Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker

Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker

Throughout the book, Walker emphasizes how what we have learned about sleep has implications for how we should view people who may not have what seem like "normal" sleep patterns more empathetically. In particular, he emphasizes that teenagers want to get up and go to bed later, not due to laziness but because they run on a different circadian rhythm. It is something that is biologically hardwired into them. A consequence is that forcing school start times incompatible with this has devastating effects on how well they learn compared to well they could. Similar facts are true of people who are naturally "night owls" and run on different circadian rhythms than the rest of us.

Minor Flaws

Walker's book has only a few minor flaws:

1. Although he provides an excellent explanation of why most sleeping pills should be avoided, he does not mention whether this includes melatonin.

2. His discussion of the nationwide dollar impacts of poor sleep could be better presented. The unfortunate truth is that given the numbers we have heard spent on wars and, especially, financial bailouts and stimulus, rattling off numbers that are “merely” in the hundreds of millions or even low billions hits us in a place we are now numb.

3. Although Walker's discussion of creativity in the dream state and the state when just waking from dreams is a fascinating part of the book, I would have liked to see some discussion of how objectively accurate intuitions are during these moments. Anecdotally, I used to joke that my best ideas came to me during this time or not at all. Sometimes, however, the thoughts just turned out to be overconfident upon more profound reflection. Is that true for just me, or is it true for people, generally speaking?

📌 Genre: Science book, Neuroscience.

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