Why We Sleep (book by Matthew Walker)

Recently I finished reading a book called "Why We Sleep" by "Matthew Walker".

It was so good that I had to share it in a blog post.

"Why We Sleep" by "Matthew Walker"

The book first forms a question: "Why did evolution design sleep, when it does not seem to be beneficial in any evolutionary way? You can't search for food while asleep and also also can't protect yourself from predators in case of attack." If that question makes you curious too, or if you think sleeping is a waste of time, or if you don't feel awake and energetic during the day, or if you sleep less than 7:30~8:30 hours a night, then I highly recommend this book to you. This book helps you fall in love with sleep, get excited about it, and see immediate good results in your life.

Here I list the most interesting topics you can learn about by reading this scientific book:

• What is dreaming? Why do we dream? Why do dreams feel weird? How are dreams formed?
• Why do we have "night owls" and "morning larks" in society beside each other? (this one was a very interesting evolutionary story)
• How does sleep differ in different animals (compared to human beings)?
• Why was the sleep deprivation record banned from the Guinness World Records book?
• What is Lucid dreaming? Can science prove lucid dreaming?
• Why do some companies pay bonuses to their employees who sleep more? (and every company should start doing so for their benefit)
• What are the different stages of sleep (REM and NREM) and how do they affect your overall physical and mental health?
• How does coffee (caffeine in general) make you feel more awake and alive? (You will love your daily coffee less after learning about its effects)
• How are ADHD and sleeping related?
• How are Alzheimer's and sleeping related?
• How are Schizophrenia and sleeping related?
• When did sleep form during evolution? Was it even formed during evolution? Or was it all sleep and then wakefulness emerged?
• What are the evolutionary advantages of sleep for human beings?
• Why and how do different colors in the light spectrum trick our brain into thinking it is wake time or sleep time? Specifically why and how blue light at night harms your sleep?
• What is the fight-or-flight response? And what does sleep have to do with it?
• How do we feel the passage of time while asleep and while dreaming?
• So many people claim they can predict your future based on your dreams! But can scientists predict your dreams by your waking life?
• What is Circadian rhythm?
• How do your sleep needs change while you grow up?
• What is the relation between sleeping, dreaming, and creativity? How does sleeping help with creativity?
• How does sleeping in trees differ from sleeping on the ground? What role did this change play in our evolution? How did the discovery of fire help in this regard?
• Why do eyes move while dreaming?
• What is the clinical definition of insomnia?
• How much sleep deprivation is equivalent to being legally drunk? (And you are still allowed to drive legally while this much sleep-deprived and even more) How much of car crashes relate to sleep deprivation?
• What does modern science have to say about Sigmund Freud's dream interpretations?
• Does sleep loss impact genes?
• Why do we hate (and should keep hating) morning alarm clocks? (this one made me think about when was the last time I woke up naturally, without an alarm clock, as a result of sufficient/adequate sleep!)
• Why and how does jet lag happen?
• The myth of "I need a lesser amount of sleep": Is it true that some people claim they need less sleep to function normally? (Spoiler: Hell no!)
• How does enough sleep relate to overall health, immune system, heart disease, heart attacks, etc...?
• What is microsleep?
• How does the brain work in general? (in this book you will read mostly about parts that relate directly or indirectly to sleeping and dreaming)
• How does sleep help with learning in all the phases of life? And how can you use it for your benefit?
• What does alcohol do to sleep and dreaming?
• Why and how does Alcohol harm fetuses and babies?
• In what situations is forgetting beneficial? And what are the disadvantages of forgetting? And how do sleep and sleep deprivation cause them?
• What is half-brain sleeping? (a.k.a. unihemispheric sleeping)
• Why do older adults appear to need less sleep? And in what ways this wrong assumption can harm them?
• What role does sleep (and lack of sleep) play in our performance and productivity?
• Why did we hate so much waking up early in the morning to go to school? (and we were right about hating it) And what was the result of some schools experimenting with changing their start time to a later time?
• What is sleepwalking and why do some people have it? How does the body do it? What does the person feel when sleepwalking?

And lots of other cool tips about how you could optimize and benefit from your sleep, plus lots of interesting experiments done on humans and lab rats and spiders! and the findings.

And these are only the interesting facts I remembered about. This book was loaded with science, interesting facts, and thought-provoking ideas. It helped me a lot, I feel more awake, energetic, disciplined, and focused after reading this book and applying what I learned, and I'm sure you'll do too.

Key Takeaway

In this era, most of us don't have enough sleep, or we don't have the quality sleep we should. No matter how sharp and productive I felt I was on days I slept less than 8 hours a night, after changing my sleep routine to get adequate sleep, I witnessed life-changing results. I'm paying active attention to days followed by enough sleep and days followed by lack of sleep / bad sleep. The differences are very noticeable. It is surprising how you can see the effects of good sleep on your attention level and energy level immediately; rather than having to apply it for weeks.

Thanks for reading! ❤️