In 'Sleep Smarter,' Shawn Stevenson shares easy tips and tricks to help readers achieve the best sleep and health of their lives. The book includes a 14-Day Sleep Makeover, covering topics such as creating the ideal sleep sanctuary, regulating circadian rhythms with sunlight, using clinically proven sleep nutrients and supplements, and stress-reduction exercises. Stevenson emphasizes the critical role of sleep in shedding fat, staving off disease, improving productivity, and enhancing mental and physical health. The book is designed to be a fun and practical guide, providing real-world tools to help readers optimize their sleep and achieve a healthier, happier life.
This book delves into the purpose and power of sleep, explaining how it affects every aspect of our physical and mental well-being. Walker discusses how sleep enriches our ability to learn, memorize, and make logical decisions, recalibrates our emotions, restocks our immune system, fine-tunes our metabolism, and regulates our appetite. He also explores the consequences of sleep deprivation and provides actionable steps to improve sleep quality, including ways to prevent cancer, Alzheimer’s, and diabetes, slow the effects of aging, and increase longevity.
Sleep is not just a luxury—it’s a foundational pillar of health that influences nearly every aspect of our well-being. Sleep deprivation doesn’t just cause fatigue; it disrupts hormones, drives inflammation, damages metabolism, and accelerates aging. From the gut microbiome to stress hormones like cortisol, sleep is deeply intertwined with brain, immune, and metabolic health. Yet our modern world—filled with late-night screens, ultra-processed foods, and chronic stress—works against quality rest.
In this episode, I discuss, along with Dr. Matt Walker and Shawn Stevenson, why we need to address sleep as a core health priority to unlock healing, prevention of chronic disease, and renewed vitality.
Matthew Walker earned his PhD in neuroscience from the Medical Research Council in the UK, and subsequently became a Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He is currently a Professor of Neuroscience and Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, and director of the Center for Human Sleep Science. Matt’s research focuses on the effect of sleep on human health and disease, brain, and body. He has published more than 100 scientific research studies and has received numerous funding awards from the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. Matt has given a main-stage TED Talk that has been viewed over 13 million times, has also created several TED Miniseries on sleep, a MasterClass series on sleep, and is author of the New York Times bestseller, Why We Sleep. Matt is also the host of the 5-star-rated, The Matt Walker Podcast.
Shawn Stevenson is the author of the USA Today National bestseller Eat Smarter, and the international bestselling book Sleep Smarter. He’s also the creator of The Model Health Show, featured as the number #1 health podcast in the U.S. with millions of listener downloads each month. A graduate of the University of Missouri–St. Louis, Shawn studied business, biology, and nutritional science and became the cofounder of Advanced Integrative Health Alliance. Shawn has been featured in Forbes, Fast Company, The New York Times, Muscle & Fitness, ABC News, ESPN, and many other major media outlets.
This episode is brought to you by BIOptimizers.
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Full-length episodes can be found here:
How to Optimize Your Sleep with Dr. Matthew Walker
How To Stay Asleep And Sleep More Deeply
Hack Your Sleep
The Dr. Hyman Show 
