Essentials: The Science & Practice of Perfecting Your Sleep

Huberman Lab

Scicomm Media

Science, Health & Fitness, Life Sciences

4.8 • 26.2K Ratings

🗓️ 12 June 2025

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this Huberman Lab Essentials episode my guest is Dr. Matt Walker, PhD, Professor of Neuroscience and Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley and host of The Matt Walker Podcast, which focuses on the science and impact of sleep. We explore the importance of sleep and how its nightly structure, including REM and non-REM stages, helps rejuvenate the mind and body. We also discuss how caffeine, alcohol, cannabis and melatonin supplements affect your ability to fall asleep and overall sleep quality. Additionally, Matt highlights the benefits of naps and shares a variety of unconventional tips to promote healthier, more restorative sleep. Read the episode show notes at hubermanlab.com. Thank you to our sponsors AG1: https://drinkag1.com/huberman Eight Sleep: https://eightsleep.com/huberman ROKA: https://roka.com/huberman Timestamps 00:00:00 Matt Walker, Sleep 00:00:25 Rapid Eye Movement (REM) & Non-REM Sleep, Paralysis 00:02:05 Sleep Cycles, Nighttime Sleep Structure, Hormones 00:07:08 Sponsor: Eight Sleep 00:08:54 Nighttime Waking Up, Fragmented Sleep 00:11:05 Sunlight Exposure & Sleep 00:12:28 Caffeine & Sleep Effects, Tool: Timing Caffeine 00:15:27 Alcohol & Sleep Effects 00:18:08 Cannabis; THC, Alcohol, REM Sleep & Dreams 00:20:24 Sponsor: ROKA 00:22:12 Melatonin, Supplementation?, Dose 00:28:18 Prescription Sleep Aids, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) & Sleep 00:30:36 Naps, Benefits, Insomnia, Tool: Nap Length 00:34:07 Sponsor: AG1 00:35:44 Sleep Tips, Tools: “Do Nothing”; Winddown Routine; Worry Journal; Clocks 00:39:56 Acknowledgments Disclaimer & Disclosures Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Welcome to Huberman Lab Essentials, where we revisit past episodes for the most potent and actionable
0:05.8	science-based tools for mental health, physical health, and performance.
0:11.4	And now, my discussion with Dr. Matt Walker.
0:14.6	Let's start off very basic. What is sleep?
0:18.5	Sleep is probably the single most effective thing you can do to reset your brain and body health.
0:24.6	Sleep as a process, though, is an incredibly complex physiological ballet.
0:30.8	Sleep is broadly separated into these two main types,
0:33.9	and we've got non-rapid eye movement sleep on the one hand,
0:36.6	and then we've got rapid eye movement sleep on the one hand and then we've got rapid eye
0:38.1	movement sleep on the other. When you go into REM sleep, you are completely paralyzed. You are
0:44.9	locked into a physical incarceration of your own body. Amazing. The brain paralyzes the body so that the
0:53.5	mind can dream safely.
0:55.8	Because think about how quickly we would have all been popped out of the gene pool.
0:59.6	You know, if I think I'm, you know, one of the best skydivers who can just simply fly and
1:05.2	I get up on my apartment window and I leap out.
1:09.0	You're done.
1:10.0	You're done. Now, of course, the involuntary muscles, thankfully, aren't paralyzed.
1:14.5	So you keep breathing, your heart keeps beating.
1:16.7	You go through these bizarre, what we call autonomic storms.
1:21.3	There are only two voluntary muscle groups that are spurred from the paralysis, bizarre.
1:31.0	One, your extra ocular muscles, because if they were paralyzed, you wouldn't be able to have rapid eye movements. And the other that we later
1:36.4	discovered was the inner ear muscle. Some people have argued that the reason the eyeballs are
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 25 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Scicomm Media, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Scicomm Media and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.