Matthew Walker
Sleep scientist · author of Why We Sleep
Neuroscientist and sleep researcher at UC Berkeley, author of Why We Sleep and host of The Matt Walker Podcast. His public advice is deliberately narrow and repeatable: regularity, darkness, cool temperature, and honesty about alcohol and caffeine. He is notably cautious about sleep supplements and sleep trackers.
- Entries
- 27
- Does
- 2
- Recommends
- 17
- Discusses
- 8
Gear
10 pieces of gear in this stack
- GearRecommends$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Light therapy lamp
Nearly all of his daylight advice is free: get outside on waking, move the desk to a window. Winter is where he adds a purchase, naming a 10,000 lux light box.
Source: The Matt Walker Podcast #141: The Daylight MistakeView item: Light therapy lampOn record from 3 of 62 tracked people: 2 do it, 1 recommends it - GearRecommends$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Sleep eye mask
Light gets through closed eyelids and takes deep sleep with it, he told Tim Ferriss, citing work by Phyllis Zee at Northwestern. Eye masks are on his short list of fixes for that, next to blackout curtains.
Source: The Tim Ferriss Show #650 transcriptView item: Sleep eye maskOn record from 3 of 62 tracked people: 1 does it, 2 recommend it - GearRecommends$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Blackout curtains
Darkness in the couple of hours before bed is not enough on his account. He wants the bedroom dark while you are actually lying in it, and blackout curtains are the first thing he names.
Source: The Tim Ferriss Show #650 transcriptView item: Blackout curtainsOn record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 recommends it - GearRecommends$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Earplugs
Cutting noise pollution makes a real difference, he said in a listener AMA, and earplugs are often the way to do it. His co-host Eti prefers silicone ones. Both state they have no financial tie to the company behind them.
Source: The Matt Walker Podcast: Ask Me Anything Part 11View item: EarplugsOn record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 recommends it - GearRecommends$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Hot water bottle
A bath is not the only route to that temperature drop, he told Tim Ferriss. Warming the hands and the feet does the same job, and a hot water bottle is the example he gives. He put it forward as the low-tech route, set against an expensive stimulation headband.
Source: The Tim Ferriss Show #650 transcriptView item: Hot water bottleOn record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 recommends it - GearDiscusses$$$Mid: Roughly $50 to $500, or up to $50/month.
Oura Ring
Orthosomnia is his warning about consumer sleep trackers: anxiety about the score itself making sleep worse.
Source: The Matt Walker Podcast: wearable sleep monitoringVisit ouraring.com (opens in a new tab)On record from 5 of 62 tracked people: 2 do it, 3 have discussed it - GearDiscusses$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Blue-light blocking glasses
Softened his position on blue light publicly, arguing that the alertness a device creates costs more sleep than the color of its screen.
Source: The Drive: AMA with Matthew WalkerView item: Blue-light blocking glassesOn record from 4 of 62 tracked people: 3 do it, 1 has discussed it - GearDiscusses$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Mouth tape
Took on the mouth taping trend and came away unconvinced. Early data hints at a benefit in mild obstructive sleep apnea, he says, while for moderate or severe cases he warns the tape can block an escape valve for air. His summary: the hype has run ahead of the evidence.
Source: The Matt Walker Podcast #102: Mouth TapingView item: Mouth tapeOn record from 2 of 62 tracked people: 1 does it, 1 has discussed it - GearDiscusses$$$Mid: Roughly $50 to $500, or up to $50/month.
Weighted blanket
Gave weighted blankets a whole episode and came out cautiously interested. He points to a 2020 trial where 42 percent of insomnia patients reached remission and a 2021 study showing less restlessness, then says the bigger objective trials are still missing. Around ten percent of body weight is the figure he quotes.
Source: The Matt Walker Podcast #98: Weighted BlanketsView item: Weighted blanketOn record from 2 of 62 tracked people: 1 does it, 1 has discussed it - GearDiscusses$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
White noise machine
Humans did not evolve to sleep in silence, is his framing, and he weighs the memory benefits of noise machines against a possible cost to dream sleep. For loud, intermittent noise he thinks earplugs beat a constant hum.
Source: The Matt Walker Podcast #136: Sleep and SoundView item: White noise machineOn record from 2 of 62 tracked people: 1 does it, 1 has discussed it
Apps
1 app in this stack
- AppDoes it$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Calm
A meditation skeptic until roughly seven years ago, when he tried Calm and stayed with it. His show notes say he now meditates for ten minutes before bed every night. The same notes disclose that Calm sponsors the podcast and gives listeners a discount.
Source: The Matt Walker Podcast #83 show notesVisit calm.com (opens in a new tab)On record from 2 of 62 tracked people: 2 do it
Books
1 book in this stack
- BookRecommends$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Why We Sleep
Set out the case in his own book for sleep as a non-negotiable biological necessity rather than a lifestyle preference.
