Why we sleep : unlocking the power of sleep and dreams

by Matthew P. Walker

Hardcover, 2017

Status

Available

Call number

QP 425. W44 2017

User reviews

LibraryThing member KateVane
If like me you’re a chronic insomniac, or if you’re the parent of a young child or a carer or a shift worker, you may initially be put off by the tone of Why We Sleep. The author’s premise is that we are, as a society and as individuals, joyfully squandering our sleep time with terrible
Show More
consequences – which he outlines, at length. Still, I gave the book a chance and there is some interesting stuff in here.

The health benefits of sleep for physical and mental health are so great that he suggests, not entirely frivolously, that the question should be not why do we sleep, but why do we wake up? We need NREM (non-rapid eye movement) sleep to file away everything we’ve learnt during the day, to process it and move it from short-term to long-term memory. This is why cramming the night before an exam won’t work, because it’s sleep that allows you to properly integrate and retain what you’ve learnt.

I found what he said about REM sleep (where we dream) most interesting. This is where we make odd connections, have creative thoughts, gain a fresh perspective. Anyone involved in any kind of artistic project will know that feeling. You hit what seems like an insoluble problem, you go to bed and wake up the next morning with a solution that is not just feasible but feels inevitable. This applies as much in daily life – we talk about ‘sleeping on’ a decision all the time.

He’s a big fan of siestas (as am I) and talks about the genesis of the term ‘power nap’ which came from research on the optimum time for airline pilots to rest. It was found that a short sleep at the beginning of a long period of sleep deprivation (eg during a long-haul flight) was the most effective. The FAA decided to institute this as policy but rejected the suggested terms ‘prophylactic napping’ or ‘planned napping’ (the second was considered too managerial, the first, well you can guess). The trouble with the term ‘power napping’ is that it is now colloquially used to suggest a macho alternative to sleep, rather than a short-term expedient when a full-night’s sleep isn’t possible.

The book covers the body clock and circadian rhythms and even sleep in other species. The author also shares exhaustive evidence on the dangers of sleep deprivation, both immediate – such as driving while tired – and long-term, through poor health outcomes.

My slight qualm about the book is that the author is so evangelical about his position. You are left thinking that all the world’s problems could be solved if only we all got a regular eight hours sleep. He cites lots of research backing up his case but a general reader has no context. It’s a bit like watching a courtroom drama and being totally convinced by the prosecution’s case but not getting to hear the defence.

If you do have problems sleeping you are likely to be so frightened by this book that it will keep you awake at night. When was this golden age when everybody got their eight hours? How can we make the comparison? Maybe in past centuries people spent more time in bed (what he calls sleep opportunity) but unless you were wealthy you probably shared a room with several family members (and possibly other fauna). How much quality sleep would you have got in a room where a baby was teething or siblings were fighting or mice were scuttling?

The bit I was really excited about getting to was the chapter on insomnia treatments but all the author offered (after much fanfare) was the old cognitive-behavioural chestnut, which among other things insists on no napping (despite his earlier waxing lyrical on the benefits) and, more seriously, no reading in bed.

There’s a lot in Why We Sleep and overall I found it an interesting and informative read, albeit one without a miracle cure at the end of it.
*
I received a copy of Why We Sleep from the publisher via Netgalley.
A longer version of this review first appeared on my blog katevane.com/blog
Show Less
LibraryThing member Widsith
Matthew Walker really, really thinks we all need some serious shut-eye, and he's not messing around when it comes to getting you on board – he hits you with both barrels on page one, and never lets up:

Routinely sleeping less than six or seven hours a night demolishes your immune system, more than
Show More
doubling your risk of cancer. Insufficient sleep is a key lifestyle factor determining whether or not you will develop Alzheimer's disease. Inadequate sleep—even moderate reductions for just one week—disrupts blood sugar levels so profoundly that you would be classified as pre-diabetic. Short sleeping increases the likelihood of your coronary arteries becoming blocked and brittle, setting you on a path to cardiovascular disease, stroke, and congestive heart failure […] sleep disruption further contributes to all major psychiatric conditions, including depression, anxiety, and suicidality.

