What is Reddit's opinion of Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams?

From 3.5 billion Reddit comments

No one can survive on 4 hours of sleep or even 6, at least not without dire consequences later in life. If you haven't heard of Matthew Walker's work and his book Why We Sleep I highly recommend you check it out. He's been on a bunch of podcasts too, my favorite was on an episode of Dr Rhonda Patrick's Found My Fitness podcast. Please do yourself and your future health a favor and get your 8. You deserve it!

I just read Mathew Walker’s excellent book “why we sleep.”

It’s an excellent read and will change the way you think about sleep. Highly recommended.

https://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Sleep-Unlocking-Dreams/dp/1501144324/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1549864264&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=Why+we+sleep&psc=1

Yeah, one of these things is not like the others. Just the first few pages of Matthew Walker's Why We Sleep makes that clear. Don't know whether it's a year-long project, but of the items on the list it merits top priority.

Have I got a book for you:. https://smile.amazon.com/dp/1501144324/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glt_fabc_J1W8G1VQTG6DTY7ZK33Q

The answer as it stands now: locking in new memories and skills, moving short term memories to long term, and cleanup of waste materials from the brain.

65F apparently is the best temperature for sleeping, according to this book

Thanks for your input! I just read this fantastic book on sleep and how important it really is, in case you are interested. https://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Sleep-Unlocking-Dreams/dp/1501144324/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=why+we+sleep&qid=1613084705&sr=8-1

I read this book a couple years ago and since then I've really prioritized sleep. I learned so much about how important sleep is for the body and mind. I wonder if I would have developed bipolar disorder if I managed my sleep properly in high school and university.

https://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Sleep-Unlocking-Dreams/dp/1501144324

Every person has different needs for sleep. While some people can function almost perfectly with 5 hours of sleep, others need 8 or even 10! This is a point i would try to get across. If he reads books, this is a great book about the necessity of sleep and why it’s so important: https://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Sleep-Unlocking-Dreams/dp/1501144324/

What’s going on with your sleep? You get next to no rest while you are sleeping, that makes no sense (to me anyways).

Another book recommendation:

Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams https://www.amazon.com/dp/1501144324/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_i_16C5W4BTF3QYAFZMTF4X

Walkers’s:

Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams https://www.amazon.com/dp/1501144324/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_i_EATBYCKMKXEJDHFYVZKE

Makes it quite clear that achieving 8ish hours a night of quality sleep should be priority #1 for health.

I’m sure he covered the high points on JRE, but if you want study after study to drive home the point it’s very convincing.

I know you asked for people not to say don't but whatever got you into this ordeal make sure it's the last time at least. Lack of sleep will really screw you up and you can't catch up on lost sleep. Read this book. https://smile.amazon.com/dp/1501144324/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fabc_mQXSFbPNR37YV

What time are you going to sleep? You say you avoid screens for an hour before bed, but how about other sources of light/blue light? I put on a pair of blu blockers at sunset and have also set my iPhone to naturally turn into the warm/bedtime mode according to sunset and sunrise.

Your room should be cool (<70 degrees) and PITCH BLACK. Cover little lights from a TV or computer and get blackout curtains.

I recently read this book and it blew my mind. You can just skip to the last chapter if you want his prescription. But the whole book is well worth a read.

I read this book last year. It offers a blend of terrifying risks of low sleep with incredible benefits of getting it right, and tips on how to improve your sleep. It gave me more hope than fear.

In case you decide to skip it, the biggest points for me were:

1. inadequate sleep is being found to be an extremely significant contributor to dementia and Alzheimer's
2. Adequate sleep provides one of the largest boosts to the immune system, which in current times is pretty damn important.
3. It seemed to me that giving yourself the sleep opportunity is more important than whether or not you get a full 8 hours. Meaning, going through the motions that would typically provide you with 8 hours of sleep, like dimming lights, limiting screen time at night, going to bed and getting up at the same times... more important than staying up even if you're wide awake in bed all night. Insomnia will gradually wane. That's been true for me.

No worries man. I’m glad you read it. And honestly I can’t explain how I’m humbled that you find it actually helpful. Thank YOU for digesting the stuff that I’ve written. It means a lot to me that I could able to feel someone better.

