I literally got angry while reading Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker. Prior to reading this book, I shared the “I’ll sleep when I’m dead” attitude towards sleep. Turns out, if I kept this attitude I would likely have arrived at dead much sooner. The premise of Matthew Walker’s book is that our collective understanding of the negative consequences of sleep deprivation mirrors the 1950’s attitude towards smoking. In other words, anyone who knows about the true negative consequences of sleep deprivation (mainly researchers and doctors) is horrified, despite sleep deprivation being so ubiquitous in Western culture. However, the general public is blissfully unaware of these negative consequences. Walker is a sleep researcher turned sleep evangelist because of this problem. Some of the highlights of this book:
- If you aren’t getting at least 7.5 hours of sleep daily, your risks for several horrible things are way higher including: premature death, diabetes, obesity, depression, dementia/Alzheimer’s, heart disease, and cancer.
- You cannot mitigate the negative effects of sleep deprivation by sleeping in on the weekends. In fact, over-sleeping is also bad for your health.
- Lack of sleep is just as bad as drinking alcohol for our reaction time, impulse control, and decision making and is responsible for a significant number of deaths from traffic accidents.
- Not sleeping enough makes us fatter and more likely to have an injury when engaging in physical activity.
- Not sleeping enough makes us dumber and less productive in our jobs.
As someone who regularly did not get enough sleep, this book was a much-needed wake up call (pun intended). Walker gives some great advice for improving sleep hygiene and giving the body and mind something they desperately need. This is another book I think everyone should read because it will add healthy years to many lives.
Find Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams on Amazon.
