Dr. Matt Walker: Improve Sleep to Boost Mood & Emotional Regulation | Huberman Lab Guest Series

Sleep & Mental Health (00:00:00)

• Sleep is inextricably linked to mental health.
• REM sleep is crucial for removing the emotional content of memories and provides emotional restoration.
• REM sleep deprivation can negatively impact mental health.
• Science-based protocols can improve the quality and quantity of REM sleep.
• Reducing rumination and negative thoughts before sleep can enhance mental health.

Sponsors: Eight Sleep, LMNT & BetterHelp (00:01:09)

• Eight Sleep makes smart mattress covers with cooling, heating, and sleep tracking capabilities.
• LMNT is an electrolyte drink with magnesium, potassium, and sodium, but no sugar.
• BetterHelp offers professional therapy with a licensed therapist carried out entirely online.
• Sleep is essential for brain health and function.
• During sleep, the brain consolidates memories, processes emotions, and repairs itself.
• Sleep deprivation can lead to a variety of problems, including impaired cognitive function, mood swings, and increased risk of accidents.
• REM sleep is the stage of sleep in which we dream.
• REM sleep is essential for emotional regulation and mood control.
• REM sleep deprivation can lead to irritability, anxiety, and depression.
• Sleep is essential for mental health.
• Sleep deprivation can worsen symptoms of mental illness, such as depression and anxiety.
• Getting enough sleep can help to improve mental health and well-being.
• Establish a regular sleep schedule and stick to it as much as possible, even on weekends.
• Create a relaxing bedtime routine to help you wind down before bed.
• Make sure your bedroom is dark, quiet, and cool.
• Avoid caffeine and alcohol before bed.
• Get regular exercise, but not too close to bedtime.
• See a doctor if you have a sleep disorder.

Emotions & Sleep, Amygdala (00:05:14)

• Sleep deprivation increases emotional reactivity and reduces emotional regulation, leading to heightened sensitivity of the amygdala and reduced connectivity between the amygdala and the medial prefrontal cortex.
• Even partial sleep restriction can cause emotional dysregulation similar to total sleep deprivation.
• Sleep deprivation impairs the prefrontal cortex's ability to control emotional responses, resulting in a more basic emotional state with reduced cognitive control and heightened emotional reactivity.
• Damage to certain regions of the prefrontal cortex can result in stimulus-driven behavior, which has implications for conditions such as ADHD.

Emotional Memory & Sleep (00:17:27)

• Sleep deprivation increases emotional reactivity and sensitivity.
• The brain prioritizes emotional memories due to their relevance.
• Over time, the brain separates emotions from emotional memories, reducing their intensity.
• Sleep regulates emotional responses to memories.
• A study showed that sleep after learning emotional memories reduced emotional reactivity compared to staying awake.
• Sleep "detoxes" emotional memories by reducing their emotional intensity, a process known as "overnight forgetting."

“Overnight Therapy” & REM Sleep, Noradrenaline (00:25:48)

• REM sleep is associated with emotional depotentiation or "emotion detox".
• During REM sleep, levels of noradrenaline (norepinephrine) in the brain are completely shut off.
• Noradrenaline is associated with emotional responsivity, focus, and emotional energy.
• Serotonin levels also decrease during REM sleep.
• Acetylcholine levels increase in the brain during REM sleep, particularly in certain brain regions.
• REM sleep creates a neurochemically safe environment for emotional overnight therapy by reactivating and reprocessing emotional memories without the intense emotions.
• The hippocampus and amygdala, brain regions related to memory, are very active during REM sleep.

Sponsor: AG1 (00:29:13)

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Sleep to “Remember & Forget”, Trauma; REM Sleep (00:30:27)

• Behavioral desensitization therapy involves recalling traumatic events in a safe environment to reduce their emotional impact.
• Sleep deprivation after trauma may prevent the formation of strong emotional memories, but retaining the memory of the event is crucial for safety reasons.
• REM sleep is linked to emotional reactivity, and studies by William Dement in the 1960s showed that people are more likely to report dreams when woken during REM sleep.
• REM sleep deprivation can cause severe psychological consequences, including paranoia, hallucinations, delusions, and even psychosis, highlighting its importance in maintaining sanity and emotional stability.
• A good night's sleep can serve as a bridge between despair and hope, emphasizing the significance of sleep for emotional well-being.

Hinge Analogy; Motivation, Impulsivity & Addiction (00:38:27)

• Sleep deprivation, especially REM sleep deprivation, disrupts the balance between the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems, causing increased stress and emotional reactivity.
• The exact mechanism behind this imbalance is not fully understood but may involve the release of stress hormones like epinephrine, adrenaline, and cortisol.
• Sleep deprivation can lead to decreased motivation and social engagement when an individual is not actively interacting with the world, but it can also cause sudden shifts into a strongly sympathetic state when provoked or faced with strong emotional events.
• Sleep-deprived individuals exhibit excessive reactivity to both negative and positive emotional stimuli, increased impulsivity, reward-seeking behavior, and sensation-seeking tendencies.
• This imbalance in the nervous system due to sleep deprivation results in erratic and extreme emotional reactions, which can be maladaptive despite the essential role of emotions in survival and adaptation.