It’s a great thing that you’ve mentioned your needs on therapy. Just 1 thing I’d like to point at. You shouldn’t be labelling ur self in depression. Neither your parents as well. It might be completely different thing. I’m assuming your parents might have told you “you got a warm house so how come you’re depressed” or something like that. Sounds like my parents lol.

In my most honest suggestion that you keep mentioning that you need a therapist. Not in a nagging attitude ofc lol. Just try to communicate this when everyone is having a regular or a normal time. Not when you’re feeling down. In much harsh words, tell u need to talk with a professional when shields are down. Because pretending is way more tiring than just being unhappy. That’s what I’ve did for years and end up hating my self, everyone else and most sadly my parents.

Also meanwhile you’re trying to help yourself I’ve got two suggestions for you.

This book-> https://www.amazon.com/dp/1501144324/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_hPx2Db44AP10J (this cover is terrible. if you can find get the penguin release lol)

And start watching HBO’s in treatment. It’s a quite deep series. But it’ll give you an insight how to approach to a therapist. Tbh, I started to get more out of my therapy after watching this. Therapy is not a magic wand. It works when you actually converse with the human that listens you fully at that moment.

I feel that. 11-8 is probably what all of your peers should be doing. School is a serious problem.

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If school starts at 9, can you get up *any* later than 6? You mentioned that you lay in bed on your phone for a while... maybe if you showered the night before, you'd have more time to sleep during your "golden hours" of 11-8?

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I wish there was a better answer. I think there will be a time when the education will reform it's schedule after they're convinced of the consequences of messing with teenagers sleep. In fact, I would even say that early high school depriving teens of sleep could be one of the major causes of all the developmental disorders that are so common now. Anxiety, depression, etc.

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If you want to learn more, pick up a copy of Why We Sleep and start there.

Give this a read. Changed my life and I will never fuck with my sleep ever again

I also thought the Reddit Recommended Routine was intimidating and unachievable when I first saw it. So much so that I never did it. But, in light of this thread, I'm making a commitment here and now to do this routine for the rest of 2019, and at least all of January as well. Here is the thing. Yes, I found it intimidating. But rather than let that stop me from doing SOMETHING, ANYTHING at all, I said OK, let me break this down for me so its less intimidating. I went to YouTube and found a kajillion fitness videos and just looked for beginner level exercises. Sometimes I had to laugh at what some people thought of as "Beginner" LOL, dudes, you just don't get it, I can barely lift myself out of my chair, I need real beginner. But OK, I found what I was looking for, and then, this is the most important thing, I actually started to do them. Every. Single. Day. I. Worked. Out. I got better, I lost weight, I gained strength. It took me 2 months or so, but here I am, I found this conversation and I'm back and ready to say, the Reddit Recommended Routine looks completely achievable to me now.

I found some videos on the Reddit Recommended Routine as well! These look like really good places to start. So beginning tomorrow (tomorrow and not today because I already did my strength workout today ^_^), December 4th, 2019 I'm going to be doing the Strength Routine Monday, Wednesday and Friday and then on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday I'm going to do the Skills Routine (need to find some other videos maybe for some of these moves, will do more youtube searching)

Yes, it is overwhelming if you are just looking at it. I think the trick is, don't let it overwhelm you. You have a choice, choose to do, not just look. I'm saying this as a 52 year old who was 242 lbs back in April of 2019. I'm now 180 lbs today, and a bit more to lose. I also suffered from chronic depression and anxiety. I GET IT! I really do. I'm also on the Autism spectrum, check my reddit history, I've talked extensively about this. Four things helped me, but they didn't help me until I decided to ACTUALLY DO THEM. And that took years. I hope it doesn't take years for anyone reading this. Those four things were, in no particular order of significance - (note, I'm not advocating for any products or diets or saying this will work for anyone else, but it worked for me, and thats all I care about):

