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Boundless Life

6 Hours Of Sleep Per Night Is OK??? Plus How To Sleep Like A Caveman (Wisdom From Our Ancestors For A Better Night's Sleep!) With Dr. Merijn van de Laar

Boundless Life

Ben Greenfield

Education, Fitness, Self-improvement, Health & Fitness

4.65.2K Ratings

🗓️ 21 August 2025

⏱️ 70 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

I’m always on the lookout for a good book on sleep, and I recently read one of the better titles I’ve found in the past few years:

How to Sleep Like a Caveman: Ancient Wisdom for a Better Night's Rest—Based on the Evolutionary Science of Sleep from Saber-Toothed Tigers to Modern Insomnia.

Written by today’s podcast guest, Dr. Merijn van de Laar, one of the world’s leading sleep scientists, it is a bit like Sapiens meets Why We Sleep in an evolutionary romp through the science of sleep—and how you can get better rest.

If you’re curious about the science of sleep, what our evolutionary past can teach you, and actionable ways to wake up truly rested, this episode is for you.

Full show notes: https://bengreenfieldlife.com/cavemansleep

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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

My name is Ben Greenfield and on this episode of the Boundless Life podcast.

0:05.1

The second thing has to do with creativity.

0:08.3

So the bizarerness of dreams, and this is a very interesting research from Eric Hull, he is a neuroscientist.

0:14.1

He has this theory that the bizarreness of dreams actually makes our brain more flexible because welcome to the boundless life

0:23.3

with me your host ben greenfield i'm a personal trainer exercise physiologist and nutritionist

0:29.3

and i'm passionate about helping you discover unparalleled levels of health fitness longevity and

0:35.5

beyond fitness, longevity, and beyond.

0:49.4

Some of you have wondered about this bicycle that is behind me in many of my podcast recordings in my office.

0:50.8

It's called a carol bike.

0:55.0

It allows me to do very, very quick workouts because sometimes I lock myself in my office for like eight hours just to do deep work and I don't leave, but I will

0:59.4

stop occasionally to work out. I can do like their two by 20 second sprint workout or their

1:04.1

three by 15 second sprint workout on this carol get all the research proven benefits of VO2

1:09.1

max increasing mitochondrial enhancement with just a few

1:12.6

minutes without raising myself into a big stinky sweat.

1:17.4

So it's a smart workout.

1:18.7

It's even AI driven.

1:19.9

It allows you to test your VO2 max, approximate your lactate threshold.

1:23.4

I mean, you can geek out on this bike or you can just work out on it.

1:26.9

Anyways, though, if you want to lower your blood pressure,

1:29.2

reduce your risk of chronic diseases in sessions that are shorter than a short coffee break,

1:34.5

you got to check out efficient exercise with the Carroll bike and see how quick sprints can lead to long-term health gains.

1:40.5

Go to Carolbike.com slash Ben.

...

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