具体描述
The first sleep book by a leading scientific expert—Professor Matthew Walker, Director of UC Berkeley’s Sleep and Neuroimaging Lab—reveals his groundbreaking exploration of sleep, explaining how we can harness its transformative power to change our lives for the better.
Sleep is one of the most important but least understood aspects of our life, wellness, and longevity. Until very recently, science had no answer to the question of why we sleep, or what good it served, or why we suffer such devastating health consequences when we don't sleep. Compared to the other basic drives in life—eating, drinking, and reproducing—the purpose of sleep remained elusive.
An explosion of scientific discoveries in the last twenty years has shed new light on this fundamental aspect of our lives. Now, preeminent neuroscientist and sleep expert Matthew Walker gives us a new understanding of the vital importance of sleep and dreaming. Within the brain, sleep enriches our ability to learn, memorize, and make logical decisions. It recalibrates our emotions, restocks our immune system, fine-tunes our metabolism, and regulates our appetite. Dreaming mollifies painful memories and creates a virtual reality space in which the brain melds past and present knowledge to inspire creativity.
Walker answers important questions about sleep: how do caffeine and alcohol affect sleep? What really happens during REM sleep? Why do our sleep patterns change across a lifetime? How do common sleep aids affect us and can they do long-term damage? Charting cutting-edge scientific breakthroughs, and synthesizing decades of research and clinical practice, Walker explains how we can harness sleep to improve learning, mood, and energy levels; regulate hormones; prevent cancer, Alzheimer’s, and diabetes; slow the effects of aging; increase longevity; enhance the education and lifespan of our children, and boost the efficiency, success, and productivity of our businesses. Clear-eyed, fascinating, and accessible, Why We Sleep is a crucial and illuminating book
用户评价
##反正就是要多睡觉。
##六颗星！整本书把所有和“睡觉”有关的科学知识非常想尽的写下来，重点是还写得极其有趣。发现好多设计实验的内容和过程也都特别好玩，包括历史上最早研究人类睡眠周期的科学家把自己关在“暗无天日的”山洞里的故事，等等。唯一的小bug是作者为了强调充足睡眠的重要性，举例说切尔诺贝利事件可能是sleep deprivation造成的，有点失偏颇啦。（当然，按照朋友调侃的话说，你懂这么多，依然也睡不好觉呀，这本书并不能真的帮你解决很多失眠问题，但是依然是本很棒的书呀）
##二十一世纪梦的解析，再见弗洛伊德式idiosyncrasy
##https://peterattiamd.com/matthewwalker1/ 作者聊了总共三期的Podcast
##作为一个以研究睡眠为生的人，我最开始觉得，写睡眠的科普书对我还有什么新意？故而虽然早在一年前就听过作者的新鲜空气访谈，还是没有找来看。但真正听完了全书，却意外地发现自己学到很多新东西，也许是因为背景知识储备比较充分，所以新东西容易吸收，但同时确实也是因为作者写得清楚有条理，而且在很多地方，尤其是睡眠在进化中的作用、以及睡眠的神经机制方面有很多独到见解。总之非常推荐。
##Rem is important. Deep sleep is important. Regular sleep time is important.
##https://peterattiamd.com/matthewwalker1/ 作者聊了总共三期的Podcast
##关于睡眠这件事情非常全面的科普和解析。我觉得印象最深刻的是，作者得出一个推论，既然我们现代社会的人类，几乎睡眠不足在城市人口中是常态，那么也就意味着我们很多人其实一直是在一个sub-optimal的状态下生活了很久，而自己接受了自己更低的performance standard，并且还不自知，认为这是正常的。这是一个非常让人concerning的发现。
##Rem is important. Deep sleep is important. Regular sleep time is important.