1. I used MyFitnessPal to log what I was eating. This was a huge eye opener. Turns out a Whataburger with cheese and fries and a shake is like, more calories than I should be eating in an entire day, and that was an average meal. So I started learning about nutrition and calorie intake and eventually moved onto Intermittent Fasting using the Zero fasting app
2. I started walking. I'm largely still walking, but I've started mixing in running as well now again. But when I say walking, I am now up to at least 5 miles a day, generally at a 13:30 or 12:40 minutes a mile pace, which isn't too bad. Yesterday I walked 6.2 miles averaging 13:12 a mile. I also started looking at how to do exercise, I found all kinds of YouTube channels with advice and deep dives on how to do the exercise. My OVERRIDING GOAL HERE WAS DO NOT INJURE MYSELF! This leads to subpoint 2:
   1. If you suffer from depression and anxiety as I did and still do sometimes, injuring yourself is like a death knell for an exercise program. So the best advice here is, learn perfect form, concentrate on doing the exercises right. Don't move onto the next progression until you can do the exercise perfectly 100% of the time. I tried to lose weight 10 years ago and I did great! I lost 70 lbs in like 6 months! FANTASTIC progress. And then I hurt myself. I stopped everything, I gained all that weight back in less than a year. Four years ago, I decided to try again, I started running. I immediately hurt myself again. Now its 2019 and I am only just now getting back to it. But this time, my #1 goal, DO NOT INJURE MYSELF. I have yet to solve how to get past the depression and anxiety that comes from hurting myself. So I am hoping I can just go slower, perfect the motions, perfect the strength needed and avoid that this time. This is why I started off walking and not running. Walking is far lower impact and I knew without a doubt I could handle walking. So walk I did. And then slowly started learning to exercise correctly.
3. I started Mindfulness Meditation. I'm not going to go too much into this. There is a TON of science backing up the absolute value of mindfulness. This has helped me SO MUCH, not just with the weight loss and the discipline to exercise but also with controlling my anger, learning to approach life with equanimity and calmness. I can't over emphasize how important this was to me.
4. I started to value my sleep. Sleep is so incredibly valuable, both physically and mentally. If you want to learn why, I highly recommend you read Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams by Dr. Matthew Walker. Now I don't allow any blue lights (computers or phones or TVs) 60 minutes before bedtime. I leave lights in the house at 50% before bedtime. I don't go to bed to watch TV anymore, I go to bed to SLEEP.

Anyhow, I'm not saying this will work for everyone, but it worked for me. The main thing is, I had to start DOING, and not just reading. Anxiety often leads to paralysis when provided too many choices. At some point you have to stop reading and analyzing and just start doing. Do what you can. Get better.

I'd throw in one more thing that I think helps me out. Dr Jordan Petersons book 12 Rules For Life, Rule #4: Don't compare yourself to someone else today, compare yourself to who you were yesterday. That is the ONLY comparison that matters at all. You can't possibly know the entire life story of someone else, the journey they've taken to get where they are. Comparing yourself to someone else is entirely fruitless. But you CAN compare yourself to who you were yesterday. Want to do better in life? Beat that guy or gal. That person you were yesterday? You absolutely can be better than, and you can quantitatively understand how and why you can be better than that person. The only choice is Do you really want to be better or not? If not, then keep doing the same things you always have been. If you do, then find one tiny thing you can improve today, and DO IT.

Good luck. And wish me luck. Tomorrow, the Reddit Recommended Routine is mine!

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Fantastic conversation by the way. Really glad this thread was started and has attracted so much attention. This is a great community!

I listened to a podcast with Matthew Walker, the author of Why We Sleep which then lead me to buy the audiobook. One of the first things he talks about in the book is that whether we’re a night owl or morning lark is largely determined by genetics. So, the fact that you have a hard time waking up early is likely going to be hard to change, unfortunately.

The podcast was with Joe Rogan. . It’s quite a good listen!

Your low vitamin D is a big clue.

It's proof that you're not getting sun. Sun exposure (in myriad forms) is essential for the body.

On the skin it's going to produce vitamin D. You're clearly not getting this. But it's also producing other important hormones that you'll be underproducing.

Getting sun in your eyes within 30 minutes of waking (at least 5 minutes OUTSIDE) is one of the most important signals to your circadian rhythm. Literally, the suprachiasmatic nucleus is a set of neurons that control you wake/sleep rhythm and your circadian clock and they sit right above where your optic nerves cross BECAUSE they are driven by light.

Getting sunlight at proper times of day (eyes when you wake-up, ideally more right before sunset) is the best way to get your circadian clock regulated.

Getting sunlight on your skin is necessary for other hormones.

Without sunlight regulating your system, always indoors, you'll have all kinds of disruptions in melatonin and other sleep regulatory systems.

