Science and Inquiry discussion

For November 2018, we will be reading Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams by Matthew Walker.

Please use this thread to post questions, comments, and reviews, at any time.

aPriL does feral sometimes wrote: "Popular book, based on the holds list at my library....sigh."

April, when I see the list of nominations for books, I take a guess for the top couple that are most interesting to me. They might win the poll--or they might not. Then I immediately reserve them at the local library. Then if the book(s) don't win the poll, or if I lose interest, I can always cancel the hold.

GREAT idea!

Good idea David. I just reserved my copy!

I just finished Part 1 of Why We Sleep. For me, the most interesting chapters were those that discussed sleep across species and how human sleep changes through the lifespan.

This talk by the author may be helpful in grasping key ideas from the book.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXflB...

Ajeet, thanks for the link to the video--Matthew Walker is a very good speaker!

I finished reading the book; it is fabulous! And alarming! I highly recommend it. Here is my review.

David wrote: "Ajeet, thanks for the link to the video--Matthew Walker is a very good speaker!

I finished reading the book; it is fabulous! And alarming! I highly recommend it. Here is my review."

Okay, I've got a copy of the book. You have convinced me to start now.

I finished this a few days ago. I would say I enjoyed it, but that's not quite the right word. David is right; it's alarming. But it's also very good. Very well written, authoritative, but accessible.

I have had problems with sleep since puberty. Maybe largely because I'm an extreme owl. I've always had to fight my body's demands in order to comply with the demands of society. And probably some of my health problems can be at least partially ascribed to that. About 20 years ago, I also developed sleep apnea and although I've handled sleeping with a CPAP pretty well, it has certainly impacted my life. Now I'm in my seventies and it may be too late for me to make significant changes in my sleep habits.

So I was very interested in this book. It may be too late for major changes, but I've already made some minor changes as a result of his recommendations. Like discontinuing reading on my smart phone just before sleep. Instead, I now read for a bit on my kindle, which does not use back lit blue light. And I may change my LED bedside light for an old fashioned incandescent despite it being less environmentally sound.

I really recommend everyone read this book. Here is my review.

I have also had sleep issues all of my life. I recall as a child having to go to bed when I wasn't tired. Maybe my love of reading goes back to the many evenings I read for hours until I could fall asleep! I always have been an early riser as well. (My poor Mother!) But I may be one of the few that the author talks about as needing only 5 or 6 hour of sleep. It was a real advantage in college and as a new parent!
Having read the book, I wonder if I have cheated myself out of the regenerative sleep phases all this time! As I have gotten older, I am one of those who fall asleep easily, but I wake up too early. I may take the author's advice and seek a professional evaluation of my sleep.

I liked it too: lots of interesting information. I know many people who thinks that sleep is mainly a waste of time, time stolen to other more important things you could do. It is a good that the author is so dedicated to change this mentality.

Earlier I used to feel guilty whenever I slept more than 7 hours, and now when I am halfway through the book, I try to get at least 8 hours of sleep daily. It's funny how a book an change your deep-rooted beliefs.

Ajeet wrote: "Earlier I used to feel guilty whenever I slept more than 7 hours, and now when I am halfway through the book, I try to get at least 8 hours of sleep daily. It's funny how a book an change your deep..."

I haven't started reading the book yet (still on the Bomb book) but I did read an article about the topic in National Geographic recently and I, happily, had the same reaction. I felt like I was wasting time by sleeping (I had an old landlady who used to say, "You can sleep when your dead!") But it seems that sleep is a much more important and meaningful experience than I thought.

Nancy wrote: "I had an old landlady who used to say, "You can sleep when your dead!"

And you can actually die for lack of sleep...

I know I'm a bit behind, but I wanted to chime in that I'm really enjoying this book. I also wanted to share this podcast (the link includes the transcript if you'd rather just read it) about understanding chronotypes. I like how he's categorized the chronotypes - "lion," "bear," "wolf," and "dolphin" - I think those are really apt.

http://www.sleepreviewmag.com/2016/12...

I started this a bit late and just now finished. I agree with those above that this book reveals important and alarming facts about the lack of sleep quality and quantity in modern society.

However, I don't feel it is as well written as it could have been, primarily due to a lot of repetition.

And I was amazed that the author did not discuss the benefits or use of white noise to aid effective sleep. Studies have been done on this in his own neighborhood--UC Berkeley.

Still I would recommend the book to anyone and everyone. I sleep well for about 8 to 9 hours per night. This book convinced me that I'm not overdoing it. To the contrary, my brain and body are benefitting immensely.

Here's my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Nice review, Steve! Reading your review reminded me of another topic that was not covered well--the topic of sleep apnea. That was disappointing.

I noticed that too, David, and it was disappointing. Apnea is really quite common and a lot of people don't understand what it is.

Another thing that annoyed me was that this book was filled with discoveries about sleep that have been discovered through lots of research over the last couple of decades. I'm sure those discoveries were published in the scientific literature. But none of them seem to have made it to the main stream media. I think I would have noticed, since I've been interested in sleep disorders for a long time. But until this book, I still thought science had no idea why we sleep.

Makes me wonder what other important discoveries have been ignored. I can't believe that there is no appetite for scientific information.

There's one thing I forgot to mention in both my post and my review. Did anyone else notice how the author repeatedly used the word 'theory' when he should have said 'hypothesis'?

I can forgive a reporter for making this mistake but when a scientist does it, it just perpetuates the general public's misunderstanding of what a scientific theory is.

Perhaps it's time for the scientific community to adopt a new word for an hypothesis that has been thoroughly tested and survived all attempts to prove it wrong.

Good summary of types of white noise and sleep benefits:

http://www.berkeleywellness.com/healt...

Steve wrote: "There's one thing I forgot to mention in both my post and my review. Did anyone else notice how the author repeatedly used the word 'theory' when he should have said 'hypothesis'?

I can forgive a ..."

I agree with you, Steve. I usually notice this slip in books about science. And, it really irks me, when I see the word "theory" being misused.

I am slowly reading my way through this book. So far the information in interesting. Perhaps written a bit dry, but worth continuing.

I guess I'm the last in line as usual, but I finally did get around to reading this book. It certainly is packed with information, some of it startling. I followed Ajeet's advice and listened to the author on YouTube. I noticed in both his writing and speaking, Dr. Walker comes across as a caring and compassionate scientist who is really compelled to share his message. Very worthwhile book.