Matthew Walker: Why Is It Essential To Make Time For Sleep?

VPM | By Manoush Zomorodi and Katie Monteleone

Published February 5, 2021 at 2:35 PM EST

Updated April 24, 2024

Part 2 of the TED Radio Hour episode It Takes Time

Sleep is crucial for our health — and there are alarming consequences when we don’t get enough. Matthew Walker explores the many benefits of a full night of sleep, and how to make sleep a priority.

About Matthew Walker

Matthew Walker is a professor of neuroscience and psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, where he serves as the director of the Center for Human Sleep Science. He is the author of Why We Sleep, a book explaining the impact of sleep on human health and disease, and he is a Kavli Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences. He has also shared his research on the TED original series Sleeping with Science.

Walker received his PhD in Neurophysiology from the Medical Research Council in London, where his research was funded by the Medical Research Council Neurochemical Pathology Unit, and his bachelor’s degree in Neuroscience from the University of Nottingham.

This segment of TED Radio Hour was produced by Katie Monteleone and edited by Manoush Zomorodi. You can follow us on Facebook @TEDRadioHour and email us at [email protected].

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Manoush Zomorodi

Manoush Zomorodi is the host of TED Radio Hour. She is a journalist, podcaster and media entrepreneur, and her work reflects her passion for investigating how technology and business are transforming humanity.

Zomorodi is a co-founder of Stable Genius Productions and is the co-host and co-creator of ZigZag, the business podcast about being human. She also created, hosted, and was managing editor of the podcast Note to Self in partnership with WNYC Studios, which was named Best Tech Podcast of 2017 by The Academy of Podcasters.

Prior to her time at WNYC, Zomorodi reported and produced around the world for BBC News and Thomson Reuters, including a few years in Berlin.

She was named one of Fast Company's 100 Most Creative People in Business for 2018 and has received numerous awards for her work, including The Gracie for Best Radio Host in 2014 and 2018. Her book "Bored and Brilliant: How Spacing Out Can Unlock Your Most Creative Self" (2017, St. Martin's Press) and her TED Talk are guides to surviving information overload and the "Attention Economy."

Zomorodi received a bachelor's degree from Georgetown University in English and fine arts. She is half-Persian and half-Swiss but was born in New York City, where she lives with her family.

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