Tool: Improve REM Sleep, Social Jet Lag, Alcohol & THC, Addiction (00:47:08)

• Sleep deprivation increases impulsivity and the potential for addiction.
• To maximize REM sleep, focus on quantity, quality, regularity, and timing of sleep.
• The best time to sleep depends on one's chronotype, with early to bed and early to rise schedules having an anti-depressant effect.
• Sleeping an extra 15-20 minutes in the morning can significantly enhance REM sleep.
• Most REM sleep occurs in the second half of the night, particularly in the last quarter.
• Social jetlag, caused by inconsistent sleep schedules on weekends, can disrupt REM sleep and is equivalent to frequently flying from Los Angeles to New York in terms of circadian rhythm disruption.
• Waking up later on weekends can increase REM sleep, leading to more intense and memorable dreams.
• Alcohol and THC potently suppress REM sleep, and stopping their use can result in a REM sleep rebound with vivid dreams.
• Sleep deprivation increases addiction potential and hinders abstinence from addictive substances like cocaine, as lack of sleep enhances reward circuitry, making it harder to resist temptations and increasing vulnerability to relapse.

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• Dr. Matt Walker, a leading expert in sleep science, discusses the importance of sleep for mood and emotional regulation.
• Sleep deprivation can lead to increased irritability, mood swings, and difficulty concentrating.
• Chronic sleep deprivation can contribute to the development of mental health disorders such as depression and anxiety.
• Sleep helps to regulate emotions by reducing the activity of the amygdala, a brain region involved in fear and anger, and increasing the activity of the prefrontal cortex, a brain region involved in rational thought and decision-making.
• Sleep also helps to clear metabolic waste products from the brain, including beta-amyloid, a protein associated with Alzheimer's disease.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) & REM Sleep (00:57:23)

• Prioritizing rapid eye movement (REM) sleep is crucial for optimizing emotional reactivity and balance.
• Trauma, an aversive event, alters the nervous system, leading to impaired well-being.
• PTSD, characterized by sleep disturbance and repetitive nightmares, involves a failure in the brain's emotional deep potentiation process, resulting in persistent emotionally charged memories.
• PTSD patients exhibit elevated levels of noradrenaline during sleep, disrupting the usual decrease in noradrenaline during REM sleep.
• Psychiatrist Murray Raskin discovered that prazosin, a generic drug used for hypertension, unexpectedly reduced nightmares and improved symptom resolution in PTSD veterans.
• Prazosin crosses the blood-brain barrier, reducing high levels of norepinephrine in the brain associated with PTSD.
• By normalizing norepinephrine levels, prazosin allows the emotional memory to be processed, leading to symptom resolution.
• Prazosin was later approved by the FDA as a medication for PTSD and repetitive nightmares.
• Scientific collaboration and the exchange of ideas, facilitated by conferences and podcasts, foster important discoveries and clinical breakthroughs.

Noradrenaline & REM Sleep, PTSD & Prazosin (01:06:53)

• Blocking norepinephrine in the brain and body during REM sleep may help with PTSD.
• PTSD can cause an inappropriate invasion of the noradrenaline response into REM sleep, disrupting its electrical quality.
• Prazosin, a drug that reduces sympathetic arousal in sleep, has been shown to help with PTSD by restoring normal REM sleep patterns and emotional resolution.
• Some studies have not replicated the positive findings of prazosin for PTSD, and more research is needed to understand why.
• Psychological interventions, such as those focused on dreaming, may also be effective in treating repetitive nightmares.

Addiction, Non-Sleep Deep Rest (NSDR); Liminal States (01:09:40)

• Yoga Nidra, a non-sleep deep rest technique, is used in addiction treatment centers to help addicts get and stay sober. It is done first thing in the morning for 30 minutes to an hour and may compensate for sleep deprivation and help with sleep regulation.
• Yoga Nidra offers a zero-cost tool for accessing the replenishment and recovery that comes from sleep.
• The Lial State is a non-pharmacological, zero-cost tool that can help people relax and transition into sleep. It is a transitional state between wakefulness and sleep.

Anxiety & Sleep, Mood vs. Emotions (01:16:46)

• Sleep deprivation can lead to increased anxiety, and anxiety can make it difficult to sleep, creating a bidirectional relationship.
• Lack of sleep can cause significant increases in anxiety levels, even in individuals with no prior signs of anxiety.
• Anxiety is part of a broader class of mood disorders that can last from minutes to months or even years.
• Sleep quantity, quality, regularity, and timing all play a role in anxiety levels, and disruptions in any of these areas can contribute to anxiety disorders.
• Sleep deprivation can be used as a tool to understand the benefits of sleep, and tracking individuals' sleep and anxiety levels in real-life settings has shown that small changes in sleep quality and quantity can accurately predict changes in anxiety levels the following day.

