Sleep is one of the most important aspects of our life, health and longevity and yet it is increasingly neglected in 21st century society, with devastating consequences: every major disease in the developed world - Alzheimer's, cancer, obesity, diabetes - has very strong causal links to deficient sleep.

Until very recently, science had no answer to the question of why we sleep, or what good it served, or why its absence is so damaging to our health. Compared to the other basic drives in life - eating, drinking and reproducing - the purpose of sleep remained elusive.

Now, in this audiobook, the first of its kind written by a scientific expert, Professor Matthew Walker explores 20 years of cutting-edge research to solve the mystery of why sleep matters. Looking at creatures from across the animal kingdom as well as major human studies, Why We Sleep delves in to everything from what really happens during REM sleep to how caffeine and alcohol affect sleep and why our sleep patterns change across a lifetime, transforming our appreciation of the extraordinary phenomenon that safeguards our existence.

Why We Sleep: The New Science of Sleep and Dreams

Matthew Walker (Author), John Sackville (Narrator), Penguin Books Ltd (Publisher)

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Product details

Listening Length	13 hours and 31 minutes
Author	Matthew Walker
Narrator	John Sackville
Audible.in Release Date	07 December 2017
Publisher	Penguin Books Ltd
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Unabridged
Language	English
ASIN	B077XN7889
Best Sellers Rank	#61 in Audible Audiobooks & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Audiobooks & Originals) #1 in Biological Sciences #1 in Sleep Disorders #1 in Neuroscience & Neuropsychology

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Abhishek Debnath

Trust Me, Don't Mess With Sleep

Reviewed in India on 7 August 2019

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Sleep is a mystery. And this book is a lifesaver.

For normal folks like you and me, and for doctors or scientists as well, sleep's been always a mysterious phenomena. We humans sleep (preferably) one third of our whole life. This is an enormous amount of time which demands some attention. Though historically the attention has not been allotted to sleep it deserves, academically or culturally.
If you read this book (and you should; whether you love or hate or enjoy or avoid or have problem with or have some queries on sleeping) you'd understand why the evolutionary process didn't eliminate sleep from our biological dictionary. Why, though seemingly unnecessary/time-wasting/futile/unproductive, we still need to get a good night's sleep to get a long list of physiological, biological, psychological benefits. And if you by any chance fail to get the necessary amount of sleep (voluntarily or otherwise), you're a big gambler who doesn't have the idea about the grave repercussions. (No kidding.)

This book will be beneficial to everybody except those smart dudes who have unwavering faith in some generic and prejudiced sayings like: "Six hours of sleep is enough for a functional adult" or "You'll have chance to sleep all you need when you're dead" or "Our great leader sleeps only four hours/day, hence I should do the same to be like him." etc.

Don't trust them for Kumbhkarna's sake. Don't mess with sleep.

Some curious takeaways from the book:
● Not only the starting phase of sleep is important, when you're going to wake up in the morning is equally significant too. If you get up earlier without fulfilling your sleep-quota, there will be consequences. Serious consequences.
● Melatonin doesn't make you feel drowsy; it just reminds your brain, "Time to go to bed, fella." Part of a whole set of timekeeping mechanism actually. The chemical substance which in fact pressurize your system to make you feel sleepy is named Adenosine.
● Dreaming makes you more visionary/creative/shrewd, really. And dreaming is not just some "commercial breaks" between slumber, it has serious impact on your mindset/thinking/worldview/self assessment and many things more.
● Homo sapiens is "biphasic" in case of sleep requirement. That is, we humans are biologically inclined to get sleep two times a day. Taking a siesta is not just a cultural phenomena in origin, but deeply biological. Dozing after lunchtime is absolutely human-like, nothing shameful if you think so.
● It's not mere practice that makes a person perfect. Practice, followed by a good night of sleep is what required for perfection. And the writer is serious about that.
● You can sleep as many hours trying to recover/make up the sleep that you've lost or skipped; but make no mistake, humans can never "sleep back"/rebound the sleep once lost.
● "Night owls" are real, not myth. As real as the "Morning larks" are. Don't bully them; or feel guilty of being one.
● Caffeine is the most widely used (rather abused) addictive psychoactive stimulant drug in the world. It is also the only addictive substance that we readily give to our children and teens.
● And a lot more.

