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The cover of Why We Sleep

Why We Sleep

Matthew Walker, 2017

A sleep scientist explains what sleep does for memory, mood and health, why modern life cuts it short, and what that costs us.

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18 parts, about 33 minutes to read.

Why read it

  • Argues that sleep is the foundation beneath diet and exercise, feeding learning, emotional balance, immunity and heart health
  • Shows why short nights cost more than you notice, and which habits around caffeine, alcohol, light and schedules to change
  • Built on laboratory experiments, brain scans and large studies, and candid about which findings are only associations, not proof

Who it is for

  • People who routinely trade sleep for work or study
  • Parents of teenagers who struggle with early school starts
  • Chronic insomniacs weighing whether to take sleeping pills

What the summary covers

  1. Why we sleep1 min
  2. An accidental sleep researcher1 min
  3. Two forces that time our sleep3 min
  4. Two kinds of sleep2 min
  5. Sleep across a lifetime2 min
  6. Sleep and memory2 min
  7. What sleep loss does to the brain3 min
  8. Sleep and Alzheimer's disease2 min
  9. Sleep loss and the body3 min
  10. Dreams1 min
  11. Dreaming as overnight therapy2 min
  12. Dreaming and creativity1 min
  13. Insomnia1 min
  14. Modern enemies of sleep2 min
  15. Sleeping pills and a better alternative2 min
  16. Sleep and society2 min
  17. A new vision for sleep2 min
  18. Reclaiming sleep1 min

Recommended by

  • Bill GatesCofounder of Microsoft and the Gates Foundation
    An important and fascinating book

About the author

  • Matthew WalkerProfessor of neuroscience and psychology at the University of California, Berkeley
    • Born in Liverpool, England, and raised in that city and Chester
    • Neuroscience degree from Nottingham 1996; PhD in neurophysiology from Newcastle University 1999
    • Assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School from 2004
    • Left Harvard in 2007 and has taught at UC Berkeley as professor of neuroscience and psychology
    • Over 100 scientific studies in a twenty year career; Why We Sleep is his first book
    • Now Professor of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering at UT Dallas, directing the Sleep Innovation Laboratories (own site; differs from the Berkeley credential on file)

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