Deep Non-REM Sleep & Anxiety, Sleep Quality (01:23:50)

• Quality of sleep, not quantity, is the best predictor of next-day anxiety levels.
• Deep non-REM sleep, not REM sleep, is associated with reduced anxiety.
• Deep non-REM sleep helps dissipate anxiety by re-engaging the frontal lobe and shifting the body from a sympathetic to a parasympathetic state.
• Deep non-REM sleep may help reduce anxiety by resetting the brain and body through embodied mechanisms.
• Getting good continuous sleep with deep non-REM electrical brain activity provides an anxiolytic benefit to the brain.

Tool: Improve Deep Non-REM Sleep, Temperature; Alcohol (01:28:51)

• Regular sleep timing improves sleep quality, reduces anxiety, and enhances deep sleep.
• Moderate physical exercise improves the electrical quality of deep sleep.
• A cool bedroom temperature promotes deep sleep.
• Excessive alcohol consumption, especially in the evening, fragments sleep, reduces deep sleep, and is associated with long-term chronic anxiety.
• Sleep improvement requires time and consideration but is not difficult to implement.
• Keeping the room cool is important for sleep, but taking a warm bath or shower before bed can improve deep non-REM sleep.

Suicidality & Sleep, Pattern Recognition; Nightmares (01:34:56)

• Sleep deprivation and disruption are associated with an increased risk of suicide, including ideation, attempts, and completion.
• Sleep abnormalities, such as inconsistent patterns and poor quality, can predict suicide risk.
• Suicidal thoughts and behaviors primarily occur between 1 a.m. and 4 a.m., coinciding with the lowest point of the circadian rhythm.
• Nightmares are a stronger predictor of suicide risk than other sleep disturbances, with individuals experiencing nightmares being 5 to 8 times more likely to engage in suicidal behavior.
• Dreams, especially nightmares, have emerged as a significant predictor of mental illnesses that can lead to rapid and tragic loss of life.

Depression, Anxiety & Time Context (01:46:21)

• Depression is associated with excessive sleep, but major depression is characterized by a lack of optimism about the future and waking up at 2 or 3 a.m. and not being able to fall back asleep.
• Depression and disrupted sleep have a bidirectional relationship, where depression can disrupt sleep and disrupted sleep can trigger depression.
• Anxiety is considered a disorder of the future, with constant worry about upcoming events, while depression is often associated with rumination about the past.
• Both abnormal prospection (worry of the future) and abnormal retrospection (ruminating on the past) can disrupt sleep.
• Depression involves a feeling of having lost something and being stuck in the present and focused on the past, while anxiety is more about the future disrupting the present.

Depression, Too Much Sleep?; REM Changes & Antidepressants (01:51:24)

• Depression disrupts sleep, leading to shorter sleep duration and decreased sleep quality.
• People with depression may spend more time in bed but not necessarily sleeping longer.
• Depression is associated with earlier emergence of REM sleep during the night.
• The earlier arrival of REM sleep in depression could be adaptive or maladaptive.
• Some antidepressants alter REM sleep, pushing it later or reducing its duration, which seems to alleviate depressive symptoms to some extent.
• The exact mechanisms underlying these effects are not yet fully understood.

Sleep Deprivation & Depression (01:57:37)

• Sleep deprivation has mixed effects on depression, with 30-55% of patients responding positively.
• Brain imaging studies have been conducted to identify predictors of response to sleep deprivation, but there is no clear understanding yet.
• The antidepressant benefit of sleep deprivation is not sustainable as it disappears once patients start sleeping again.
• Sleep deprivation increases emotional brain responsiveness to both negative and positive things.
• Depression involves anhedonia, the absence of positive emotional responses, rather than just negative mood.
• Sleep deprivation may alleviate depression by enhancing reward sensitivity in patients who are too far from the positive end of the spectrum.
• Healthy individuals who are sleep deprived become vulnerable to reward and sensation-seeking.
• The antidepressant benefit of sleep deprivation may be due to enhanced reward sensitivity, which is lost when sleep is restored.

Tool: Circadian Misalignment & Mental Health, Chronotype (02:01:34)

• Sleep is one of the least painful and cost-free options to stabilize mental health.
• Not all psychiatric conditions are sleep disorders, but getting enough sleep can help improve mental health.
• Circadian misalignment, not matching one's chronotype to their sleep-wake schedule, is strongly linked to depression.
• The Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ) can help individuals determine their chronotype.
• By understanding one's chronotype and making lifestyle adjustments to match it, individuals can improve their sleep and potentially alleviate symptoms of depression.

Tools: Daytime Light & Nighttime Darkness; “Junk Light” (02:04:05)

• Morning sunlight exposure has a near-linear relationship with reduced mental health challenges like depression and PTSD.
• Darkness at night, achieved by being in dim or dark light, reduces suicidal, depressive, anxiety, and PTSD symptoms.
• Sunlight exposure, even through cloud cover, is beneficial early in the day, while artificial light at night should be avoided.
• Sleep is crucial for emotional regulation and mental health, and its quality, regularity, and timing (QQRT) are important factors.
• The upcoming sixth installment of the series will explore dreams, including their meanings, dream interpretation, and lucid dreaming.

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• Dr. Matthew Walker is a guest on the podcast to discuss his research on sleep.
• Links to Dr. Walker's research, book, and social media handles can be found in the show notes.