Why We Sleep

Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker is the definitive answer if you need any convincing of how important sleep is to our health and performance both on a daily and long-term basis.

I listened to an audiobook version of this but think that it’s so valuable that it’s well worth buying a hardcover copy of for note taking and referencing whenever you need an answer for how something related to sleeping works. 

Each chapter in the book details a specific benefit of sleep and what happens when we deprive ourselves of enough quality sleep. 

Sleep is deeply tied to our evolution and our ability to build shelters to allow ourselves to get into a deep sleep with both hemispheres of our brain is suggested to be part of what allowed us to advance compared to our primate ancestors. 

Sleep is important for everything from memory retention to athletic performance to blood sugar control and weight gain so if you need any support for why you need enough sleep, check out this book.