Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams by Matthew Walker

With two appearances on CBS This Morning and Fresh Air's most popular interview of 2017, Matthew Walker has made abundantly clear that sleep is one of the most important but least understood aspects of our life. 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 it is absent. Compared to the other basic drives in life—eating, drinking, and reproducing—the purpose of sleep remains more elusive.

Within the brain, sleep enriches a diversity of functions, including 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 creates a virtual reality space in which the brain melds past and present knowledge, inspiring creativity.

In this “compelling and utterly convincing” (The Sunday Times) book, preeminent neuroscientist and sleep expert Matthew Walker provides a revolutionary exploration of sleep, examining how it affects every aspect of our physical and mental well-being. Charting the most cutting-edge scientific breakthroughs, and marshalling his 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, and increase longevity. He also provides actionable steps towards getting a better night’s sleep every night.

This was a really interesting book full of tons of good advice and sleep data. I'll need to listen to it again to really milk it for all it's worth though.

This book is – spoiler – about why we sleep and the importance of sleep. It starts with theories of why we sleep and dream (it is quite interesting that we still don't really know), how other animals sleep, why we need sleep, why we will surely die an early death if we don't sleep, why society is not set up to accommodate our sleep needs, and then, at the very end, literally 12 bullet points about how to improve your sleep.

I won't argue with the importance of sleep, nor that its importance is undervalued in capitalist hustle cultures. But I don't trust any author that claims one thing will radically change your health. Health is a complex myriad of things, only some of which are in our control.

For me, sleep often feels out of my control. Insomnia is barely addressed in this book, and when it is, it's treated flippantly. Just do some CBT and you'll be good!! The author makes it seem like it's so easy to just sleep more. Sleep does not, and probably never will, work that way for me. For over a decade I've sought the answer to consistent quality sleep. I've tried nearly everything (including CBT), and yet still go through periods of days and weeks (and in some very rough patches, months) where sleep eludes me. Despite all best efforts and having read a bunch of books like this. (Why do I keep reading books like this, you ask? In the dwindling hopes that one will eventually have the key to this particular misery.) I'm beginning to think that it's just genetically hard-wired, and like a chronic disease, all I can do is manage it.

If anything, this book should come slapped with a big warning for insomiacs – this book WILL make you panic if you put stock in its alarmist messaging, so maybe just don't!