Shadowing Practice: 4 Tips for Better Sleep | Expert Matthew Walker | Google Zeitgeist 2019 - Learn English Speaking with Video

Choose a practice mode

Each mode opens a full-screen practice room.

31 sentences

If sentences are too short or too long, click Edit to adjust them.

There is simply no aspect of your wellness that can retreat at the sign of sleep deprivation and get away unscathed.

It's almost like a broken water pipe in your home.

Sleep loss will leap down into every nook and cranny of your physiology.

Even tampering with the very DNA nucleic alphabet that spells out your daily health narrative.

And at this point, you may be thinking, "Oh, my goodness, OK, I get it.

What can I do to start improving my sleep?

What are your tips for better sleep?" Well, beyond avoiding the damaging and harmful impact of alcohol and caffeine on your sleep at night,

and if you're struggling with sleep at night, avoiding naps during the day, I have two additional pieces of advice.

The first is regularity.

Go to bed at the same time, wake up at the same time, no matter whether it's the weekday or the weekend.

Regularity is king, and it will anchor your sleep and improve the quantity and the quality of that sleep.

The second is keep it cool.

Your body needs to drop its core temperature by about two to three degrees Fahrenheit to fall asleep

and then to stay asleep.

And it's the reason you will always find it easier to fall asleep in a room that's too cold than too hot.

Because too cold is taking you in the right temperature direction for good sleep.

So aim for a bedroom temperature of around 67 or 68 degrees.

It sounds cold, but it seems to be optimal for the sleep of most people.

And finally then, in sort of taking a step back, what's the mission critical statement here?

Well, I think it would be this: Sleep, unfortunately, is not an optional lifestyle luxury.

Sleep is a non -negotiable biological necessity.

It is your life support system.

and it is Mother Nature's best effort yet at immortality.

And the decimation of sleep throughout industrialized nations is having a catastrophic impact on our health,

our wellness, our productivity, even the safety and the education of our children.

It is a silent sleep loss epidemic, and it is fast becoming one of the greatest public health challenges that we face in the 21st century.

I believe it is now time for us to reclaim our right to a full night of sleep. and without embarrassment.

or that unfortunate stigma of laziness,

And in doing so, we can be reunited with the most powerful elixir of life,

the Swiss army knife of health, as it were.

you

Download App

Everything you need to speak fluently

AI PronunciationScore every sentence

IPA PracticeMaster every sound

VocabularyBuild your word bank

Vocab GameLearn while playing

Scan QR

Download on theApp Store Get it onGoogle Play

Same Channel

"Where are we not telling the truth?" | Jon Lovett | Google Zeitgeist

Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults

FOR YOU

Recommend Video

190 sentences

Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “4 Tips for Better Sleep”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: sleep, asleep, temperature, cold. This video has 31 sentences and 423 words to shadow. The speech runs for 3:00. The speaker talks at a steady 141 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 83% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.

Key vocabulary in this video

The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
regularity noun	/ˌɹɛɡjuˈlæɹəti/	The condition or quality of being regular
wellness noun	/ˈwɛl.nɪs/	The quality or state of being in good health (sometimes emphasizing both health and safety); mental and physical soundness.
cranny noun	/ˈkɹæni/	A small, narrow opening, fissure, crevice, or chink, as in a wall, or other substance.
decimation noun	/ˌdɛsɪˈmeɪʃən/	The killing or punishment of every tenth person, usually by lot.
deprivation noun	/ˌdɛp.ɹɪˈveɪʃən/	The act of depriving, dispossessing, or bereaving.
elixir noun	/ɪˈlɪksə(ɹ)/	A liquid which converts lead to gold.
immortality noun	/ˌɪmɔːɹˈtæləti/	Never dying
industrialize verb	/ɪnˈdʌstɹiəlaɪz/	To develop industry; to become industrial.
laziness noun	/ˈleɪ.zi.nəs/	The quality of being lazy
negotiable adjective	/nɪˈɡoʊʃəbəl/	Able to be traversed; navigable.
nucleic adjective		Referring to the nucleus of something.
reclaim verb	/ɹɪˈkleɪm/	To return land to a suitable condition for use.
reunite verb	/ˌɹiːjuːˈnaɪt/	To unite again.
tamper verb	/ˈtæm.pə(ɹ)/	To make unauthorized or improper alterations, sometimes causing deliberate damage; to meddle (with something).
unscathed adjective	/ʌnˈskeɪðd/	Not harmed or damaged in any way; untouched.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
get away verb		To move away (from).
spell out verb		To form (a word) from letters; say the letters in a word.
step back verb	/stɛp ˈbæk/	To stop what one is doing and evaluate the current situation.

Pronunciation to watch

The “sh” and “zh” sounds: decimation /ˌdɛsɪˈmeɪʃən/, deprivation /ˌdɛp.ɹɪˈveɪʃən/, negotiable /nɪˈɡoʊʃəbəl/, optional /ˈɑp.ʃə.nəl/
Long words — get the stress right: regularity /ˌɹɛɡjuˈlæɹəti/, decimation /ˌdɛsɪˈmeɪʃən/, deprivation /ˌdɛp.ɹɪˈveɪʃən/, immortality /ˌɪmɔːɹˈtæləti/, industrialize /ɪnˈdʌstɹiəlaɪz/

How to practise with this video

Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like regularity, wellness, cranny.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

Shadowing Practice: 4 Tips for Better Sleep | Expert Matthew Walker | Google Zeitgeist 2019 - Learn English Speaking with Video

Choose a practice mode

Download App

"Where are we not telling the truth?" | Jon Lovett | Google Zeitgeist

Why You're Always Tired (and how to fix it)

6 Habits To Transform Your Life | The Tommy Podcast | Episode 13

What If You Never Slept?

Your Insomnia Is Not What You Think

A Good Night's Sleep | World Health Day | practice English with Spotlight

The Longevity Toolkit: Peter Attia’s 5 Tactics to Improve Longevity

Sleep Expert Answers Questions From Twitter 💤 | Tech Support | WIRED

How To Wake Up Better

Doctor Explains: How I Fixed My Terrible Sleep (with science)

Shadowing Topic II

8 Simple Hacks to Improve Your Health

SEtalk: Sleep Is Not a Waste of Time