And this is supposed to help me sleep better!? At least before, I just used to lie there going over the same three lines from ‘I Just Can't Wait to be King’; now, if I so much as drift into momentary consciousness at two a.m., I end up paralysed with alertness, calculating the gradually rising odds that my obese, cancer-ridden body will only cease to be a concern thanks to the merciful onset of my crippling dementia.

Eventually Walker just comes right out and admits that as far as the science is concerned, ‘wakefulness is low-level brain damage’, at which point you start to wonder how far he's really going to take this whole unconsciousness thing. But by then the damage is done. Your life is different. Come evening, when Hannah is pouring herself a glass of Sancerre and playing Gaga, I now appear in the doorway in my slippers, with a hot-water bottle clutched under one arm and a toothbrush jutting from my jaws. It may feel antisocial, but anything seems preferable to inviting the heart disease, obesity, cystitis, tennis elbow and plagues of locusts that Walker is otherwise promising.

A while back I got a Fitbit, which allows me to see in appalling detail just how much sleep I sometimes fail to get – the hypnograms, with their discrete stages of slumber, never quite stretching as far as you'd like them to. Thanks to this book, it's now possible to quantify exactly what I'm missing out on during such nights, as scientists have mapped more of the neurochemical processes involved than I ever realised: the deep, NREM sleep where memories are carefully transferred from short-term to long-term memory; then the ‘informational alchemy’ of REM-sleep dreaming, which sharpens creativity and conjures up solutions to our daytime problems.

The importance of sleep can be further appraised by its evolutionary heritage – it goes back about as far as life on earth. Walker finds that even ‘the very simplest form of unicellular organisms that survive for periods exceeding twenty-four hours, such as bacteria, have active and passive phases that correspond to the light-dark cycle of our planet’. Sleep is about the first thing natural selection locked in for us, and as far as we can tell every animal does it.

One always understood that sleep was a healthy thing, but somehow a full night of it is still often viewed as a luxury. On the evidence of this book, it's more like a medical necessity. Given working practices in many parts of the world, this is a big problem, and indeed part of Walker's mission is to explain that much of the developed world is suffering from a serious, chronic sleep deficit which is ultimately ‘a slow form of self-euthanasia’ – he is talking not just to individual sleepers, but to businesses and governments who have some responsibility to take what he says into account.

The difference between a four-star book and a five-star one is that while I might love both of them, I can keep a four-star book to myself, whereas a five-star book is one I can't shut up about to everyone around me. On that basis, despite its occasional infelicities, Why We Sleep makes the grade. It's passionate and clearly written, summarises a huge amount of research about which I knew little, and addresses a subject that obviously deserves the attention. It would take someone a lot more cynical than me to read this and not silently decide to make a few lifestyle changes – on which note, if you'll excuse me, I have some intensive, hi-octane pillow time to get to.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Amniot
This is a very important book and everyone should read it. I thought I knew a lot about sleep, but this book really brought home the importance of sufficient sleep (8 or more hours!) for physical and mental health. I learned that waking up briefly once or twice a night can be normal, that a quick
Show More
nap can be a good idea and doesn't interfere with sleep at night, and above all that anxiety, depression, anger, and memory problems often have their root in too little sleep. I have a new attitude toward sleep - it isn't taking me away from living life, it enhances life. Most of us don't even remember any more what it feels like to be be truly well rested day in and day out.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Katyefk
Excellent book. Very informative and useful. I have changed so many of my sleep habits and environment and I am sleeping and feeling so much better. Just changing lowering the temperature in the room has made a huge difference. Sleep deprivation is at epidemic proportions in our world and so many
Show More
activities and decisions are being done and made from this place that it is truly scary for all of us. Matthew Walker has made a huge contribution in increasing the quality of all of our lives by helping us all learn how important a "good night's sleep" is. I would highly recommend this book for parents, teachers, students and book clubs to encourage discussions and support us all in valuing and obtaining enough sleep. (Which numerous studies show is about 8.5 hours per night or we severely compromise our immune systems over time.)
Show Less
LibraryThing member john257hopper
Interesting and thought provoking, though often rather dense, book about the importance of sleep to almost all aspects of physical and mental health and wellbeing. The average number of hours of nightly sleep people get in western industrialised societies has declined markedly over the last century
Show More
or so. The author is a renowned sleep scientist and this is quite a science-heavy book, with many reports of clinical trials and other research. There are interesting facts about the relative importance of both non-REM (deep) sleep and REM (dreaming) sleep at different stages of life, and how both are vital to cognitive development and health in different ways. The author rues the fact that sleep is not given the same prominence in public health messaging and funding as drink or drugs, when, for example, accidents caused by drowsy drivers are more frequent than those caused by drunk drivers. He makes an excellent case, though I do slightly feel that he interprets every problem through the medium of sleep, in the same way that other writers see every problem as stemming from poor nutrition and/or lack of exercise. As a frequent poor sleeper myself, though, this was a useful read, with a summary of 12 very useful tips at the back of the book. Well worth a look, though most readers will probably not want to wade through all the detail.
Show Less
LibraryThing member emanate28
This was an eye-opening book about how sleep, giving an overview of the scientific evidence on why our bodies need sleep. That chronic sleep deprivation could do as much--if not more--harm than smoking over our lifespans was terrifying...and that 6 hours a night qualified as chronic sleep
Show More
deprivation was enough to make me try to go to bed early from now on.

