While we've long been told to focus on the quantity of our sleep, in today’s episode, Matt suggests a paradigm shift in our understanding of sleep health. He argues that the true cornerstone may not be how many hours we get, but the consistency of our sleep schedule. This concept of regularity - maintaining a stable bedtime and wake-time - is presented as the most impactful of four key sleep components, which also include the more familiar aspects of quantity, quality, and timing.
Matt supports this perspective with findings from a groundbreaking study that objectively tracked the sleep of nearly 90,000 people. The results are stunning: inconsistent sleep rhythms, independent of total sleep time, were linked to a significantly increased risk for a vast array of serious diseases. This research also upends the long-held belief that "too much" sleep is unhealthy. It revealed that many self-proclaimed long sleepers are actually experiencing poor, fragmented sleep, a fact hidden by less reliable self-reported data. The implication is profound: the true culprit for their associated health risks is likely not the extended time in bed, but the underlying lack of a stable, restorative sleep rhythm.
Please note that Matt is not a medical doctor, and none of the content in this podcast should be considered medical advice in any way, shape, or form, nor prescriptive in any way.
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As always, if you have thoughts or feedback you’d like to share, please reach out:
Matt: Instagram @drmattwalker, X @sleepdiplomat,
YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@sleepdiplomatmattwalker9299