No.1 Sleep Expert: Magnesium Isn’t Helping You Sleep! This Sleep Habit Increases Heart Disease 57%

The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett

FlightStory

Society & Culture, Business, Education

4.6 • 13.2K Ratings

🗓️ 17 November 2025

⏱️ 138 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

No.1 Sleep Expert DR. MATTHEW WALKER reveals how to fix insomnia, reset your circadian rhythm, deepen REM sleep, and why magnesium and melatonin may be hurting your sleep. Dr Matthew Walker is a Professor of Neuroscience and Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, and one of the world’s leading experts on sleep science, with over 20 years of research. He is host of The Matt Walker Podcast and bestselling author of ‘Why We Sleep: The New Science of Sleep and Dreams’. He explains: ◼️The shocking link between poor sleep timing and increased cancer risk ◼️How alcohol and caffeine silently sabotage deep sleep and mental performance ◼️Why screen time and light exposure before bed are secretly rewiring your brain ◼️How “sleep banking” before stress, travel, or work sprints can boost resilience ◼️Why parents, professionals, and athletes all need radically different sleep strategies Enjoyed the episode? Share it using this link and get points for every referral: https://doac-perks.com (00:00) Intro (02:33) Sleep Changes Your DNA (05:01) The Stigma Around Sleep and Laziness (08:43) What’s Stopping People From Sleeping? (10:58) The Shocking Link Between Weekend Sleep-Ins and Heart Disease (14:48) New Research: Sleep Banking for Low-Sleep Periods (16:25) Boost Cognitive Performance With This Sleep Hack (19:14) 3 Things That Will Improve Your Sleep Quality Tonight (20:42) It’s Not Blue Light That’s Keeping You Awake (22:01) Melatonin Doesn’t Make You Sleep — Here’s What It Does (24:28) The Right Amount of Melatonin (25:55) The 1% With Nocturnal Clocks Who Can’t Sleep Until 3 AM (27:26) Should You Be Concerned About Melatonin as a Sleep Aid? (30:33) The Trade-Offs in Sleep Medicine (35:05) The Key to a Digital Detox (35:46) The 4 Macros of Good Sleep: QQRT (37:02) The Minimum Amount of Sleep You Need to Stay Alive (42:49) How Sleep Regularity Predicts Life Expectancy (46:50) Try This 7-Day Sleep Enhancer Challenge (53:24) Is Your Room Dark Enough for Optimal Sleep? (1:01:03) Why Counting Sheep Doesn’t Work (1:02:58) A Better Alternative to Counting Sheep (1:04:36) Does Magnesium Really Help With Sleep? (1:11:47) Ads (1:13:33) How REM Sleep Works and How to Maximize It (1:20:30) Why REM Sleep Is So Important (1:22:07) Entering a ‘Psychotic’ State During Dreams (1:25:05) Healing Trauma Through Dreams (1:31:12) Nightmares as a Warning Sign of Mental Health Issues (1:36:09) REM Sleep Is Like Group Therapy for Memories (1:39:31) Ads (1:41:18) The Dystopian Future: Superhumans Who Sleep Only 6 Hours (1:45:17) Could Humans Be Engineered to Sleep Less? (1:50:20) Why Undersleeping Triggers Cravings (1:54:36) A New Drug That Could Help With Insomnia (2:03:50) What Did Success Bring You? (2:07:33) I Didn’t Believe in Finding “The One” (2:28:39) The Future of AI and Sleep Follow Dr Matthew: X - https://bit.ly/4oIRpAY Instagram - https://bit.ly/49OgFB4 Podcast - https://bit.ly/489MJhA You can purchase Dr Matthew’s book, ‘Why We Sleep’, here: https://amzn.to/3K04IxJ The Diary Of A CEO: ◼️Join DOAC circle here - https://doaccircle.com/ ◼️Buy The Diary Of A CEO book here - https://smarturl.it/DOACbook ◼️The 1% Diary is back - limited time only: https://bit.ly/3YFbJbt ◼️The Diary Of A CEO Conversation Cards (Second Edition): https://g2ul0.app.link/f31dsUttKKb ◼️Get email updates - https://bit.ly/diary-of-a-ceo-yt ◼️Follow Steven - https://g2ul0.app.link/gnGqL4IsKKb Sponsors: Linkedin Ads - https://www.linkedin.com/DIARY Pipedrive - http://pipedrive.com/CEO KetoneIQ - Visit https://ketone.com/STEVEN for 30% off your subscription order Last chance to join the waitlist for the limited edition Diary Of A CEO Conversation Cards here: https://bit.ly/cardswaitlist

Transcript

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0:00.0	Here's the problem with magnesium supplementation when it comes to sleep. The first thing to note is that most forms of magnesium don't cross the brain barrier and sleep is produced by your brain. So how can something that doesn't get into your brain affect brain process? All you're doing is creating probably expensive urine. However, there is one form of magnesium that seems to have some evidence in favor of it, which we can speak about, but it doesn't stop there.
0:25.4	There's so much new evidence that we have, including this myth of eight hours.
0:29.4	I fear about giving melatonin to kids while you keep waking up in the middle of the night and the invention of the first new class of sleeping medication that I actually
0:38.6	favor. And most people are not aware of it. Okay, let me write this down. Matthew Walker is back.
0:44.5	And the world-renowned sleep expert and neuroscience professor is sharing brand new research to
0:48.9	combat the sleep loss epidemic and help you get the perfect night's sleep. So society, we have struggles with sleep at night
0:55.7	due to many reasons, but no one teaches us this stuff. And it's things like, say you go to bed
1:01.0	at 11, one night, 1 a.m. the next night, then 10.30 p.m. the next night. And it's remarkable how
1:06.7	many people do this. But studies have shown that you are statistically 49% more likely to prematurely
1:12.5	die versus those people who are most regular in terms of going to bed and waking up at the same
1:16.9	time. And worse, they had a 57% cardiometabolic disease risk increase. What the fuck? Science really
1:24.3	teaches us that there are four pillars of good sleep. And then there's this incredible new study looking at sleep banking.
1:29.9	And this is remarkable for people who are facing a sprint at work or a medical doctor
1:33.4	about to go on a call for the next 40 hours, new parents, and we can go through all of that.
1:37.8	But if you were to push me to say the three most impactful things that you can start doing tonight to start sleeping better. It would be...
1:49.0	Just give me 30 seconds of your time.
1:51.0	Two things I wanted to say.
1:53.0	The first thing is a huge thank you for listening and tuning into the show week after week.
1:57.0	It means the world to all of us, and this really is a dream that we absolutely never had and couldn't have imagined getting to this place. But secondly, it's a dream where we feel
2:05.4	like we're only just getting started. And if you enjoy what we do here, please join the 24% of people
2:11.1	that listen to this podcast regularly and follow us on this app. Here's a promise I'm going to make to you.
2:16.8	I'm going to do everything in my
	...

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