My only 'complaint' was that it didn't address at all the chronic sleep deprivation of parents, especially of mothers with babies. And it didn't discuss at all if there are any differential effects for women vs men. Perhaps there isn't enough evidence to report, but still.

Nonetheless, it was an incredibly instructive (and terrifying!) book. Highly recommended.
Show Less
LibraryThing member tgraettinger
Lots of good content. I think the author strayed a bit when he started speaking outside his area of research (esp. with respect to diet). Worth reading, but the key points are arranged nicely in the appendix on "12 tips for a better night's sleep". I suspect anyone picking up this book could start
Show More
there and read the remainder as needed or interested.
Show Less
LibraryThing member annasazi
Honestly I recommend this book to everyone. Vitally interesting about all the way sleep (NREM and REM) contributes to our overall health, and the ways we start to decline when we don't get enough sleep. Interesting detail about the mechanics of dreaming, too.
LibraryThing member Kathl33n
I'm just a girl who is always looking to see why she doesn't sleep and I didn't find it here. But, what I did find was a wealth of truly remarkable and amazing facts about sleep. Seriously. It's a fascinating read.
LibraryThing member Mark_Tullius
A great book that completely changed the way I think about sleeping. The changes I've implemented for myself and my family have definitely improved our overall well-being. Definitely recommend everyone check it out, especially parents.
LibraryThing member FormerEnglishTeacher
The book isn’t a cursory, casual examination of sleep. It’s a scientific book, written by a respected research scientist in the area of all things sleep. There is lots of scientific evidence supporting Walker’s conclusions about our need for sleep and the dangers of sleep deprivation. Walker
Show More
also says much about the dangers of sleep medication, even so called “safe” medications that are readily prescribed by doctors every day. My only disappointment in the book is its short shrift of the most common sleep disorder, sleep apnea. There are half a dozen references in the index on the subject, but none have much depth and don’t mention CPAP therapy, something of interest to millions of people who might want to read this book.
Show Less
LibraryThing member OccassionalRead
I recently visited a doctor for a back issue who noticed me reading Why We Sleep and told me what an important book it is. And I don't disagree, though the title could just as well have been Everything You Need to Know About Sleep But Were Afraid To Ask. And I mean afraid literally, because Walker
Show More
goes into painstaking detail about why our bodies need sleep and how lack of a good night of it (at least 7 hours) causes chronic harm to body and mind, contributes to a multitude of physical and mental illnesses, and shortens one's lifespan. For many of us this can be a rude awakening (pun intended). Walker supports his arguments with massive amounts of scientific research. He himself is a sleep scientist. Walker's book, like Arianna Huffington's, may help those who have been putting sleep off in favor of other activities (work, staying out late with friends, watching TV, etc.) to reconsider their lifestyle choices. For those others who suffer from a clinical sleep problem (insomnia, sleep apnea, or another condition) the book does offer some helpful advice about good sleep hygiene, however learning about fatal familial insomnia (a rare genetic mutation that prevents sleep and kills a person within months) can only increase insomnia related stress, even if you realize you don't carry this unfortunate gene. For those who can't sleep, rather than those who choose not to sleep, this book does the sensible and responsible thing, counseling readers to seek care from qualified sleep specialists. Walker's brave calls for public policy interventions and broad societal changes range from pragmatic and sensible suggestions to wildly optimistic changes that are unlikely to come about. But give him credit for thinking big.
Show Less
LibraryThing member malexmave
A highly relevant and interesting book about the science of sleep, and it is actually written by a real sleep scientist with 20 years experience in the field, who explains how the studies he mentions were conducted. So, I would strongly recommend this book for two reasons: First and most
Show More
importantly, it is just generally good to know what you are doing to your body when you are depriving it of sleep (and how much sleep you actually need). And second, because you'll also get a taste for how this kind of research works, which can be interesting in its own right, if you are into this sort of thing.

