Matthew Walker
University of California, Berkeley
Matthew Walker, PhD, is a professor of neuroscience and psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, and the Director of the Center for Human Sleep Science. He previously served as a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. His published research investigates the impact of sleep on human health and disease, focusing on neural slow-wave dynamics and their relationships to conditions such as Alzheimer's disease, epilepsy, anxiety, and prosocial behavior.
102 claims checked on air: 13 context 5 contradicted 18 overstated 61 supported 5 unverified 23 flagged
What they said on air - unverified
Loneliness alters gene expression to shift immunological defenses from viral defense to bacterial defense.
"how could that change the expression of your genes and even alter how you, the organism, fend for yourself from an immunological perspective, shifting you from viral to bacterial defense?" (said at 0:30:23)
No published record matching the claim that loneliness alters gene expression to shift immunological defenses from viral defense to bacterial defense was located; this does not prove the claim false.
The amount of deep non-REM delta slow-wave sleep predicts the magnitude of overnight reduction in systolic blood pressure, while a higher delta-beta brainwave ratio predicts poorer cardiovascular recovery.
"What we've discovered, firstly, is that the amount of deep sleep that you have measured in these big delta slow waves during deep non-REM sleep, that predicts how much of a drop in your systolic systolic blood pressure you will have in the morning relative to the evening... If you have a ratio of very little deep brainwave activity and a lot of high-frequency, wake-like brain activity that we call a delta-beta ratio, that predicts very bad cardiovascular outcomes" (said at 1:43:15)
No published record matching the specific claim that delta slow-wave sleep or a specific delta-beta EEG power ratio predicts morning-versus-evening systolic blood pressure dipping or cardiovascular recovery metrics was located; this does not prove the claim false.
Approximately 30% of the human population are morning chronotypes, 40% intermediate, and 30% evening chronotypes.
"About 30% of the population is an extreme morning type or a morning type, about sort of 40% is sort of neither strongly morning or evening, and about the remaining 30% is an evening type." (said at 1:45:00)
No published record matching the claim that approximately 30% of the population are morning chronotypes, 40% intermediate, and 30% evening chronotypes was located; this does not prove the claim false.
When given unrestricted food choices, underslept individuals disproportionately increase their intake of starchy carbohydrates and sugary foods.
"what you find is that you eat more of all of the food groups, but you eat mostly in terms of an increase the stodgy, heavy-hitting carbohydrates as well as the sugary foods." (said at 3:32:49)
No published record matching the specific claim that sleep-deprived individuals disproportionately increase their intake of starchy carbohydrates and sugary foods when given unrestricted food choices was located; this does not prove the claim false.
Ambien generated $4 billion in profit in less than 20 months.
"It took Ambien less than 20 months to amass 4 billion in profit." (said at 3:50:40)
No published record matching the claim that Ambien generated $4 billion in profit in less than 20 months was located; this does not prove the claim false.
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