#156 - Smell and Memory
Examining the "Proust phenomenon," Matt reveals how smell acts as a direct portal to our past. Unlike sight or hearing, olfaction bypasses t...
Radio and PodcastLive Radio & Podcasts
Health
The Matt Walker Podcast
The Matt Walker Podcast is all about sleep, the brain, and the body. Matt is a Professor of Neuroscience at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of the book, Why We Sleep...
Episodes
20 of 194 episodes
#155 - Sleep & Nature's Call
Matt explores nocturia, the clinical condition of waking at night to urinate, challenging the assumption that the bladder is solely at fault...
#154 - Sleep and Cortisol
Delving into the science of cortisol, Matt debunks its social media reputation as a toxic villain. He explains how this essential hormone ac...
#153- Sleeping in an MRI Machine
Today’s episode explores how scientists study the sleeping brain inside a roaring, 111-decibel MRI scanner. Despite the extreme noise and di...
#152 - The Brain on Music
Exploring the profound link between the brain and music, Matt begins by tracing musical expression back 40,000 years to a vulture bone flute...
#151 - The Geography of Sleep
Matt breaks down the conflict between wall clocks and our biological rhythms, explaining how latitude and longitude dictate our rest. Latitu...
#150 - The Neuroscience of Déjà Vu
Matt digs into the neuroscience of déjà vu, reframing it as a sign of a healthy brain performing real-time error correction. Using a "doorma...
The Night Ferryman: A Sleep Story Read by Matt Walker
Join Matt for a serene excursion across a valley lake under the cover of night. After finding a comfortable position and centering your brea...
#149 - The 11 largest Sleep Myths
Debunking 11 sleep myths, Matt begins by explaining that the brain remains active, not "off," during rest. He goes on to argue that 7-9 hour...
#148 - Psychedelics for Mental Health
Matt delves into how psychedelics like psilocybin and LSD quiet the "Default Mode Network" to boost neuroplasticity. He describes these mole...
#147 - Does Sleep Really Clean Your Brain?
Matt explores the brain's secret plumbing, a waste-clearance network once ignored for over a century. He explains how the glymphatic system...
#146 - How Sleep Changes Across the Human Lifespan
Matt tracks sleep across the human lifespan, from newborn "active sleep" to the shifts of healthy aging. He explores how biological mileston...
#145 - How to get More Deep Sleep
Matt explains the science of deep sleep, emphasizing that this front-loaded stage is vital for physical and mental repair. To boost it, he r...
#144 - Face Blindness Explained
Matt explores how the brain constructs reality by examining neurological anomalies. He contrasts "super-recognizers" with those living with...
#143 - The Science of Love, Desire, and Sex
Matt examines the neurobiology of love, defining it as a reward system rather than just an emotion. He breaks love into three systems: lust...
#142 - How Memory Affects Sleep
Exploring how daily memories shape the biology of sleep, Matt reveals that, beyond consolidating facts, the brain's restorative depth is a r...
The Beekeepers Garden - A Sleep Story Read by Matt Walker
Matt invites you to embark upon a gentle journey to a peaceful, restful sleep. After settling in and breathing deeply, you will find yoursel...
#141 - The Daylight Mistake
Matt illuminates sunlight’s biological impact beyond Vitamin D as he reveals that our eyes contain a hidden daylight circuit wired directly...
#140 - Tired but Wired
Exploring the "tired but wired" state where exhaustion meets an overactive alerting system, Matt explains that insomnia is often a disorder...
#139 - Waking Up
Matt explains sleep inertia - the groggy transition to wakefulness - noting that waking is a process, not a switch, and that brain regions a...