70 people found this helpful

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Bharath Ramakrishnan

Very important reading

Reviewed in India on 28 October 2018

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Sleep has been a big mystery for long, as it has been unclear what purpose it serves, and why natural selection did not weed it out. After all, in earlier times, the period of sleep must have been one of considerable danger for humans (and even now for many animals and birds). And yet, sleep is a common requirement across the animal kingdom as well. In fact, birds and some sea creatures have the remarkable ability to sleep half a brain at a time.

Matthew Walker is a sleep scientist and does an exceptional job in this book of explaining what sleep achieves for us. In fact, sleep deprivation is extremely dangerous and there is not enough awareness of this. Modern lifestyle has dealt a blow to both our duration and quality of sleep, and the effects are already quite apparent.

While sleep has not completely revealed all its mysteries to us, a lot is now known after painstaking research over several years. Our sleep shuffles between NREM, Light and REM sleep – and all of them have their purpose. NREM sleep fortifies our memory helping in longer term recall, while REM sleep & dreams lend emotional balance and help us get to the big picture. The book discusses a large number of experiments detailing what happens when we skip sleep. Depending on the sleep cycle and the quantum of deprivation, the ill effects are nothing short of disastrous – lower immunity, failing memory, loss of emotional balance, pre-disposition to serious diseases such as diabetes, dementia and even cancer. Getting adequate sleep (~8 hours) on the other hand makes people more creative & productive other than being healthy.

Somehow, our cultures today do not emphasise the importance of sleep, as much as we do exercise and diet. So much so, that sleeping less is mistakenly regarded as a confirmation of working hard and being more ambitious. The assumption that each of us can do with varying periods of sleep is largely a myth as well. While a genetic mutation allows a few to function effectively with around 6 hours of sleep, this is extremely rare. Almost all of us do need ~8 hours of sleep. There are tips on improving sleep quantity as well as quality all through the book, such as regulating caffeine in the later part of the day.

Most of us are guilty of not according sleep the importance it deserves, and this book is an eye opener. This is a book everyone should read. There are very important points of note for individuals, educational institutions, hospitals, organisations and even governments.

43 people found this helpful

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E P Bharucha

Sleep - What lack of it does to you

Reviewed in India on 4 August 2018

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A very lucid explanation of sleep and why a full 7 to 8 hours a night are required.

I have spent a lifetime of cutting down of sleep time to get some more work done. If I had read the book earlier, I would organised my life differently.

41 people found this helpful

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Vish Iyer

Illuminating!

Reviewed in India on 25 August 2018

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Clearly Dr. Walker seems to have done his research on this topic. He makes a very strong case for revisiting our attitude towards sleep. Amazing insights on sleep. This has definitely made me change some of my habits to ensure I get better sleep. Would have been good to devote a chapter on the effect of practices such as meditation on sleep. Perhaps that needs mor research. Is it possible that meditation can offer restorative benefits due to lack of sleep, in some measure?

16 people found this helpful

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Anupam Anand

earth shattering

Reviewed in India on 24 December 2018

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awesome insight into the ~30% of your life that you spend sleeping. nicely written and not difficult to follow.

downside - you may get depressed that you are probably not sleeping right :)

7 people found this helpful

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Anna

Not helpful for insomniacs!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 8 September 2018

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*WARNING* Don’t read this if you suffer from any sort of sleeping problem. It will just make you worse. I thought it would be interesting but actually it just made me feel really anxious about sleeping, so much so that I developed full-blown insomnia! It’s all a bit scary for someone who is prone to sleeping problems. Read only when you’re in a healthy state of mind.

223 people found this helpful

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jlama

An essential book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 21 May 2018

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This book has been eye opening for me. Are there days when you don't have a clear mind? Are you sometimes forgetful? Are you sometimes less optimistic than you used to be? How patient are you? Do you feel you're not performing well enough at sports? Do you sometimes feel dizzy? Do you have headaches? Why do you think that is? Are you having too much coffee? Are you having too little? Maybe you have high blood pressure? Or low? Maybe you need glasses or maybe it's your glasses or contact lenses that are making you dizzy and not focused and giving you headaches?