Read this book. It's probably the most important non-fiction book I have read in quite a while, and it has changed how I approach sleep.
Show Less
LibraryThing member sriram_shankar
This is one of those books that alters some 'core' beliefs you may have held. There is no more pervasive 'core' belief we hold than the 'needlessness' of sleep. Through various studies, this book goes to demolish every single one of those beliefs. I am a convert as a result of having read this
Show More
book. No longer do I berate myself for having slept more than 8 hours. I now actively encourage everyone to sleep for as long as they want. Very timely, very informative book.
Show Less
LibraryThing member KamGeb
Fascinating science based book on sleep and what science knows about sleep. It was fascinating.
LibraryThing member PDCRead
Some are getting too much, most aren't getting enough. No, I don't mean that; what I am talking about is sleep. There are people out there who seem to be able to exist on almost no sleep, people who are in the office at stupid o'clock in the morning and who are still up way after midnight. While
Show More
scientists knew that we needed food and water and could explain why, no one could adequately explain why we slept, what purpose it served.

It is only recently though that scientists have been able to understand through decades of cutting-edge research just how key sleep is to our health and well-being. In essence, sleep is an essential element to our well being and health and in this book, Professor Matthew Walker sets out just how important it is and how most common diseases in the modern western world have roots deep within our lack of sleep. In this he will explain just what the different sleep types are and how they help us think over deeper and long-term issues, the effects of stimulants on our sleep and why do most teenagers drive like they are missing part of their brain? Because they are… It takes deep sleep and developmental time to accomplish the neural maturation that plugs this brain 'gap' in the frontal lobe. There is a fascinating demonstration on how lack of sleep can affect how we perform; he shows that sleep deprivation can have an equivalent effect to alcohol when driving.

Walker recommends that we need around eight hours each night; I normally only have about six hours sleep a night, heading to bed around midnight and being startled into life as the alarm screams at 6.15. Reading this has made me think about the best way to increase that given the potential health benefits of sleep. Did like the fact that a sleep graph is called a hypnogram. Generally, it is very well written too, he takes time to explain in a clear manner the points that he is making but occasionally it drifts towards more academic prose. If you have trouble sleeping or are just fascinated by the way the body works then you should read this.
Show Less
LibraryThing member gbelik
Lots of interesting information here, and presented quite convincingly. I must admit, I am going to try to be a more regular sleeper after reading this.
LibraryThing member starkravingmad
Technical, but very approachable read on exactly what the titles says - why we sleep. very informative.
LibraryThing member wester
The author has a very clear message: we all need to sleep enough, every night, for a myriad of reasons, and we don't. Solidly backed by science and very convincing.

