My next holiday book recommendation is Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams by Matthew Walker, professor of neuroscience and psychology at UC Berkeley. This authoritative tome unravels the mysteries of sleep and provides persuasive scientific evidence that sleeping well is the foundation of physical and mental health.
Contemporary neuroscience is now able to chart the differences in brain wave activity between wakefulness, deep non-rapid eye movement sleep (NREM), and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, when dreaming occurs. Through clever experiments, scientists have established how NREM, REM, and dreaming sleep stages all play critical roles in consolidating and strengthening memory, nursing emotional and mental health, and fostering creative problem solving.
Unfortunately, too many people in industrialized nations suffer from chronic sleep deprivation, with costly and tragic consequences that the author enumerates. Thus it is impossible to dip into this book without renewing a commitment to get a regular eight hours of shut eye!
Sleeping well is closely linked with understanding and respecting circadian rhythms. Find out more in the next blog.