Matthew Walker
Matthew P. Walker is a professor of neuroscience and psychology at the University of California, Berkeley , where he founded and directs the Center for Human Sleep Science; he is set to join the University of Texas at Dallas in January 2026 as a professor of neuroscience and biomedical engineering and inaugural director of the Sleep Innovation Laboratories. His research focuses on the critical role of sleep in human brain function, cognition , emotion , and disease prevention, with studies linking sleep deprivation to increased risks of Alzheimer's disease , anxiety disorders, impaired memory consolidation , and altered social behaviors. Walker has authored over 100 peer-reviewed scientific publications, contributing foundational insights into how sleep influences health across populations.
Walker gained widespread recognition as the author of the 2017 international bestseller Why We Sleep : Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams , which synthesizes decades of sleep research to explain its essential benefits and the consequences of its loss, selling millions of copies and being translated into over 30 languages. He has also popularized sleep science through public outreach, including a TED Talk titled "Sleep is Your Superpower" that has amassed over 25 million views, as well as appearances on programs like CBS's 60 Minutes , NPR , and BBC .
For his contributions, Walker has received major funding from the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health , and was named a Kavli Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences in recognition of his neuroscience advancements. In 2020, he was awarded the Carl Sagan Prize for Science Achievements by Wonderfest for bridging rigorous research with public communication on sleep's vital importance.
Matthew Walker was born in 1973 in Liverpool , England . He was delivered at Alder Hey Children's Hospital and grew up in the Gateacre suburb of the city, later moving with his family to nearby Childwall . Liverpool served as the backdrop for his formative years, with strong family connections remaining there to this day, reinforcing his sense of the city as home.
From an early age, Walker showed a profound curiosity about the brain , particularly its ability to shift between different states of consciousness , such as those experienced under anesthesia or hypnotism. This interest in the mechanisms underlying mental transitions and brain function shaped his early inclinations toward scientific inquiry into neuroscience . He channeled this passion into formal studies at the University of Nottingham .
Matthew Walker earned a Bachelor of Science degree in neuroscience from the University of Nottingham in 1996. This undergraduate program provided him with foundational knowledge in brain function and neural processes, sparking his interest in the mechanisms underlying cognitive and physiological phenomena.
He subsequently pursued graduate studies at Newcastle University , where he obtained his PhD in neurophysiology in 1999. His doctoral research was conducted at the Medical Research Council ( MRC ) Neurochemical Pathology Unit in Newcastle General Hospital and funded by the MRC . His PhD thesis, titled "A psychophysiological investigation into fluctuating levels of consciousness in neurodegenerative dementia ," examined neural mechanisms related to consciousness fluctuations in dementia . This work contributed early insights into neural activity in neurological disorders.
Following his PhD in neurophysiology from the Medical Research Council in London in 1999, Matthew Walker joined Harvard Medical School as a postdoctoral fellow focused on sleep research. This fellowship allowed him to build expertise in the neural mechanisms of sleep , bridging his doctoral work in visual neurophysiology with emerging studies on sleep's cognitive impacts.
