We all know how good it feels to drift into deep sleep and wake up feeling refreshed. 

The positive effects of a good night’s sleep affect every aspect of our lives. We feel energetic, focused, and ready to take on the day’s challenges.  

But the long-term effects of bad sleep are less known. It turns out, they have a huge impact on our health and even how long we live.  

In this episode, Jonathan speaks with Prof. Matthew Walker to learn what the latest science says about improving our sleep — to give us more energy and better health. They also discuss whether how we sleep changes how our bodies respond to food.

• Matthew Walker is a sleep expert, a professor of neuroscience at UC Berkeley, and founder of the Center for Human Sleep Science. He’s also the author of Why We Sleep.

Matt and his team are currently working with ZOE scientists to research the links between sleep, nutrition, and health.

Download our FREE guide — Top 10 Tips to Live Healthier: https://zoe.com/freeguide

Timecodes:

00:00 - Intro

00:33 - Episode start

01:22 - Quickfire questions

02:48 - What’s the biggest myth about sleep»

04:09 - What is sleep?

07:46 - Why do we sleep?

10:29 - REM

14:22 - How does Matt study sleep?

16:18 - What happens when you don’t get enough sleep?

22:48 - Collaboration with ZOE

28:16 - Sleep and menopause

32:38 - Tips on how to sleep better

33:23 - Sleep regularity

35:12 - How do you find out about your chronotype?

37:20 - Bedroom temperature

38:04 - Lighting

39:04 - Caffeine and Alcohol effects on sleep

44:22 - Making your room like a cave

44:57 - The influence of screens on your sleep

47:03 - Summary

48:14 - Goodbyes

48:35 - Outro

Get Matt’s book here.

Listen to Matt’s podcast here.

'How people wake up is associated with previous night’s sleep together with physical activity and food intake' - Read the paper: here.

Find out your chronotype here.

Follow ZOE on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zoe/

This podcast was produced by Fascinate Productions.