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The Promise of Sleep: A Pioneer in Sleep Medicine Explores the Vital Connection Between Health, Happiness, and a Good Night's Sleep

William C. Dement · 7 HN comments
HN Books has aggregated all Hacker News stories and comments that mention "The Promise of Sleep: A Pioneer in Sleep Medicine Explores the Vital Connection Between Health, Happiness, and a Good Night's Sleep" by William C. Dement.
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Amazon Summary
Sleep better, live longer with the groundbreaking information and step-by-step program in this revolutionary book. Healthful sleep has been empirically proven to be the single most important factor in predicting longevity, more influential than diet, exercise, or heredity. And yet we are a sleep-sick society, ignorant of the facts of sleep--and the price of sleep deprivation. In this groundbreaking book, based on decades of study on the frontiers of sleep science, Dr. William Dement, founder and director of the Stanford University Sleep Research Center, explains what happens when we sleep, when we don't, and how we can reclaim the most powerful--and underrated--health miracle of all. Taking us on a fascinating tour of our sleeping body and mind, Dr. Dement reveals the price we have paid for ignoring sleep--an epidemic of heart disease, 33 percent of traffic-fatigue-related accidents, and immeasurable mental and psychological disadvantages. And he offers a hands-on prescription for vibrant good health and longevity, including...self-tests to determine how much sleep you really need...the role of prescription and over-the-counter sleeping aids...the latest research on how sleep affects the immune system...how to combat insomnia, snoring, and jet lag...plus information on sleep disorder clinics nationwide, Web sites, and more. Taking readers on a fascinating tour of our sleeping body and mind, Dr. William C. Dement reveals the price paid for ignoring sleep--an epidemic of heart disease, traffic-fatigue-related accidents (responsible for a full third of all traffic accidents), and immeasurable mental and psychological disadvantages. Offering a hands-on prescription for vibrant good health and longevity, THE PROMISE OF SLEEP includes self-tests to determine how much sleep you really need, full information on the role of prescription and over-the-counter sleeping aids, the latest research on how sleep affects the immune system, helpful methods for combating insomnia, snoring, and jet lag, plus information on sleep disorder clinics nationwide, sleep disorder Web sites, and more. -->
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Hacker News Stories and Comments

All the comments and stories posted to Hacker News that reference this book.
I'd recommend the book "The Promise of Sleep" [0] for anyone that's interested in learning more about sleep. The author basically pioneered the sleep medicine field and was at the University of Chicago in 1951 when R.E.M. sleep was discovered.

[0]: https://www.amazon.com/Promise-Sleep-Medicine-Connection-Hap...

Styrke
I would recommend reading Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker instead. [0]

The Promise of Sleep is an okay book, but it is almost 20 years old now and it shows.

I have read both books and it is remarkable how much more we learned in the time between them.

[0]: https://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Sleep-Unlocking-Dreams/dp/1501...

toomuchtodo
Thanks, purchased!

Sidenote: The book recommendations on HN are always top notch.

It depends on what you understand under "self-help books".

The generic, feel-good ones, sure, those are trash that usually doesn't work (they still might work given the specific situation).

The well researched, written by scientists and psychologists - I found a few that I love. In fact I'm going to buy ten pieces of one book for this Christmas because I have found it crucial.

These are the three well researched books I've read in the past 18 months that turned my life around for the better and that I heartily recommend:

[1] The Promise of Sleep

[2] Self-theories: Their Role in Motivation, Personality, and Development

[3] Learned Optimism (that's the one I'm buying ten times for this year's Christmas)

The one recommended in the article, 59 Seconds, is waiting on a pile of books (not exclusively from the self-help category, with The Algorithm Design Manual, Street Smarts, Architecture of Open Source Applications, Learn You a Haskell etc.) to be read soon.

Let's read, think and become better people.

[1] http://www.amazon.com/Promise-Sleep-Medicine-Connection-Happ...

[2] http://www.amazon.com/Self-theories-Motivation-Personality-D...

[3] http://www.amazon.com/Learned-Optimism-Change-Your-Mind/dp/1...

We are the last generation (or one of the last) that doesn't understand our own brains.

We have electricity, light bulbs and flickering TV and computers screens but we don't understand our sleep cycle and the circadian rhythm. We are a sleep-deprived civilization.[1]

Our scientists already know how learning works (semantic encoding and repetition are the key), but we still cram kids in Austro-Hungarian like classrooms.[2]

We are the last generation to waste drinking water. Water is already today a precious resource. In the future this will be even more pronounced.

Great article, got me thinking.

If you're interested, I recommend

[1] The Promise of Sleep: http://www.amazon.com/Promise-Sleep-Medicine-Connection-Happ...

[2] Brain Rules: http://www.amazon.com/Brain-Rules-Principles-Surviving-Thriv...

loewenskind
The surface of the earth is 70% water. I refuse to believe that future generations wont figure out a cost effect way of turning this into drinking water on the required scales.
This is true, but quite simplified. I always recommend a great book by the pioneer of sleep science William C. Dement "The Promise Of Sleep" http://www.amazon.com/Promise-Sleep-Medicine-Connection-Happ... It explains this and many other aspects of sleep that you need to know to manage it effectively.
If anyone is really interested in how sleep works and how to manage your sleep, you should really read William C. Dement's conclusive work "The Promise Of Sleep". He's a pioneer of sleep science from Stanford with a great experience and thousands of helped patients. His book is as exciting as it is useful and full of research data, analytics and explanations. A real pleasure to read. After this book, all articles would seem a drop in the ocean.

http://www.amazon.com/Promise-Sleep-Medicine-Connection-Happ...

Dec 31, 2009 · snitko on New years resolutions
This book about sleep has pretty good reviews: http://www.amazon.com/Promise-Sleep-Medicine-Connection-Happ..., I'm going to buy it.
toisanji
thanks, I'm ordering the book.
If anyone is interested in this topic, check out the book "The Promise of Sleep". It's the story of one of the earliest sleep researcher (before we knew about REM) and his journey into understanding sleep.

It some interesting insights into sleep, for example why it's better to be a little tired than overslept.

http://www.amazon.com/Promise-Sleep-Medicine-Connection-Happ...

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