Why We Sleep

Sleep is the most underrated mental-health intervention. Almost every condition we work with — depression, anxiety, ADHD, trauma, even relationship conflict — gets worse with sleep deprivation and better with sleep restoration. And almost every client knows this and doesn't do it.

Matthew Walker is a sleep scientist at UC Berkeley. *Why We Sleep* is his case for taking sleep seriously, built on forty years of research. The chapters on what happens to the brain during different sleep stages, why dreams aren't optional, and how chronic sleep restriction shapes long-term health are persuasive enough that many clients actually change their behaviour after reading it.

A few of Walker's specific claims have been challenged by other researchers — we mention this — but the core message holds up and the book has shifted more behaviour in our clients than almost any other recommendation.