Interview: Estée Lauder names Dr Matthew Walker as first Global Sleep Science Advisor

Estée Lauder has appointed Dr Matthew Walker PhD as the brand’s first-ever Global Sleep Science Advisor.

The move reinforces the company’s commitment to advancing its research into the link between sleep and skin health while tapping into the growing global sleep wellness movement.

A distinguished sleep scientist, renowned author and Professor of Neuroscience and Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, Dr Walker brings a wealth of expertise to Estée Lauder’s research and innovation efforts. He will provide the latest scientific insights to help deepen the brand’s understanding of how poor sleep impacts skin health.

Dr Walker will support both internal and external initiatives, including brand-led educational content, press engagements and industry events. His expertise will be instrumental in shaping Estée Lauder’s future skincare innovations, particularly in the night-care category, where sleep is a critical factor in skin renewal and repair.

As part of the collaboration, Estée Lauder has also become the exclusive beauty partner of Dr Walker’s newly launched Global Sleep Education Foundation. The foundation aims to combat the global sleep-loss epidemic by providing free educational programmes and funding breakthrough research in sleep science.

“My mission is to educate as many people as possible on the fundamental importance of sleep for our overall health,” said Dr Walker. “I’m thrilled to partner with Estée Lauder, a brand that is grounded in science, to educate their consumers around the world on the impact of sleep on mind, body and skin.”

“For more than 40 years, Estée Lauder has been pioneering research into night skin science, most recently focusing on the impact that poor sleep has on skin,” said Estée Lauder Senior Vice President, Global Innovation Development & Science Leadership Jennifer Palmer.

“By partnering with Dr Walker, a renowned global sleep expert, we are able to deepen this understanding to inform how we engage, educate and inspire our consumers.”

In this Q&A, Estée Lauder Global Sleep Science Advisor Dr Matthew Walker shares his insights on what defines good sleep, why it is vital for mental resilience, and how we can all improve our sleep hygiene for a healthier life.

How do you define good sleep?

There are four macros that define good sleep: Quantity, Quality, Regularity and Timing, or QQRT. Try and focus on these four macros for better sleep and better health.

• Quantity: This is defined as the number of hours you sleep. Adults typically need 7-9 hours per night to get enough deep and REM sleep. This ensures you wake up feeling refreshed. However, babies, teens and those recovering from illness may need more.
• Quality: How uninterrupted and restorative your sleep is. Fragmented sleep leads to poor sleep quality, often felt as daytime fatigue. Sleep trackers can help measure quality, with an efficiency score of 85% or higher being ideal. But over-monitoring can cause orthosomnia, or sleep anxiety. Check scores weekly, not daily, to reduce stress.
• Regularity: A consistent sleep schedule improves sleep by aligning your body’s internal clock. Aim for a fixed bedtime and wake time within a 30-minute window, even on weekends. Research shows that regular sleep reduces risk of heart disease, conditions such as obesity, and even overall mortality.
• Timing: Align your sleep with your chronotype, which is the natural inclination of your body to sleep at a certain time, or what most people understand as being an early bird versus a night owl, or somewhere in between. Sleeping out of sync with your natural rhythm results in lower-quality sleep, but balancing it with life’s demands is key.

Why is sleep important?

Sleep is the single most effective thing we can do to reset the health of our body and our brain. There doesn’t seem to be a major system within the body or operation of the mind that isn’t enhanced by sleep when we get it, or medically and psychologically impaired when we don’t.

A lack of sleep is strongly linked to poor health outcomes, including chronic illnesses such as diabetes, obesity, heart disease, hypertension, anxiety and more. Prioritising sleep is essential for maintaining physical health, emotional stability and cognitive function.

What is the link between sleep and mental wellness?

Many of us intuitively link sleep to our emotional health. Our research studies using brain imaging have revealed that without sleep, the emotional brain becomes hyperactive and irrational, swinging like a pendulum.

A key structure at the center of this phenomenon is the amygdala, the brain’s emotion-processing hub. When individuals are sleep-deprived, this region becomes over 60% more reactive, compared to a modest activation when well-rested. The reason lies in the prefrontal cortex (PFC), the brain’s ‘CEO’, which regulates emotional impulses. Sleep deprivation effectively takes the PFC offline, severing its connection to the amygdala. This disconnect leaves the emotional brain unregulated, like a gas pedal without a brake.

One of the remarkable benefits of sleep, particularly REM or dream sleep, is its role in providing emotional first aid. REM sleep helps take the painful sting out of difficult emotional experiences, allowing you to feel better about those events the next day.

In essence, dreaming functions as a form of overnight therapy, emphasising that it’s not just time that heals all wounds, but the time spent in dream sleep that offers emotional recovery. Importantly, it’s not only that you dream, but also what you dream about, that matters.

Individuals enduring traumatic experiences who dream about those events are more likely to find a resolution to their depression compared to those who dream without engaging with the events themselves. These findings underline the vital role of dreaming in shaping our waking lives.

Sleep, and dreaming in particular, appears to be an indispensable ingredient in our mental and emotional well-being. Research shows that after sleep, individuals rate emotional experiences as less intense, with decreased amygdala activity observed in brain scans. Notably, this calming effect isn’t just a function of time but specifically the restorative power of sleep. As E. Joseph Cossman said, “The best bridge between despair and hope is a good night’s sleep.”

How can we all get better sleep?

• The first tip is regularity: going to bed and waking up at the same time every day, including the weekend. Your brain has its own master 24-hour clock, the suprachiasmatic nucleus, which expects and thrives under regularity, including your sleep/wake schedule.
• Temperature: your brain and body need to drop their temperature for you to fall and stay asleep, so the ambient temperature must be cold.
• Darkness: we need darkness at night to trigger the release of melatonin.
• Walk it out – if it’s been around 25 minutes, and you can’t fall asleep, get out of bed, do something relaxing in another room, and come back to bed only when you’re sleepy.
• Try to stop drinking coffee after around noon and not drink alcohol frequently in the evenings.
• Try mindfulness meditation before bed, or a sleep story, or take yourself on a mental walk you know well i.e., try to get your mind off itself.
• Stay away from naps, especially after 1pm, which is a bit like snacking before your main meal; it’s just going to take the edge off your sleep appetite.
• Take a hot bath or hot shower before bed.