Resources:

Read: Why We Sleep - Mathew Walker

Watch: Sleep Neuroscience - Andrew Huberman

Thats one I know of and read. Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams https://www.amazon.ca/dp/1501144324/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_i_35ZTAD6YM2S680KSYRVW

You think it is a waste of time because you do not understand sleep.

Read this:

https://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Sleep-Unlocking-Dreams/dp/1501144324

Sleep is when we heal and make all the needed chemicals that we burn up during our waking state. If we don't sleep, we don't heal or perform very well. Sleep is not optional.

I suggest you seriously look into reading Matthew Walkers book called Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams. Why I say this is because sleep deals with great amount of how well a person functions from physical and mental performance. Now to keep it short, I remember one of the first things he had talked about is that sleeping pills of all forms are not good for you by any means. Getting sleep the natural way is the best way to go. Here’s some reasons why; Not enough quality sleep daily negativity effects: Reproductive organs including hormone regulation, general organ function, blood health, mental stability include regulation of chemicals in the brain. Enough quality sleep means getting 8 hours of interrupted sleep from around 11pm to 7am where the body is in a comfortable position and does not wake up stiff/cramping/generally hurting. You can tell if you are getting enough sleep if you feel like you need to sleep by the time noon comes around if you haven’t already had coffee or an energy drink. Basically sleep medication does “provide” that but it can also screw with a lot of things from what I make of it, now I say that because I have not read the chapter about sleep meditation and how they actually effect you. I’m simply assume it’s not good because he states to think again about taking them and to skip in the book to go read about them.

If you want you can also just watch is Melatonin a good sleep aid? which I just watched. So it is an okay sleep aid but you need to get possibly look into taking way less or possibly talking to a doctor about which brand you should take. Especially if you live in the US because it’s an unregulated drug there meaning there are multiple unregulated drug brands. Where whatever it amount it says on the box can be up to 400% more then what it is or 300% less.

Anyways I hope this information could possibly help! Also know that it may affect women differently from men; if you didn’t know all drugs are tested on male rants, and they only test them. If they work on the male rats they will still give it to females not knowing what it could do to them.

This book really made me value good sleep even more. I loved this read.

Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams https://www.amazon.com/dp/1501144324/ref=cm_sw_r_u_apa_glt_fabc_9583RBAKW2F475QK0E1S

Wonderful book..

Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams https://www.amazon.com/dp/1501144324/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_7RfKFbDT8HKDP

Also, stay away from alcohol, cannabis, and ambian. Sedation is not sleeping.

One thing I didn't see posted is the link to Joe Rogan's interview with Matthew Walker PhD. If you're serious about this, Walker wrote an excellent book about it as well.

One thing I learned was that Alcohol and Marijuana damage the quality of your sleep. The specifics are in the links provided.

Podcast Interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwaWilO_Pig

Walker's Book: https://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Sleep-Unlocking-Dreams/dp/1501144324/ref=sr_1_2?crid=FX7R4AFJWBB1&amp;dchild=1&amp;keywords=why+we+need+sleep&amp;qid=1595702981&amp;sprefix=Why+we+need%2Caps%2C-1&amp;sr=8-2

Agreed. Daytime sleepiness is a definite sign you are not sleeping enough or well enough at night. it is true that sleep pressure builds over a period of 16 hours from the time you wake up. But if you are sleepy during the day and need caffeine to manage it, you're not sleeping enough.

If you want to understand why that is so critical, read this book. You will never see sleep the same way again. Or, if you don't have time to read the book, watch Joe Rogan's interview with Matthew Walker on The Joe Rogan Experience..

https://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Sleep-Unlocking-Dreams/dp/1501144324/ref=sr_1_1?hvadid=78477646311922&amp;hvbmt=be&amp;hvdev=c&amp;hvqmt=e&amp;keywords=why+we+sleep&amp;qid=1569147331&amp;sr=8-1

Everyone here has some decent advice, but it's pretty specific and not really giving you resources to know reasons why you should do things. Below I'll put what I think is the foundation of health in order of priority, according to some of the research I've read into, and I'll include some survey level resources to help you get started. I believe education is the only real road to health. If you just follow other peoples plans without knowing why you are doing those things, then you won't know where you are headed. Such as knowing that having caffeine within 5-6 hours of sleeping can inhibit your REM or deep sleep cycles which in turn inhibit your bodies ability to deal with the cancer that's been growing in you all day will certainly aid your ability to remain disciplined in getting proper sleep. So..here ya go:

1) Sleep!

