Sleep scientist Matthew Walker is on a mission, both to eliminate our blasé attitudes to sleep and to open up our minds to its mystery. In a very real sense, the wake-up call we actually need.
Waterstones Non-Fiction Book of the Month for January 2018
Sleep is one of the most important aspects of our life, health and longevity and yet it is increasingly neglected in twenty-first-century society, with devastating consequences: every major disease in the developed world - Alzheimer's, cancer, obesity, diabetes - has very strong causal links to deficient sleep.
Until very recently, science had no answer to the question of why we sleep, or what good it served, or why its absence is so damaging to our health. Compared to the other basic drives in life - eating, drinking, and reproducing - the purpose of sleep remained elusive.
Now, in this book, the first of its kind written by a scientific expert, Professor Matthew Walker explores twenty years of cutting-edge research to solve the mystery of why sleep matters.
Looking at creatures from across the animal kingdom as well as major human studies, Why We Sleep delves in to everything from what really happens during REM sleep to how caffeine and alcohol affect sleep and why our sleep patterns change across a lifetime, transforming our appreciation of the extraordinary phenomenon that safeguards our existence.
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
ISBN: 9780141983769
Number of pages: 368
Weight: 268 g
Dimensions: 197 x 127 x 21 mm
A neuroscientist shows how a good night's shut-eye can make us cleverer, more attractive, slimmer, happier, healthier and ward off cancer . . . it's probably a little too soon to tell you that it saved my life, but it's been an eye-opener - Mark O'Connell, Guardian
Passionate, urgent . . . it had a powerful effect on me - Rachel Cooke, Observer
An important and fascinating book - Bill Gates
Compelling and utterly convincing . . . you'll never think of your bedtime in the same way again - James McConnachie, Sunday Times
A stimulating and important book . . . richly packed with science - Clive Cookson, Financial Times
Uplifting . . . Walker is in love with sleep and wants us to fall in love with sleep, too - David Kamp, New York Times
Matthew Walker is probably one of the most influential people on the planet - Katie Law, Evening Standard
Astonishing . . . an amazing book . . . absolutely chocker full of things that we need to know - Chris Evans
Amazing . . . I'm obsessed with this book - Thom Yorke
Very readable book explaining the reasons why we find it hard to sleep and why we need to.
Very unformative and readable book. Scary about the consequences that sleep of insufficient quality and/or quantity can have, many of which were news to me.
Completely superb. Life changing. Read it.
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