WHY WE SLEEP Paperback – Illustrated, 19 June 2018

I can easily say that Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker, a neuroscientist, is one of the most important books that I've ever read. Modern humans have always taken their sleep for granted. It's always something that we can catch up on. And we have been dead wrong about this. Everything in our life is affected by the quality and quantity of our sleep. Almost everything that we do is enhanced/spoiled by our sleeping decision.Humans are not sleeping the way nature intended them to. The number of sleep periods, the duration of sleep, and when sleep occurs has all been distorted by the modern life. Human beings are the only species that deliberately deprive themselves of sleep to their detriment for petty activities. Even moderate reductions for just one week in our sleep disrupts the blood sugar levels so much that we would be classified as pre-diabetic.A few things that stood out for me:• Sleep is divided into non-REM sleep (early night) and REM sleep (mostly later night)• Sleep enhances our capacity to learn, remember and make logical decisions.• It configures our emotions, guards our immune system, takes care of our metabolism and keeps our weight in check.• Its deficiency is the leading cause of road accidents.• “The shorter you sleep, the shorter your life span.”• Inadequate sleep is associated with higher rates of mental disorders, heart diseases, cancer, dementia, etc.• Sleeping pills are no match for natural sleep.• Alcohol is one of the most powerful suppressors of REM sleep that we know of.• Sleep deprivation vastly increases your likelihood of getting infections.• REM sleep is what stands between rationality and insanity.• Many people walk through their lives sleep-deprived and never realize it.• Regularity is the key to good sleep - going to bed at the same time, waking up at the same time no matter what.There is so much in this book which should not be summarized. It has to be read and felt. This incomparable book should be compulsory reading for everyone.

Sleep is a mystery. And this book is a lifesaver.For normal folks like you and me, and for doctors or scientists as well, sleep's been always a mysterious phenomena. We humans sleep (preferably) one third of our whole life. This is an enormous amount of time which demands some attention. Though historically the attention has not been allotted to sleep it deserves, academically or culturally.If you read this book (and you should; whether you love or hate or enjoy or avoid or have problem with or have some queries on sleeping) you'd understand why the evolutionary process didn't eliminate sleep from our biological dictionary. Why, though seemingly unnecessary/time-wasting/futile/unproductive, we still need to get a good night's sleep to get a long list of physiological, biological, psychological benefits. And if you by any chance fail to get the necessary amount of sleep (voluntarily or otherwise), you're a big gambler who doesn't have the idea about the grave repercussions. (No kidding.)This book will be beneficial to everybody except those smart dudes who have unwavering faith in some generic and prejudiced sayings like: "Six hours of sleep is enough for a functional adult" or "You'll have chance to sleep all you need when you're dead" or "Our great leader sleeps only four hours/day, hence I should do the same to be like him." etc.Don't trust them for Kumbhkarna's sake. Don't mess with sleep.Some curious takeaways from the book:● Not only the starting phase of sleep is important, when you're going to wake up in the morning is equally significant too. If you get up earlier without fulfilling your sleep-quota, there will be consequences. Serious consequences.● Melatonin doesn't make you feel drowsy; it just reminds your brain, "Time to go to bed, fella." Part of a whole set of timekeeping mechanism actually. The chemical substance which in fact pressurize your system to make you feel sleepy is named Adenosine.● Dreaming makes you more visionary/creative/shrewd, really. And dreaming is not just some "commercial breaks" between slumber, it has serious impact on your mindset/thinking/worldview/self assessment and many things more.● Homo sapiens is "biphasic" in case of sleep requirement. That is, we humans are biologically inclined to get sleep two times a day. Taking a siesta is not just a cultural phenomena in origin, but deeply biological. Dozing after lunchtime is absolutely human-like, nothing shameful if you think so.● It's not mere practice that makes a person perfect. Practice, followed by a good night of sleep is what required for perfection. And the writer is serious about that.● You can sleep as many hours trying to recover/make up the sleep that you've lost or skipped; but make no mistake, humans can never "sleep back"/rebound the sleep once lost.● "Night owls" are real, not myth. As real as the "Morning larks" are. Don't bully them; or feel guilty of being one.● Caffeine is the most widely used (rather abused) addictive psychoactive stimulant drug in the world. It is also the only addictive substance that we readily give to our children and teens.● And a lot more.