- 鶹 CustomerReviewed in France on December 1, 2023
5.0 out of 5 stars An outstanding book about the need of Sleep
Verified PurchaseI've read other books about sleep, watched YouTube lectures and listened to podcasts about the importance of sleep for good health and longevity. This is the most detailed, scientific explanation of the subject and written in an understandable way for adults. Brilliant.
- MilanReviewed in India on December 7, 2023
5.0 out of 5 stars One of the most important books that I've ever read
Verified PurchaseI can easily say that Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker, a neuroscientist, is one of the most important books that I've ever read. Modern humans have always taken their sleep for granted. It's always something that we can catch up on. And we have been dead wrong about this. Everything in our life is affected by the quality and quantity of our sleep. Almost everything that we do is enhanced/spoiled by our sleeping decision.
Humans are not sleeping the way nature intended them to. The number of sleep periods, the duration of sleep, and when sleep occurs has all been distorted by the modern life. Human beings are the only species that deliberately deprive themselves of sleep to their detriment for petty activities. Even moderate reductions for just one week in our sleep disrupts the blood sugar levels so much that we would be classified as pre-diabetic.
A few things that stood out for me:
• Sleep is divided into non-REM sleep (early night) and REM sleep (mostly later night)
• Sleep enhances our capacity to learn, remember and make logical decisions.
• It configures our emotions, guards our immune system, takes care of our metabolism and keeps our weight in check.
• Its deficiency is the leading cause of road accidents.
• “The shorter you sleep, the shorter your life span.”
• Inadequate sleep is associated with higher rates of mental disorders, heart diseases, cancer, dementia, etc.
• Sleeping pills are no match for natural sleep.
• Alcohol is one of the most powerful suppressors of REM sleep that we know of.
• Sleep deprivation vastly increases your likelihood of getting infections.
• REM sleep is what stands between rationality and insanity.
• Many people walk through their lives sleep-deprived and never realize it.
• Regularity is the key to good sleep - going to bed at the same time, waking up at the same time no matter what.
There is so much in this book which should not be summarized. It has to be read and felt. This incomparable book should be compulsory reading for everyone.