Well there could be a much simpler explanation. You could be sleep deprived. Lots of people are and many don't even know.

This book explains why we sleep, the positive effects of sleeping in your mind, body and health and the negative effects that not sleeping enough has on them.

I really enjoyed this book. I am sleeping more now and I definitely feel a lot better, more clear minded and energetic. I can now clearly understand the effect a few nights in a row of not sleeping enough have on me... and I can detect it and easily fix it by just going to bed earlier! Life changing.

113 people found this helpful

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R. M. M.

Don't bother unless you're a doctor

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 4 November 2018

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There is far more detail than most people would want. I feel he rather overstates his case - you are given the impression that if you don't get 8 hours, and get it every single night, you're doomed to a life of failure and mediocrity. And I didn't find much prescription. If you are having sleep trouble, what's the good of being told how terrible that is without being told how to do something about it?

I have given 3 stars on account of the serious research that has gone into the book. Otherwise it would be even less.

73 people found this helpful

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Debbie Young

Everyone should read this book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 3 June 2018

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Everyone should read this book - and act on its advice. it's a thorough and wide-ranging review of all aspects of sleep and its impact on the individual and on society locally and globally.

First addressing the process of sleep, why the different phases of sleep are necessary to health, and how modern life and technology disrupt healthy and natural sleep patterns, Walker sets a persuasive context for the problems caused by lack of sleep, from "drowsy driving" (responsible for more avoidable deaths than alcohol and drugs combined) to medical errors by sleep-deprived doctors, from depleting personal happiness to severely hampering the immune system.

At my age, the particularly powerful wake-up call (ho ho) for me is the much greater chance of premature death, even in your sixties.

We're reading this book for the BBC Radio Gloucestershire Book Club in June, and I'm glad this will help give his findings more of an audience. It's already an international bestseller, but I wonder how many people have truly changed their sleeping habits long term as a result? I hope I can find the resolve to change mine before it's too late, and I will be pressing this book on everyone I know with evangelical zeal. Part of me is also gratified to find scientific confirmation of old wives' tales and instincts about sleep: "an hour before midnight is worth two after", "Sleep is nature's healer", "Got to get my beauty sleep", etc. These and many more are all unassailable according to Walker. if we put old wives in charge of the world, it would be a much healthier, happier and peaceful place.

75 people found this helpful

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Ella Guru

Cod psychology

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 29 December 2018

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I'm afraid this book is undermined by too many nonsequiturs. The fact that two things typically occur together does not mean that one causes the other. I note the huge number of glowing reviews on the book cover and within its introductory pages are written by journalists, not scientists. I'd be interested to know what scientists in the author's line of business thinks of it. Be very wary of accepting it's conclusions without a great deal of scepticism.

59 people found this helpful

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Islander

A game-changing view that clearly explains the importance of good, regular sleep.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 24 May 2018

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This book was recommended by a work colleague, and although I have only just begun reading it, I am already discovering some eye-watering details about how the inevitable, relentless lack of sleep, and disturbed sleep, encountered in my profession (I am a long-haul airline pilot) is doing my health serious long-term damage! If you are a long-term shift-worker, or enjoy (!) burning both ends of the candle, you must read this.

Matthew Walker's writing style is engaging, as are his Youtube videos, and you will learn important information that could, literally, prevent your life from being prematurely curtailed!

52 people found this helpful

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Carnivore

disappointing

Reviewed in the United States on 8 October 2018

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After hearing the author on the Joe Rogan podcast I excitedly bought the book...and then regretted it. The author went on a nauseating rant by telling us that sleep is important in 312 different ways...and yet didn't really offer any solid advice to help us get more sleep. In other words he stated the obvious, but didn't offer anything concrete or practical. I have no doubt he is an amazing sleep expert, but we all know that sleep is good for you. The challenge is figuring out how to get more of it or better quality.

