Back in the 1940s, people were sleeping on average just a little bit over eight hours a night, and now, in the modern age, we’re down to around 6.7, 6.8 hours a night. Matthew Walker Read Quote
If you were not to set an alarm clock, would you sleep past it? If the answer is yes, then there is clearly more sleep that is needed. Matthew Walker Read Quote
Sleep is the Swiss army knife of health. When sleep is deficient, there is sickness and disease. And when sleep is abundant, there is vitality and health. Matthew Walker Read Quote
Human beings are the only species that deliberately deprive themselves of sleep for no apparent gain. Many people walk through their lives in an underslept state, not realizing it. Matthew Walker Read Quote
You’re trying to sleep off a debt that you’ve lumbered your brain and body with during the week, and wouldn’t it be lovely if sleep worked like that? Sadly, it doesn’t. Sleep is not like the bank, so you can’t accumulate a debt and then try and pay it off at a later point in time. Matthew Walker Read Quote
It’s during dream sleep where we start to actually take the sting out of difficult, even traumatic, emotional experiences that we’ve been having. And sleep almost divorces that emotional, bitter rind from the memory experiences that we’ve had during the day. Matthew Walker Read Quote
It’s not clear whether the brain actually is designed to have nightmares or whether this is actually the process going awry. Matthew Walker Read Quote
When did a doctor prescribe, not sleeping pills, but sleep itself? It needs to be prioritised, even incentivised. Matthew Walker Read Quote
Falling asleep is like landing a plane. It takes time. You’ve got to sort of gradually descend. I think one of the problems with insufficient sleep is people are not very good at predicting how poorly they are doing when they are under-slept. Matthew Walker Read Quote