Source: sleepdiplomat.com, his own siteView item: Why We SleepOn record from 8 of 62 tracked people: 5 recommend it, 3 have discussed it
Supplements
1 supplement in this stack
- SupplementDiscusses$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Melatonin
Consistently lukewarm about melatonin for healthy adults with ordinary insomnia, though he accepts its usefulness for jet lag and circadian shifting.
Source: The Tim Ferriss Show #654 transcriptView item: MelatoninOn record from 4 of 62 tracked people: 1 recommends it, 3 have discussed it
Protocols
6 entriesStructured routines and practices with a defined method.
Same bedtime, same wake time, every day, weekends included and even after a bad night: his single most repeated piece of advice.
Source: The Matt Walker Podcast: optimising your sleepRegular aerobic exercise is one of the most reliable non-drug improvements to sleep quality, he says, provided it is not too close to bedtime.
Source: The Tim Ferriss Show #650 transcriptDaylight in the morning anchors the circadian clock, and he points it especially at people struggling to fall asleep at a reasonable hour.
Source: The Matt Walker Podcast: melatonin61 to 65°F, or 16 to 18°C, and genuinely dark: that is the bedroom he asks for, because core body temperature has to drop for sleep to initiate and deepen.
Source: The Matt Walker Podcast: temperature, part 2- CBT-I (cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia)Recommends$$$Mid: Roughly $50 to $500, or up to $50/month.
CBT-I rather than sleeping pills for chronic insomnia, and he notes it outperforms medication with effects that last after treatment stops.
Source: The Matt Walker Podcast: a practical guide to insomnia Body-scan and relaxation practices lower arousal before sleep, he has said, though he is clear they are not a substitute for sleep.
Source: The Matt Walker Podcast
Habits
8 entriesRecurring behaviors recorded in public statements.
Skeptical about meditation once, he now sits for ten minutes before bed every night, and points people whose problem is a racing mind at lights-out towards the same.
Source: The Matt Walker Podcast: sleep and CBDReading a physical book in dim light is the wind-down he suggests, with a move out of bed to read elsewhere if sleep has not arrived.
Source: The Matt Walker PodcastRejects the idea that a nightcap helps you sleep, and describes alcohol as one of the most powerful suppressors of REM sleep.
Source: The Tim Ferriss Show #654 transcriptDimming half the lights in the house in the hour before bed, plus staying off screens, is his instruction, since evening light holds back melatonin release.
Source: The Matt Walker Podcast: melatoninAdvises keeping the bedroom for sleep only, with the phone charging elsewhere and no working from bed.
Source: The Matt Walker PodcastCaffeine's quarter-life reaches into the night, he points out, so an afternoon coffee can strip deep sleep even when you fall asleep easily.
Source: The Tim Ferriss Show #650 transcriptRecommends a hot bath or shower before bed, because the heat loss afterwards drops core temperature and speeds sleep onset.
Source: The Tim Ferriss Show #650 transcriptNaps are useful but conditional in his account: fifteen to twenty minutes and early is fine, long or after 1pm eats the sleep pressure needed that night.
Source: The Tim Ferriss Show #654 transcript
In their own words
Checked word for word against the linked source
“The problem is that’s not how people use melatonin, that people are using it for six months, 12 months, five years. And therefore I don’t think we’ve got any scientific data to meaningfully tell the public that they should not have these concerns, in my humble opinion too.”
The Tim Ferriss Show #654 transcript (opens in a new tab) · 10 Feb 2023 On Melatonin
“The current recommendation is something called cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia, or CBTI. And as you can tell by the term, it works on two things, cognitive things, in other words, your thoughts and your beliefs about sleep and then your behaviors.”
The Tim Ferriss Show #654 transcript (opens in a new tab) · 10 Feb 2023 “So trying to aim for darkness, not just in the last couple of hours before bed, but also darkness when you’re in bed. Blackout curtains, eye masks, all of those good things.”
The Tim Ferriss Show #650 transcript (opens in a new tab) · 21 Jan 2023
Episodes from the feed
Show archive, The Matt Walker Podcast (opens in a new tab)Last fetched . A title without a link is an episode the feed publishes no page of its own for.
- The Neuroscience of Déjà Vu (opens in a new tab) · 32m
- The Night Ferryman: A Sleep Story Read by Matt Walker (opens in a new tab) · 35m
- #149 - The 11 largest Sleep Myths (opens in a new tab) · 27m
- #148 - Psychedelics for Mental Health (opens in a new tab) · 32m
- #147 - Does Sleep Really Clean Your Brain? (opens in a new tab) · 25m
Stack notes are paraphrased. Anything in quotation marks is a short excerpt copied from the transcript it links to. Not medical advice. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or reviewed by anyone listed. How this works.