I'll save you the money by summarizing the book:
"Sleep is really, really, really, really, really important. If you don't get enough sleep, you could have many problems because sleep is really, really, really important. I'm not going to tell you how to get better or more sleep, I will only tell you that sleep is really important."

Personally, I think he's holding out on this information for his next book. Grrrrrrrr.

708 people found this helpful

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kilara

I can’t rate this book highly enough. As a ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 23 June 2018

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I can’t rate this book highly enough. As a mental health professional I am referencing this frequently and recommending it to my patients. A must read for everyone and especially for parents

29 people found this helpful

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Gonçalo

Made me understand the impact of sleep in learning

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 20 April 2018

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This is the best book I read in years.
The author is a neurologist and talks about how the brain works when we are sleeping.
How sleep helps the learning process, memory, etc.
There is a science behind sleep, that few people know about. I wish I had read this book when I was in university.

27 people found this helpful

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J. Haddick

If you don’t snooze, you lose

Reviewed in Germany on 14 March 2018

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Nein, diese Wahrheit bezieht sich nicht auf den Snooze-Button des Weckers, sondern auf die Wichtigkeit des Schlafes. Den Snooze-Botton sollte man nämlich nach Möglichkeit gerade NICHT drücken, sondern mit dem ersten Weckerklingeln aufstehen. Warum – und unglaublich viel anderes wissenswertes – erklärt Matthew Walker in seinem Buch Why We Sleep. Walker ist Professor für Neurowissenschaften und Psychologie an der UC Berkeley und einer der führenden „Schlafforscher“ weltweit. Dabei forscht er nicht nur im Labor und am Schreibtisch. Walker war auch schon als Berater für Teams aus der NBA, NFL und der Premiere League tätig, sowie für Pixar, Regierungsorganisationen, Technologiefirmen und Firmen im Finanzsektor.

Das Buch ist in vier Teile eingeteilt: (1) This Thing Called Sleep: Hier erklärt Walker die biologischen Grundlagen des Schlafes und vermittelt ein Verständnis für die unterschiedlichen Schlafphasen. (2) Why Should You Sleep?: Hier geht es um die absolute Wichtigkeit des Schlafes und die Folgen von mangelndem Schlaf. (3) How and Why We Dream: Hier wird die Bedeutung von Träumen erläutert. (4) From Sleeping Pills to Society Transformed: Hier wird der gute und der schlechte Umgang mit Schlaf in unserer Gesellschaft dargestellt und ein Weg in die Zukunft gezeigt. Ein Anhang mit zwölf Tipps für gesunden Schlaf rundet das Buch ab.

Wer ein wissenschaftliches Interesse mitbringt, wird einiges lernen können (obwohl das Buch allgemeinverständlich geschrieben ist), aber auch der Leser, dem es primär um den praktischen Umgang mit dem Schlaf geht, kommt absolut auf seine Kosten. Man muss nicht jedes wissenschaftliche Detail verstehen, um von dem Buch profitieren zu können. Warum ist eine Stunde mehr Schlaf oft produktiver als eine Stunde mehr Lernen? Welchen Einfluss haben Alkohol und Drogen auf unseren Schlaf? Wie kann man Schlafproblemen entgegnen und warum sind Schlaftabletten oft die falsche Lösung? Welche Rolle kann ein Power Nap haben? Wie kann man mit Jetlags umgehen? Und… warum sollte ich den Snooze-Button meines Weckers lieber nicht nutzen? Auf diese Fragen und viele andere hat Matthew Walker Antworten. Absolut lesenswert!

56 people found this helpful

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Antoine

Important subject but poorly written

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 17 February 2019

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I didn’t enjoy reading this book although I think the subject is immensely important. I forced myself to read through till the end because it’s a timely subject and not many people are talking about it. However the book is tedious, repetitive and very poorly edited. It is not pleasant to read, at times depressing, too technical and the editorial staff are obviously on leave. The book contains at the very end a one-page list of tips to improve your sleep, thrown in as an afterthought, whilst it should deserve a full fledged chapter and it was clearly the most useful and practical part of the book.

