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'Astonishing ... an amazing book ... absolutely chocker full of things that we need to know' Chris Evans
'Matthew Walker is probably one of the most influential people on the planet' Evening Standard
THE #1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
TLS, OBSERVER, SUNDAY TIMES, FT, GUARDIAN, DAILY MAIL AND EVENING STANDARD BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2017
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.
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 into 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.
'Startling, vital ... a life-raft' Guardian
'A top sleep scientist argues that sleep is more important for our health than diet or exercise' The Times
'Passionate, urgent . . . it had a powerful effect on me' Observer
341 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 28, 2017
Routinely sleeping less than six or seven hours a night demolishes your immune system, more than 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.
"...linking it [lack of sleep] to numerous neurological and psychiatric conditions (e.g. Alzheimer's disease, anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, suicide, stroke, and chronic pain), and on every physiological system of the body, further contributing to countless disorders and disease (e.g., cancer, diabetes, heart attacks, infertility, weight gain, obesity, and immune deficiency). No facet of the human body is spared the crippling, noxious harm of sleep loss." (p133)The book makes a convincing case that:
"We are … socially, organizationally, economically, physically, behaviorally, nutritionally, linguistically, cognitively, and emotionally dependent upon sleep." (p133)I've included the following quotation since it applies to many today who live busy lives, including me somtimes. Researchers have evaluated performance of sleep impaired individuals and have found some sobering facts:
Most worrying from a societal perspective, were the individuals in the group who obtained six hours of sleep a night, something that may sound similar to many of you. Ten days of six hours of sleep per night was all it took to become as impaired in performance as going without sleep for twenty-four hours straight. (p136)Here's another quotation that caught my eye:
There is no major psychiatric condition in which sleep is normal. This is true of depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder. (p149)Regarding cardiovascular health:
Adults forty-five years or older who sleep fewer than six hours a night are 200% more likely to have a heart attack or stroke during their lifetime, as compared with those sleeping seven to eight hours a night.(p165)Concerned about cancer?
…the scientific evidence linking sleep disruption and cancer is so damning that the World Health Organization has officially designated nighttime shift work as a "probable carcinogen."(p186)