Dr. Matt Walker: The Biology of Sleep & Your Unique Sleep Needs | Huberman Lab Guest Series

(instrumental music) Welcome to the Huberman Lab Guest Series, where I and an expert guest discuss science and science-based tools for everyday life. I'm Andrew Huberman, and I'm a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine. Today's episode marks the first in our six-episode series all about sleep. Our expert guest for this series is Dr. Matthew Walker, Professor of Neuroscience and Psychology and the Director of the Center for Sleep Science at the University of California, Berkeley. He is also the author of the bestselling book, Why We Sleep. During the course of this six-episode series, for which we release one episode per week, starting with this Episode 1, we cover essentially all aspects of sleep and provide numerous practical tools to improve your sleep. For instance, we discuss the biology of sleep, including the different sleep stages, as well as why sleep is so important for our mental and physical health. We also talk about how sleep regulates things like emotionality, and learning, and neuroplasticity, that is your brain's ability to change in response to experience, and we discuss the various things that you can do to improve your sleep, everything from how to time lighting, temperature, exercise, eating, and the various things that can impact sleep, both positively and negatively, such as alcohol, cannabis, and various supplements and drugs that have been shown to improve sleep. We also talk about naps, dreaming and the role of dreams, and lucid dreaming, which is when you dream and you are aware that you are dreaming. In today's Episode 1, we specifically focus on why sleep is so important and what happens when we do not get enough sleep or enough quality sleep. We also talk about the various sleep stages, and we also talk about a very specific formula that everyone should know for themselves called QQRT, which is an acronym that stands for quality, quantity, regularity, and timing of sleep, four factors which, today, you'll learn how to identify specifically for you what your optimal QQRT is, and then to apply that in order to get the best possible night's sleep, which of course equates to the best possible level of focus and alertness throughout your days. Both Dr. Walker and I are very excited to share the material in this six-episode series with all of you, and as we march into today's Episode 1, I'm sure it will both provide a ton of excellent practical learning for all of you, as well as spark many questions that are sure to be answered in the subsequent episodes of this series. Before we begin, I'd like to emphasize that this podcast is separate from my teaching and research roles at Stanford. It is, however, part of my desire and effort to bring zero-cost-to-consumer information about science and science-related tools to the general public. In keeping with that theme, I'd like to thank the sponsors of today's podcast. Our first sponsor is Eight Sleep. Eight Sleep makes smart mattress covers with cooling, heating, and sleep tracking capacity. Many times on this podcast, we discuss how in order to fall and stay deeply asleep, your body temperature actually needs to drop by about one to three degrees, and in order to wake up feeling maximally refreshed and energized, your body temperature needs to heat up by about one to three degrees. Eight Sleep makes it very easy to control the temperature of your sleeping environment so that it's easy to fall and stay asleep and wake up feeling refreshed. I started sleeping on an Eight Sleep mattress cover several years ago, and it has completely and positively transformed my sleep, so much so that when I travel to hotels or Airbnbs, I really miss my Eight Sleep. I've even shipped my Eight Sleep out to hotels that I've been staying in because it improves my sleep that much. If you'd like to try Eight Sleep, you can go to EightSleep.com/Huberman to save $150 off their Pod 3 Cover. Eight Sleep currently ships to the USA, Canada, UK, select countries in the EU, and Australia. Again, that's EightSleep.com/Huberman. Today's episode is also brought to us by BetterHelp. BetterHelp offers professional therapy with a licensed therapist carried out online. Now, I've been doing therapy for well over 30 years. Initially, I had to do therapy against my will, but, of course, I continued to do it voluntarily over time because I really believe that doing regular therapy with a quality therapist is one of the best things that we can do for our mental health. Indeed, for many people, it's as beneficial as getting regular physical exercise. The great thing about BetterHelp is that it makes it very easy to find a therapist that's optimal for your needs. And I think it's fair to say that we can define a great therapist as somebody with whom you have excellent rapport, somebody with whom you can talk about a variety of different issues, and who can provide you not just support, but also insight. And with BetterHelp, they make it extremely convenient so that it's matched to your schedule and other aspects of your life. If you'd like to try BetterHelp, you can go to BetterHelp.com/Huberman to get 10% off your first month. Again, that's BetterHelp.com/Huberman. Today's episode is also brought to us by LMNT. LMNT is an electrolyte drink that has everything you need and nothing you don't. That means plenty of the electrolytes, magnesium, potassium, and sodium, and no sugar. As I mentioned before on this podcast, I'm a big fan of salt. Now, I wanna be clear. People who already consume a lot of salt or who have high blood pressure or who happen to consume a lot of processed foods that typically contain salt need to control their salt intake. However, if you're somebody who eats pretty clean, and you're somebody who exercises, and you're drinking a lot of water, there's a decent chance that you could benefit from ingesting more electrolytes with your liquids. The reason for that is that all the cells in our body, including the nerve cells, the neurons, require the electrolytes in order to function properly. So, we don't just wanna be hydrated, we want to be hydrated with proper electrolyte levels. With LMNT, that's very easy to do. What I do is when I wake up in the morning, I consume about 16 to 32 ounces of water, and I'll dissolve a packet of LMNT in that water. I'll also do the same when I exercise, especially if it's on a hot day and I'm sweating a lot, and sometimes I'll even have a third LMNT packet dissolved in water if I'm exercising really hard or sweating a lot, or if I just notice that I'm not consuming enough salt with my food. If you'd like to try LMNT, you can go to Drink LMNT, spelled L-M-N-T, .com/Huberman to claim a free LMNT sample pack with your purchase. Again, that's Drink LMNT, L-M-N-T, .com/Huberman. And now for my conversation with Dr. Matthew Walker. Dr. Matt Walker, welcome.