Category

Sleep

Good sleep is critical to our innate physiological repair processes, while poor sleep triggers a cascade of negative downstream consequences, from insulin resistance to cognitive decline, as well as mental health issues.

Study after study has found powerful associations between insufficient sleep and adverse health outcomes ranging from the common cold to cardiovascular disease.

But as important as sleep is for the physical body, it may even be more so for the brain. Good sleep—in terms of both amount and quality—is critical to our cognitive function, our memory, and even our emotional equilibrium.

Below is a collection of past articles, audio clips, and podcasts discussing the science of sleep and how sleep can be a powerful longevity tool. If you are new to this content, I would strongly recommend listening to our 7-part series with sleep expert Matthew Walker, where we discuss everything you could possibly want to know about sleep, the affects of sleep on your health, and how to improve it.

#77 – AMA #2 with sleep expert, Matthew Walker, Ph.D.: short sleep mutants, optimal sleep environment, sleep apnea, & rapid fire questions

Check out more content with sleep expert, Matthew Walker, Ph.D.: (April 1, 2019) Part I of III: Dangers of poor…

#63 – AMA #7: Exercise framework, deadlifting, lower back pain, blood pressure, nootropics, CGM, and more

“The single greatest risk to my longevity is my lower back.” —Peter Attia

#58 – AMA with sleep expert, Matthew Walker, Ph.D.: Strategies for sleeping more, sleeping better, and avoiding things that are disrupting sleep

“[Sleep] is like that master volume button on a mixing deck that you see in the studio. You can manipulate each one of those dials, or you can go to the far left and just move that one dial…and all of the other levers seem to move with it.” — Matthew Walker

#56 – Jocko Willink, retired Navy SEAL, Part II of II: Sleep, fasting, raising kids, discipline, taking ownership, and the impact of war

“Leading a family is the same way you lead an organization or lead a team. If you bark orders at your team, your team won’t like you, they won’t respect you, and they’re not going to carry out those orders with any sort of commitment.” — Jocko Willink

The Sound of Silence

I would posit you don’t need to be a fan of Disturbed or Simon & Garfunkel (though I love both)…

#54 – Kevin Sayer, CEO of Dexcom: Continuous glucose monitors – impact of food, sleep, and stress on glucose, the unmatched power of CGM to drive behavioral change, and the exciting future of CGM

“One of the most humbling things about this job is when I meet the children or the adult patients who has had this device change their life . . . it’s really why we come to work every day, what keeps us going.” —Kevin Sayer

#51 – Robert Sapolsky, Ph.D.: The pervasive effect of stress – is it killing you?

“The [stress response] system has been serving vertebrates, doing a lot of help for them for an awful long time, and it’s only been a very recent modification to instead secrete [cortisol] in response to thinking about taxes.” —Robert Sapolsky

#49 – Matthew Walker, Ph.D., on sleep – Part III of III: The penetrating effects of poor sleep from metabolism to performance to genetics, and the impact of caffeine, alcohol, THC, and CBD on sleep

“Lack of sleep is like a broken water pipe in your home. It will leak down into every nook and cranny of your physiology.” —Matthew Walker

#48 – Matthew Walker, Ph.D., on sleep – Part II of III: Heart disease, cancer, sexual function, and the causes of sleep disruption (and tips to correct it)

“If there is one central, common pathway through which we can understand almost all aspects of the deleterious impact of insufficient sleep, it is…an excessive leaning on the fight or flight branch of the nervous system.” — Matthew Walker

#47 – Matthew Walker, Ph.D., on sleep – Part I of III: Dangers of poor sleep, Alzheimer’s risk, mental health, memory consolidation, and more

“I think that sleep may be one of the most significant lifestyle factors that determines your risk ratio for Alzheimer’s disease.” — Matthew Walker

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