Sometimes we just want deep learning on a sleep topic. If that’s you, these are the best books ever. One topic is how our experience of night has changed over the centuries. This gives context for our circadian rhythm, light exposure and meal timing. Or maybe you’re an athlete or student wanting to improve performance. Or want to understand what’s happening in the brain during sleep and dreams. All these topics interest me too, so I’m sharing what I think are the best books ever to go deep on these special sleep topics. Join me!
Why We Dream. The Transformative Power of Our Nightly Journey by Alice Robb
A fresh, revelatory foray into the new science of dreams—how they work, what they’re for, and how we can reap the benefits of our own nocturnal life
While on a research trip in Peru, science journalist Alice Robb became hooked on lucid dreaming—the uncanny phenomenon in which a sleeping person can realize that they’re dreaming and even control the dreamed experience. Finding these forays both puzzling and exhilarating, Robb dug deeper into the science of dreams at an extremely opportune moment: just as researchers began to understand why dreams exist. They aren’t just random events; they have clear purposes. They help us learn and even overcome psychic trauma
The Nocturnal Brain. Nightmares, Neuroscience and the Secret World of Sleep by Guy Leschziner
For Dr. Guy Leschziner’s patients, there is no rest for the weary in mind and body. Insomnia, narcolepsy, night terrors, apnea, and sleepwalking are just a sampling of conditions afflicting sufferers who cannot sleep—and their experiences in trying are the stuff of nightmares. Demoniac hallucinations frighten people into paralysis. Restless legs rock both the sleepless and their sleeping partners with unpredictable and uncontrollable kicking. Out-of-sync circadian rhythms confuse the natural body clock’s days and nights.
Educating the Exhausted. Adolescent Sleep and the Struggle for a Later School Start by Terra Ziporyn and Amy R Wolfson
The battle to align the school day with the science of sleep.
For decades, sleep researchers have reached the same conclusion: adolescents need more sleep than current school schedules allow. Yet across the United States, most middle and high schools continue to start the day at hours that undermine student health, safety, and learning. In Educating the Exhausted, Terra Ziporyn and Amy R. Wolfson explain why evidence alone has not been enough to ensure school hours that allow for sufficient sleep
Beating Painsomnia. The Sleep Solution for EDS, POTS, and MCAS – Evidence-Based Strategies to Reclaim Restorative Sleep Despite Chronic Illness by Jessamine Ramona Stringer
Are you exhausted from sleepless nights caused by EDS, POTS, or MCAS? Discover the evidence-based sleep strategies that finally work for complex chronic conditions.
If chronic pain, autonomic dysfunction, or mast cell reactions keep you awake despite your desperate need for rest, you’re experiencing painsomnia – the cruel cycle where medical symptoms destroy sleep quality, making everything worse. This comprehensive guide breaks that cycle with proven solutions designed specifically for patients managing Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome, and Mast Cell Activation Syndrome.
Peak Sleep Performance for Athletes. The Cutting-Edge Sleep Science that will Guarantee a Competitive Advantage by Shane A Creado, MD.
This book teaches you the sleep secrets of elite athletes, to boost your performance.
In this book, you are guided through all the levels of the Pyramid of Peak Sleep Performance.
At the base or Level I, sleep saboteurs are discussed.
These include the impact of concussions on sleep, sleep disorders, mental health disorders, pain, alcohol and other substance use, medical conditions, and medications.
Level II involves sleep metrics/ measurements.
Dr.
Creado discusses sleep diaries, wearable sleep trackers, sleep testing and technologies to diagnose sleep disorders, and specific athlete sleep screening tools.
The Light Doctor. Using Light to Boost Health, Improve Sleep, and Live Longer. by Martin Moore-Ede, MD PhD.
The light we see is as important for our health as the food we eat, the water we drink, and the air we breathe. For most of human existence, our ancestors lived with the natural 24-hour light-dark cycle, spending each day in natural daylight and sleeping in the dark at night. But since the widespread introduction of electric light, more than 90% of our time is spent indoors, under unhealthful and human-unfriendly electric light, which disrupts our circadian clocks and greatly increases the risk of cancer, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and hundreds of other diseases.
At Day’s Close. Night in Times Past by A. Roger Ekirch
Bringing light to the shadows of history through a “rich weave of citation and archival evidence” (Publishers Weekly), scholar A. Roger Ekirch illuminates the aspects of life most often overlooked by other historians–those that unfold at night. In this “triumph of social history” (Mail on Sunday), Ekirch’s “enthralling anthropology” (Harper’s) exposes the nightlife that spawned a distinct culture and a refuge from daily life.
The End of Night. Searching for Natural Darkness in an Age of Artificial Light by Paul Bogard
A deeply panoramic tour of the night, from its brightest spots to the darkest skies we have left.
A starry night is one of nature’s most magical wonders. Yet in our artificially lit world, three-quarters of Americans’ eyes never switch to night vision and most of us no longer experience true darkness. In The End of Night, Paul Bogard restores our awareness of the spectacularly primal, wildly dark night sky and how it has influenced the human experience across everything from science to art.
Eat Better, Sleep Better by Dr. Marie-Pierre St-Onge, PhD and Kat Craddock
More than half of all Americans have difficulty falling or staying asleep. Drawing on the science that has made her the go-to expert on the connection between food and sleep, Dr. Marie-Pierre St-Onge pairs her comprehensive strategies for getting a good night’s sleep with Kat Craddock’s 75 recipes. Developed with ingredients that trigger the body’s dietary melatonin and serotonin, these recipes align with a Mediterranean diet and trigger a healthy circadian cycle, so you feel energetic during the day and ready for sleep at night.
