Guest Series | Dr. Matt Walker: Using Sleep to Improve Learning, Creativity & Memory

This is episode 4 of a 6-part special series on sleep with Dr. Matthew Walker, Ph.D., a professor of neuroscience and psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, and author of the best-selling book "Why We Sleep." In this episode, we discuss the relationship between sleep, learning and creativity.

We explain why and how sleep before and after a learning bout can improve memory and performance for both cognitive tasks and physical skills. We also discuss how to use time learning and sleep, how to use naps, non-sleep deep rest states, and caffeine to optimize learning, and the mechanisms for sleep and memory consolidation.

We also explain the critical role that sleep plays in creativity and one's ability to discover novel solutions to challenges and problems.

This episode is filled with actionable information on using sleep to enhance skill learning and improve memory and creativity.

The next episode in this guest series explains how sleep benefits emotional regulation and mental health.

Articles

• Sleep-Dependent Memory Processing (Harvard Review of Psychiatry)
• Cognitive consequences of sleep and sleep loss (Sleep Medicine)
• Daytime Naps, Motor Memory Consolidation and Regionally Specific Sleep Spindles (PLOS ONE)
• Examining the Impact of Later High School Start Times on the Health and Academic Performance of High School Students: A Multi-Site Study (Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement)
• Examining the Impact of School Start Times on the Academic Performance and Health of Students (Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement)
• Medical and Genetic Differences in the Adverse Impact of Sleep Loss on Performance: Ethical Considerations for the Medical Profession (Transactions of the American Clinical and Climatological Association)
• Effect on Patient Safety of a Resident Physician Schedule without 24-Hour Shifts (The New England Journal of Medicine)
• Obliviscence during Sleep and Waking (The American Journal of Psychology)
• Reactivation of Hippocampal Ensemble Memories During Sleep (Science)
• Navigation-related structural change in the hippocampi of taxi drivers (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)
• Temporally Structured Replay of Awake Hippocampal Ensemble Activity during Rapid Eye Movement Sleep (Neuron)
• Sleep and the Time Course of Motor Skill Learning (Learning & Memory)
• Practice with Sleep Makes Perfect (Neuron)
• Synaptic tagging and long-term potentiation (Nature)
• The Effects of Sleep Extension on the Athletic Performance of Collegiate Basketball Players (Sleep)
• Learning-Dependent Increases in Sleep Spindle Density (The Journal of Neuroscience)
• Effects of Wearable Fitness Trackers and Activity Adequacy Mindsets on Affect, Behavior, and Health: Longitudinal Randomized Controlled Trial (Journal of Medical Internet Research)
• Overnight alchemy: sleep-dependent memory evolution (Nature Reviews Neuroscience)
• Cognitive flexibility across the sleep–wake cycle: REM-sleep enhancement of anagram problem solving (Cognitive Brain Research)
• Sleep onset is a creative sweet spot (ScienceAdvances)

Other Resources

• Sleeping Brain, Learning Mind (Harvard Crimson)
• California Becomes the First State to Move Back School Start Times (The New York Times)
• Winston Churchill’s Afternoon Nap by Jeremy Campbell (book)

Huberman Lab Episodes Mentioned

• Guest Series | Dr. Matthew Walker: The Biology of Sleep & Your Unique Sleep Needs (Episode 1)
• Guest Series | Dr. Matthew Walker: Protocols to Improve Your Sleep (Episode 2)
• Guest Series | Dr. Matthew Walker: How to Structure Your Sleep, Use Naps & Time Caffeine (Episode 3)
• Tools to Enhance Working Memory & Attention
• Rick Rubin: Protocols to Access Creative Energy and Process‍

People Mentioned

• Charles Czeisler: Professor of Sleep Medicine, Harvard
• Dimitri Mendeleev: chemist, developed the periodic table
• Albert Einstein:  theoretical physicist
• Paul McCartney: singer-songwriter
• Thomas Edison:  inventor
• Richard Feynman: theoretical physicist