The Checkup with Doctor Mike

Professor Matthew Walker is a Professor of Neuroscience and Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, USA. He is also the founder and director of the Center for Human Sleep Science. If you've got sleep questions, he's your guy. We talked about chronotypes, or the category of sleeper you may fall into. It turns out, whether you're an early riser or a night owl might not actually be your "fault", and in fact it may have been something you were born with. Don't forget to leave a 5 star review with a medical question in the body of it and I'll try to answer it in a future episode!Buy Professor Walker's book, "Why We Sleep" here: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Why-We-Sleep/Matthew-Walker/9781501144325Follow Professor Walker here:Podcast: https://themattwalkerpodcast.buzzsprout.com/Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/sleepdiplomatInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/drmattwalker/Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sleepdiplomat/Why We Sleep: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1501144316Executive Producer and Host: Dr. Mike VarshavskiProduced by Dan Owens and Sam BowersArt by Caroline WeigumCONTACT: [email protected]

Buy Steve-O's book here: https://www.hachettebooks.com/titles/stephen-steve-o-glover/a-hard-kick-in-the-nuts/9780306826771/Steve-O is an icon. Everyone knows him as one of the faces of Jackass, but what most people don't know is that Steve-O is more than just a stunt man known for falling down stairs in a bellhop cart or lighting himself on fire. In this two-hour interview, I feel like I really spoke to the actual human being, Stephen Glover, and not the extreme stunt-man from MTV. We dove into the obvious stuff I know you want to hear, such as old Jackass stories, his most painful injuries, and how his body is holding up. Beyond that though, we dove into some really deep subjects, such as his struggles with growing up as a "rich kid", Buddhism, and the profound lessons he's learned through a multi-decade life of getting paid to injure yourself. Steve-O is addicted to attention, and I was glad to give him some!Executive Producer and Host: Dr. Mike VarshavskiProduced by Dan Owens and Sam BowersArt by Caroline WeigumCONTACT: [email protected]

Buy Kal's book here: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/You-Cant-Be-Serious/Kal-Penn/9781982171391Kal Penn has one of the strangest resumes in Hollywood. You most likely remember Kal as half of the stoner comedy duo “Harold and Kumar”, or if you’ve watched a lot of medical dramas like I have you may have enjoyed his 2 season arc on House MD where he lit a patient on fire instead of doing chest compressions. But if your name is “Barack Obama” (hey Prez, check your DMs, come on the show?) you may instead remember Kal as a full time staff member at the White House. Huh? President Obama hired the White Castle guy, after he was already famous? That’s right. Your tax dollars paid his salary for years as a full time staff member of the White House Office of Public Engagement. Turns out the roller coaster ride of Kal’s life didn’t end with him sitting at the movie premiere for Van Wilder, next to his strict Indian immigrant parents, watching his oiled body slide off a naked woman while playing a character literally named “Taj Mahal” (yikes). In Kal’s new book, You Can’t Be Serious, he not only details some of the stunning racism he’s faced throughout his 20+ years in Hollywood, but also stories of those late nights in Washington DC working alongside President Obama navigating some of America’s most highly controversial political issues, such as the hurdles they had to clear to remove the army’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, which barred openly queer people from serving in the armed forces. I asked Kal about all of these big picture stories, as well as some smaller ones, like how it’s possible he walks around every day with a tattoo on his left arm that has a typo.Executive Producer and Host: Dr. Mike VarshavskiProduced by Dan Owens and Sam BowersArt by Caroline WeigumCONTACT: [email protected]