There are a few places where he gets speculative and there I don't find him as convincing. I also would have liked more information on
Show More
what to do if you have a real sleep problem. Another reviewer mentioned sleep apneu, which indeed was hardly covered, and personally I would have liked some information about the pros and cons of taking melatonin.

But these are small details. It has actually made me decrease my intake of coffee, and I stopped feeling bad about making sure I get the sleep I need. Highly recommended.
Show Less
LibraryThing member nmarun
The ill-effects of not getting enough sleep is proficiently explained in this book, describing psychological, physiological and behavioral impact. It talks about science of feeling sleep, roles played by Melatonin and Adenosine, and the science of sleep itself - roles played by NREM and REM
Show More
sleep.

Countering my previous beliefs that my parents don't need enough sleep, the book argues people need as much sleep through their life and then clarifies why they are unable to sleep throughout the night.

My son is nearing being an adolescent teenager and I'll be mindful of him wanting sleep late and wake up late; he's already showing symptoms!

Majority of the activities of our daily life start early in the day. This is being indifferent and insensitive to those night-owls and gives an edge to the morning larks. I prefer being a morning lark myself, but the author has taught me to be sympathetic towards people of the 'other' chronotype.

How caffeine masks sleepiness, how alcohol sedates, how flying west is easier on our circadian rhythm than flying east, how insomnia is different from sleep deprivation and finally how you can work towards a full night of sleep and wake up to a refreshing morning are things you'll know reading this book.
Show Less
LibraryThing member dmturner
You should read this book. The unusual combination of clearly-written and well-sourced, the book addresses from a research perspective what sleep is, how it works, why it’s good for us, and how lack of sleep is bad for us.
LibraryThing member brianinbuffalo
This informative and engaging book is oozing with “news-you-can-use.” Every chapter of “Why We Sleep” includes information that can be directly applied to our lives. True, this professor or neuroscience and psychology gets quite technical in spots. But Walker has knack for making the
Show More
material understandable and interesting. The journalist in me wonders if some judicious editing could have trimmed this tome by perhaps 20% while still adequately covering all themes. Also, some of Walker’s conclusions and research methods have faced criticism by other experts. But this book is a best-seller for good reason. It skillfully explores a key activity in our lives that many of us are inclined to ignore. The book’s structure is excellent. It is penned in four distinct parts that Walker says can be consumed “buffet-style” in no particular order. It examines some “mysteries,” including how some of us can gauge time with remarkable precision as we sleep. Some of the key takeaways for me were revelatory. Other points reinforced what I already knew. Among the topics explored:
--Insomnia is one of the most prevalent and pressing medical conditions in society.
-- If you get behind the wheel of a car and had four hours or less sleep the night before, there is an 11.5 times greater chance you will get involved in a crash.
-- REM-sleep dreaming can take “the difficult sting out of difficult, even traumatic emotional episodes…offering emotional resolution.” REM sleep also recalibrates our brains in ways that allow us to better read the social world around us and improve our memory.
-- Sleep can spur creativity. Walker notes that REM sleep has resulted in “some of the most transformative ideas in history.” Just ask the man who developed the periodic table of elements after being inspired by a dream. Thomas Edison used to take “genius naps ” for this very reason. Paul McCartney plotted the song “Yesterday” while sleeping. The opening riff to the Rolling Stones “Satisfaction” was inspired by a dream.
-- Why early-start times in our schools are making it nearly impossible for many children to effectively learn.
The author ends by presenting some solutions to society’s sleep deprivation epidemic. He suggests workplace changes that emphasize sound sleeping practices, strategies to improve sleeping conditions in hospitals and public awareness campaigns that promote better sleeping practices. He also offers practical tips for promoting sleep health. In conclusion, this is a book that every person should read.
Show Less
LibraryThing member jmoncton
Why We Sleep is a fascinating and compelling book about the science of sleep. Like most Americans, I am sleep deprived. But (also, like many Americans), before I read this book, I would have said that I don't need more sleep. I'm genetically designed to get by on 6 hours a night or less. After
Show More
reading this book, my guess is that I'm just like everyone else and many aspects of my life would be significantly better if I got more sleep. From better memory retention to weight loss to higher integrity in the workplace, sleep, according to Dr. Walker, is a necessary component. There is a little bit of preaching in this book, but it is probably one of the books I read this year that will have an impact on my life. Definitely going to work on getting a better night's sleep!
Show Less
LibraryThing member detailmuse
What an engaging exploration into the purpose of sleep! It’s written by a professor of neuroscience and psychology, so while some of the substantiation is biological, more of it is via behavioral and imaging studies.

