The Matt Walker Podcast

#94 - Dream Sleep for the Body

Ask Me Anything Part 16: Dream Time, Circadian Changes, & Night Sweats

Time perception in dreams often involves dilation, where subjective time stretches significantly compared to real-world duration, a phenomenon linked to emotional intensity and neural memory replay speeds. REM sleep specifically slows down memory replay, contrasting with the rapid compression observed during deep non-R...

#93 - Sleeping Pills and their Alternatives with Dr. Ranji Varghese

In this episode, Matt hosts Dr. Ranji Varghese to discuss newer classes of sleeping pills, including melatonin receptor agonists and dual orexin receptor antagonists (DORAs), and off-label options like Doxepin and Trazodone. They explore how these medications work, their effectiveness, and potential side effects, highl...

The Archives of Lost Letters - A Sleep Story Read by Matt Walker

#92 - The Healing Powers of Sleep

Ask Me Anything Part 15: Beauty Sleep, Naps, 3 AM Wake-Ups & Axl Rose with Dr. Eti Ben Simon

#91 - Sleep, Ambien, Memory, and Alzheimer's

The Evergreen Express - A Sleep Story Read by Matt Walker

#90 - Sleep as Fuel for Athletes with Dr. Cheri Mah

This interview podcast features sleep scientist Dr. Cheri Mah discussing her research on sleep and athletic performance. The podcast begins with an introduction to Dr. Mah's impressive background and then delves into her research, focusing on a study showing significant performance improvements in Stanford basketball ...

Ask Me Anything Part 14: Sleep, AI, Space, and Superpowers

#89 - Does Catch-up Sleep Work?

This monologue podcast explores the effectiveness of weekend catch-up sleep in offsetting weekday sleep deprivation. The host presents a study showing that while weekend sleep can partially recover cardiovascular health risks, it fails to fully reverse other negative impacts like impaired deep sleep, disrupted circadi...

#88 - Sleep & Sleeping Pills with Dr. Ranji Varghese

This interview podcast focuses on prescription sleeping pills, featuring a sleep medicine expert, Dr. Ranji Varghese. The podcast begins with an introduction to the topic and Dr. Varghese's impressive background. It then delves into the mechanisms of sleeping pills, comparing older benzodiazepines (like Valium) to ne...

Beneath a Highland Moon - A Sleep Story Read by Matt Walker

#87 - Sleep, Trauma Memories, AI & Memory Hacks, with Dr. Charan Ranganath

Ask Me Anything Part 13: Circadian Rhythms, Biphasic Sleep, Gut Health, and Animal Sleep Secrets

#86 - Sleeping Pills & Weight Loss

Starlight Stroll - A Sleep Story Read by Matt Walker

#85 - The Power and Limits of Memory with Dr. Charan Ranganath

Memory functions as a dynamic process of change, where the brain encodes past experiences to orient individuals in the present and future. Rather than a passive recording system, memory acts as a reconstructive act of imagination, where emotional salience and novelty trigger neurochemical cascades that prioritize speci...

Ask Me Anything Part 12 - Meds, Pets, Sleeping Naked, and So Much More with Dr. Eti Ben Simon

#84 - Sleep & Narcolepsy