Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams by Matthew WalkerMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Hooter: The science behind sleep and why it's important!
The book can give you "rock a bye baby" vibes and that is something the author is proud of because it gets you to where he wants you to be at. We all know about sleep and vaguely important - this book helps drill the message home on why its one of the cornerstones of our health - physical and mental. In the hustle culture of burning the midnight oil, this book is an anti-thesis of it all.
I finally have scientific evidence to why I should continue to sleep for 8 hours a day. Also catching up on sleep is not a net zero game. Just like energy conversion cannot be 100% efficient, lost sleep is lost forever. The catch up is a short term reliever.
The explaination of REM and non-REM and why they aren't 50-50 was an eye opener and make a lot more sense to how irregular sleep patterns impact us in a skewed manner for REM and non-REM. The circadian rhythm being independent of this was another relevation for me. Honestly the science of sleep was an area I completely have been sleep walking into and this book woke me up with a bang.
The today you might not like me for recommending this book but 30 years down the line - you probably will. Teenagers will love his proposal of starting school later because they need that sleep and he correlates how sleep and laziness don't actually go hand in hand depending on your age.
If you can't read the book - the key takeaways are there is NO replacement to consistent routine to 8 hour sleep for one's overall health , there are no alternatices and substitutes for the same. Keep away from heavy dinners, alcohol and caffeine later in the day along with digital screens atleast an hour before you sleep. Whilst he believes the afternoon siesta is healthier for the human body - capitalism has shut that door on us.
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