Nature wouldn’t waste an enormous proportion of humans’ (indeed, all
Show More
creatures’) daily consciousness to sleep -- and in the process put them at enormous vulnerability to predation -- unless there was enormous benefit. This book goes broad and deep into those physical and psychological benefits and the corresponding risks (physical and mental health problems and early death) associated with not getting enough sleep. (And the author shows that we’re terrible judges of whether we’re getting enough.)

He notes the differing needs, timing and composition of sleep in infants, children, teens, adults and seniors. He describes the hormones/chemicals that promote wakefulness or sleep, including how we hinder their effects, and stresses that alcohol and sleep meds sedate the brain, which is not sleep. Among other physical aspects, sleep regulates immunity (including the destruction of early cancers and mounting an adequate response to immunization) and metabolism (including appetite and cardiovascular health).

But it is the psychological effects that fascinated me. Early in the sleep period (I’ll call it “night”), the sleep cycles are composed predominately of non-REM (NREM) sleep, while later in the night they reverse to predominately REM sleep. NREM sleep serves to move what’s learned/experienced during the day into long-term storage; REM sleep integrates that new material with everything that’s already there; and dreaming (during REM sleep) serves to process emotions and enable creativity (thus truth in the adages to “sleep on it” and that “things will look better in the morning”). A key factor is that the brain does this work each night for the prior waking period, and when it’s impaired by poor sleep or a short sleep, there’s really no make-up opportunity.

Life-changing for me and recommended for everyone.
Show Less
LibraryThing member rottweilersmile
too hyperbolic at times but still pretty darn true. we have taken sleep much less seriously in the 21st century, and that's a big problem

Publication

New York : Scribner, 2017.

Description

"The first sleep book by a leading scientific expert--Professor Matthew Walker, Director of UC Berkeley's Sleep and Neuroimaging Lab--reveals his groundbreaking exploration of sleep, explaining how we can harness its transformative power to change our lives for the better. Sleep is one of the most important but least understood aspects of our life, wellness, and longevity. Until very recently, science had no answer to the question of why we sleep, or what good it served, or why we suffer such devastating health consequences when we don't sleep. Compared to the other basic drives in life--eating, drinking, and reproducing--the purpose of sleep remained elusive. An explosion of scientific discoveries in the last twenty years has shed new light on this fundamental aspect of our lives. Now, preeminent neuroscientist and sleep expert Matthew Walker gives us a new understanding of the vital importance of sleep and dreaming. Within the brain, sleep enriches our ability to learn, memorize, and make logical decisions. It recalibrates our emotions, restocks our immune system, fine-tunes our metabolism, and regulates our appetite. Dreaming mollifies painful memories and creates a virtual reality space in which the brain melds past and present knowledge to inspire creativity. Walker answers important questions about sleep: how do caffeine and alcohol affect sleep? What really happens during REM sleep? Why do our sleep patterns change across a lifetime? How do common sleep aids affect us and can they do long-term damage? Charting cutting-edge scientific breakthroughs, and synthesizing 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; increase longevity; enhance the education and lifespan of our children, and boost the efficiency, success, and productivity of our businesses. Clear-eyed, fascinating, and accessible, Why We Sleep is a crucial and illuminating book"--… (more)

Awards

LA Times Book Prize (Finalist — Science & Technology — 2017)

Original publication date

2017

Physical description

viii, 360 p.; 23 cm
Page: 2.8496 seconds