Detailed item info | Size | | Length: | 524 pages | | Height: | 9.5 in. | | Width: | 6.5 in. | | Thickness: | 1.8 in. | | Weight: | 31.2 oz. |
| | Publisher's Note | Healthy sleep has been empirically proven to be the single most important determinant in predicting longevity, more influential than diet, exercise, or heredity, but our modern culture has become a virtual study in sleep deprivation. A world without darkness wreaks havoc on our body clocks. Sleep is sacrificed to meet the demands of our endless days. Doctors regard sleep deprivation as a fact of life and do little to promote sleep health or awareness. Meanwhile, the physical, emotional, and psychological costs of unhealthy sleep continue to mount. In "The Promise of Sleep", world-renowned sleep authority William C. Dement offers a definitive guide providing the information necessary to reap the benefits of a good night's sleep. Drawing on decades of experience, Dr. Dement explains what happens when we sleep, taking us on a fascinating tour of the sleeping body and mind. Exploring sleep's surpassingly powerful effect on overall health, from the immune system to psychological well-being, readers will learn the many ways that sleep loss and deprivation can put them in harm's way, inhibiting motivation, creativity, and vitality. Imparting wisdom gained through years of sleep lab experience, Dr. Dement reveals the seven principles of healthy sleep, and gives hands-on advice on such popular topics as sleep disorders and their cures, the role of prescription and over-the-counter sleeping aids, recovery from jet lag, the power of naps, and more. With "The Promise of Sleep", readers will learn not only how to discover how much sleep they truly need, but how to get it -- and why their lives will improve once they do.
Healthy sleep has been proven to be the single most important determinant in predicting longevity-more influential than diet, exercise or heredity-but our modern culture has become a study in sleep deprivation. Technologys world without darkness wreaks havoc on our body clocks. We sacrifice sleep to meet the demands of our endless days. Our doctors regard sleep deprivation as a fact of life-and do little to promote sleep health or awareness. Meanwhile, the physical, emotional and psychological costs of our unhealthy sleep life continue to mount, largely without mention.In The Promise of Sleep, world-renowned sleep authority William C. Dement, M.D., offers the definitive look into this unexplored but vital part of our lives, giving readers the information they need to reclaim their birthright to a good nights sleep. Drawing on his decades of experience on the frontiers of sleep science, Dr. Dement explains what happens when we sleep, taking readers on a remarkably lively tour of the sleeping body and mind. We learn of sleeps surprisingly powerful effect on our overall health, from our immune system to our psychological well-being, and see first-hand the many ways in which sleep loss and sleep deprivation can put us in harms way, inhibit our motivation and creativity, and rob us of the vitality that makes life worth living. And he shows how the sleep awareness to be gained from such insight can be our society's most powerful weapon to combat the sleep deprivation epidemic that costs untold lives and resources each year.Sharing wisdom gained through years of sleep lab experience, Dr. Dement gives hands-on advice on how to get the sleep we need, addressing such popular topics as: sleep disorders and their cures; the role of prescription and over-the-counter sleeping aids; recovery from jet lag and other temporary obstacles to a healthy sleep life; the power of naps; and more. He also offers his seven principles of healthy sleep, and tells readers how they can discover their own "sleep point" and learn how much sleep they truly need.As insightful as Listening to Prozac, inspiring as Spontaneous Healing, and empowering as The Gift of Fear, The Promise of Sleep illuminates the little-understood "forgotten third" of our lives, and gives us the tools we need to unlock its abundant gifts for the rest of our lives.
| | Industry reviews | What do scientists say is the biggest guarantor of longevity? Enough sleep. Expert Dennett explains how to get it.
Kakutani
America is in the midst of an epidemic of sleep disorders, according to Dement, a sleep researcher since 1952, the founder the world's first sleep-disorder clinic and past chairman of a commission that presented a report to Congress in 1992, "Wake Up America! A National Sleep Alert." But for all the general population knows about the principles of healthy sleep, he laments, "I might as well have been running a chain of beauty parlors for the last four decades." However, anyone who even glances through this informative and impassioned volume will know that Dement hasn't spent his time hovering over a hairdryer. The subject may be sleep, but its treatment is not soporific; with the able help of Vaughan, Dement presents the results of his and others' lifework in pithy and accessible terms. Readers will be jolted awake by a multitude of facts (sleep apnea can lead to heart failure or stroke, fatigue caused the Exxon Valdez and space shuttle Challenger disasters and motorist sleepiness accounts for 33% of traffic accidents). Besides scientific data on sleep and much advice on sleep hygiene, there are self-tests for sleepiness as well as a scenario for a restorative "sleep camp." Appendices list sleep-disorder clinics nationwide, definitions of sleep disorders and Web sites. Dement offers an outstanding book on a surprisingly overlooked subject. Author tour. (Mar.)
Fox
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