Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams by Matthew Walker Published by Scribner on 3 October 2017
Genres: Nonfiction, Health, Personal Development, Psychology, Self-Help
Pages: 360
Format: eBook
Source: Kindle Store
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Neuroscientist and sleep expert Matthew Walker provides a revolutionary exploration of sleep, examining how it affects every aspect of our physical and mental well-being. Charting the most cutting-edge scientific breakthroughs, and marshalling his decades of research and clinical practice, Walker explains how we can harness sleep to improve learning, mood and energy levels, regulate hormones, prevent cancer, Alzheimer's and diabetes, slow the effects of aging, and increase longevity. He also provides actionable steps towards getting a better night's sleep every night.
My Review
This book was amazing. It feels cliché to say “life-changing”, but it wouldn’t be wrong. It was also horrifying. The book highlights the importance of sleep, but I never would’ve thought that it was that important. I’d dare say it’s more important for us than food or water, especially considering that you would be hard pressed to eat or drink if you weren’t rested enough to remember how to chew/swallow. Just losing an hour regularly is enough to wreak havoc on your immune system and set you up for Alzheimer’s even if it isn’t likely to run in your family.
I started reading the book in hopes of learning why I have, as the book has taught me the term of, sleep-maintenance insomnia and how to help with it. I walked away with more information about sleep than I ever thought possible, but very few ideas on how to actually tackle it outside of therapy. You will learn how to tackle normal sleep, but severe insomnia like I suffer from is another story.
I was impressed with the writing. You would think that a doctor would leave you with a dull book that would drone on and on with technical terms that would leave you looking up every third word in a dictionary. That wasn’t the case. The writing was informal, as far as doctor-speak goes, and easy to follow. Every technical term is defined naturally within a sentence or two.
I didn’t walk away with the answers to the questions I had, but I did walk away with a panic attack and a strong determination to focus on the sleep schedules of myself and my children to get us all sleeping better. It also helped me to see the importance of sleep for my children and made me all the more thankful that we homeschool, because I can work our school schedule around their need for rest. I’ve been focusing on my schedule in the week since finishing this and am already reaping the benefits.
Could you just read a summary and understand the book? Sure. Could you just follow the 12 steps for better sleep in the back and see improvement? Of course. However, I would recommend reading the whole book anyway. It’s such a fount of information, that you will really miss out if you skip it. It doesn’t drag, which makes it easy to read through despite it’s length and just about every public library has a copy you can borrow for free. It’s worth it, so go read it!s
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