Get 7+hours a night and try to keep a regular routine. Doing this changed my life more than diet or working out ever did. See Matthew Walker's new book <em>Why We Sleep</em> to scare the shit out of you and make you want to get rest. If you're worried about cancer or Alzheimer's Disease the evidence is pretty staggering that inhibited sleep patterns are likely a driving factor in the development of those diseases.

Sleep is the foundation.

2) Diet

As other's have said COUNTING! Some people recommend Chronometer because of the micronutrient counts, but this is more advanced and MyFitnessPal is just fine. You just have to be aware that MFP is crowd sourced and all entries are not created equal. But in general you need to know what you are actually putting in your body. Get a food scale, measure and count. It sucks at first for sure, but so does any habit changing regime.

If you're not looking to beef up incredibly quickly, and general health and longevity is your goal then I'd recommend not listening to anyone on reddit. Definitely not r/fitness or r/keto, they will have you eating 1g protein/lb bodyweight and all chicken/steak and cheese. The science pretty much dumps all over these ideas. Loosely, the general principle of macros is .4g of protein/lb bodyweight, as little carbs as necessary (just keep backing these down, maybe 5 to 10g per week, until you hit a point where you feel comfortable), and then fill in the rest with "good fat" (mainly tree nuts and olive oil but you can research for yourself).

Here's a couple of popular books that use clinical trials, epidemiological studies, and a look at Centenarians lifestyles as basis for diet recommendations: The Blue Zone by Dan Beuttner is pretty good look at the cultures of long-lived populations.

The Longevity Diet by Dr. Longo of USC's Longevity Institute lays out a pretty solid approach using multiple sources to determine what is healthy. You may be particularly interested in his work with fasting since you mentioned IBS. His team has been in clinical trials of treating various types of IBS using fasting techniques for a little while now, and I have heard good things. Anecdotally, I have friends that have completely put their colitis in check using fasting techniques. There are many and I won't go into that now, but feel free to pm me if you're interested. The one thing I would recommend off the bat is to limit your daily feeding window to 10-12 hours due to evidence that your gut enzymes tend to tire out after 12 hours and will just store excess energy after that time as fat (don't quote me on that, but I'm pretty sure that's the latest thinking on why Intermittent Fasting seems to work).

Overall, though the science pretty much points to what is being called "The Mediterranean Diet" which is akin to a vegetarian keto style diet and there is a sub r/vegetarianketo that you can take a look into for ideas. The idea being that the sugar metabolic pathway is highly inflammatory and destructive and likely responsible for a lot of the chronic diseases common to Western Diets, so you want to engage the fat pathway as much as possible to regulate the load on your insulin systems.

Also realize that everyone who is not fat thinks they are diet experts. Read from real experts or get a Nutritionist(a real one...they have Doctorates and/or are certified). Really though, you need data to look at. Just count and set a goal slightly under your TDEE after a week or two of just counting.

God, I'm rambling..See what I mean? Everyone wants to dump their nutrition expertise on you.

Here's one more book: In Defense of Food

Eat real food, mostly plants.

3) Exercise

This is last on the list, but that doesn't mean skip it right away. There are major neurological benefits to exercise that are often overlooked. But in general I'd just recommend walking as long as you can, preferably an hour+ a day. A good time to listen to those books I mentioned if you like, or anything really. Audible really made exercise easy fro me early on.

I wouldn't recommend running for a while. You'll just damage your joints more than you need to at that weight. Walking long periods, also cycling or swimming, is most recommended. After that your fitness goals will be up to you. I like 5/3/1 for lifting and run/swim/walk/bike/kayak/surf/skate/basketball/tennis/yoga aplenty.

Again, let me stress that your biggest tool in getting healthy is your brain. The availability of knowledge makes any choice easier. Read from experts whose research or advice have goals that you share. Not everyone needs to be a peak athlete in their 30's and 40's that won't have joints in their 50's and 60's. Remember there's always a trade off. Research and optimize for your own goals. And don't believe anonymous idiots like me on social forums.

Walk fast for long periods

Good Luck and above all Have Fun!