Why we sleep - Matthew Walker

Description

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.

Review 

Matthew Walker obviously knows his subject very well and is passionate about it, however, the level of this book is more that of a text book than for the average reader. He does say he will find it a compliment if anyone falls asleep reading his book and I have to say it did induce sleepiness in me more than once!

Despite it being a little hard to wade through there are some gems of advice worth mentioning. Like you cannot combat tiredness when driving. All those tips you think you have he warns - forget them - you cannot beat sleep. So the message is do not drive if you are feeling sleepy. 

I did find some of the findings repeated within the book from a very slightly different angle, to the academic it matters, to me a casual reader I got annoyed with the repetition. This isn't the first book I've read on sleep so a lot of the material I was aware of, apart from of course the authors own research.

The most interesting thing I learnt from this book is that there is a direct correlation between the rise of heart attacks and the commencement of daylight saving. There is also a reduction in heart attacks when daylight saving ends. Like a lot of very interesting statements in this book, especially regarding Alzheimers,  I was disappointed that there is seemingly no follow through for them - they are just research findings.

I'm giving this book four out of 5 stars purely because it is a little heavy going, however, if you are reading this for your studies I think you would give it 5 stars.