The Shorter Your Sleep, the Shorter Your Life
Lessons I learned from Dr. Matthew Walker.
Are you sleeping 6 hours or less? If yes, I’ve bad news for you.
I recently watched a Joe Rogan podcast episode(3 years old) with Matthew Walker, a renowned sleep expert. He revealed shocking insights about the impacts of having poor sleep. It blew my mind.
If you don’t have time to watch the complete episode, you can get my key takeaways here.
Why do we sleep? We assume 8-hour sleep is counterproductive for our survival — we can’t work, produce, eat, reproduce. However, Mother Nature has a reputation of placing no process without a purpose.
The purpose is to help us live longer. In Matthew’s words,
“Sleep is Mother Nature’s best effort yet to counter death.”
Let's dive deep into the meat of the content — consequences of poor sleep — how to get a good night’s sleep.
What If we sleep 6 hours or less?
1. Lack of sleep will harm your performance
(Throughout this section, quotes are from Matthew walker)
You’re 20–30% better in terms of skilled performance after a good night’s sleep then when you where at the end of the practice session the day before.
I experienced this during dancing. For example, If I learn new moves at the end of the session today, It feels artificial now — I need to think while doing it. After a good night’s sleep, it will feel natural tomorrow.
The brain automates new skills and memories during sleep.
2. Lack of sleep will age men by a decade
“Men who sleep 5–6 hours will have a level of testosterone which is that of someone who is 10 years their senior. So a lack of sleep will age you by a decade in terms of that critical aspect of wellness, virility, muscle strength”
Testosterone is the sex hormone found in men. It controls male physical features.
Testosterone has many functions — sperm production, muscle strength, fat distribution, etc.
If you sleep 5–6 hours, your testosterone level decreases. This will age you by a decade.
3. The link between poor sleep and car accidents
“Driving in a state of drowsiness causes more car accidents than alcohol and drugs combined.”
4. The link between poor sleep and diseases
Cancer:
“Lack of sleep can increase your chances of getting cancer. A study found that when people get just four hours of sleep a night people had a 70% marked decrease of critical anti-cancer fighting immune cells
Cardiovascular Diseases:
Getting just 1 hour less of sleep a night resulted in a 24% increase risk of a heart attack. “
5. Sleeping 6 hours or less doesn’t work
“The number of people who can sleep 6 hours or less and not show any impairment is zero.”
6. You will lose your lean body muscle
If your dieting but getting insufficient sleep, 70% of the weight you lose will come from lean body muscle, rather then fat.
Can I use a smartphone before bed?
“Using a light-emitting screen before sleeping delays the release of melatonin by 3 hours and is reduced by 50%. This also disturbs and decreases rem Sleep.”
In layman’s terms, Melatonin is a hormone that tells your body when it’s time to go to bed. If you use a smartphone at 11 pm, you’re less likely to get sleep before 2 am.
How to get a good night's sleep? (naturally)
Here’s my checklist prepared from the podcast.
- Go to bed at the same time every night and wake up at the same time every morning(7 days a week).
- Don’t go to bed either too hungry or too full.
- Avoid naps after 3 pm.
- Don’t use light-emitting screens 1 hour before sleeping.
- Reduce your room temperature. “ Your brain needs to drop its temperature by about 2–3 degrees Fahrenheit to initiate sleep,” according to Walker.
- Make your room dark ( Use blackout curtains to block light from the outside).
Insights shared by walker are outcomes of decades of research. Ignore this at your own peril.
Happy sleeping :)
Note: If you enjoyed my post, click subscribe option on my profile to get my new post updates directly to your email inbox.
Footnotes
- Joe Rogan podcast episode with Matthew Walker — https://youtu.be/pwaWilO_Pig
2. If you want to read Matthew walker’s book on sleep.
3. Functions of testosterone
4. Choosing the right bulb