This guy might be a professor but bless him, he can’t write for love or money. He has a tin ear and it’s very excruciating to read. He’s onto something however. I think that the fitness and nutrition industry will (or should) wise up to the need of adequate sleep. In that sense this book is a piece of sensible advice and warning.

13 people found this helpful

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PurpleBoots

Enlightening

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 17 October 2018

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This book is extremely well written and so eye-openingley informative. Being interested in all aspects of sleep hygiene and the mechanism of sleep, I was delighted when I found this book. I suffer badly with a sleep disorder and live with permanent sleep deprivation, so am always keen to read up and learn as much as I can to ensure I am doing everything I can to get a handle on the deprivation.

I feel now, having read this book, that I have read everything there is to know and understand about sleep, why we sleep and more importantly, the dreadful damage that lack of it does to us. The book is so thorough and in-depth and I feel all aspects of the topic have been fully covered. It is written in plain language, so very easy to understand.

I have learned so much about sleep deprivation now and the harm it does to physical and mental health. I understand a lot more about the dreaming stages and I feel fully 'trained' to go out there and sleep to the best of my ability, for the sake of my life!

9 people found this helpful

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PatsyT

Not a book for an insomniac

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 7 January 2019

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As someone who has sleeping problems I was slightly sorry I read this book. It's bad enough not being able to sleep without being told the side-effect in full gruesome detail - heart disease, dying early, falling asleep at the wheel, difficulty finding employment! Scientificallly written and interesting in a way, it doesn't really offer much in the way of solutions to the problem.

10 people found this helpful

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safronrice

average

Reviewed in Germany on 11 June 2019

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I bought the book because of all the positive feedback here. But either I already know a lot about sleep or people who wrote reviews were not much into this topic prior to reading the book. I found just few new informations on sleep and I can't say it is an "eye opener". Besides, the style of writing is totally on the line of 'fear appeal' - reminds me of adverisment that works with fear to sell the product - consequences of deprived sleep are emphasized much more strongly than benefits of good sleep. I don't like this book. Which does not mean that it is nonsense.

27 people found this helpful

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RuthieP

Essential reading to understand WHY it is critical to get enough sleep & at the right time for you!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 3 January 2019

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I first heard about this study on BBC Radio 5live, when Phil Williams interviewed the author. I was so impressed by his approach & the way he described how the study was first designed & then developed & expanded that I read the book feeling, for the first time, that I was reading genuine findings & not someone’s unproven opinions. So without scepticism I felt able to completely embrace it as fact & I found it absolutely eye-opening!

There are some incredible points that leapt out at me, such as: until this study scientists didn’t understand WHY we need to sleep - hence the title! With all the science we have available you would have thought we’d have known this long ago but it took this ‘proper’ investment to reach that knowledge & understanding.

And another is WHEN; without this information the human race has set some ridiculous parameters around when we should sleep & decided they should apply to everyone. Worse, we’ve decided along the way that anyone who won’t or can’t live up to them is lazy or uncaring. We have designed our modern society around a set of non-scientific, irrelevant & sometimes even harmful ‘rules’, such as ‘working 9-5’ & ‘early start & early finish school times’. We believe all babies & small children should go to bed early. We go to great lengths to stop children napping, to get the sleep they need (possibly because they’ve had to get up some time before they were ready!), so that we can put them to bed early & enable parents to have an evening without them! The book shows us clearly that some babies & children won’t be able to go to sleep early (& stay asleep!) no matter how hard their parents try!

One of the critical learning points is the necessity of sleep to our overall health, wellbeing & even life expectancy! I’ll never forget this & obviously we should be adopting it - as we are a first world society - now that we finally understand it! It’s ludicrous to ignore this knowledge just because we’ve got it wrong previously!

I think anyone reading this book will end up with much better developed sleep strategies for themselves & their families. It’s really well written & interesting. Unsurprisingly it’s quite ‘meaty’ content & I found I tended to read a bit & then have to stop & have a think about it! But the key learning points are certainly sticking with me. I definitely think everyone can learn something from reading this book & I definitely recommend it!

5 people found this helpful

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