If nothing else, this book will at least scare you to sleep! ( )

Interesting read. I learned some, although I was aware of much of it. Nice writing style, easy to read. ( )

How many times do you hear or say things like: "I'm tired." "I didn't get enough sleep last night." "I'll just stay up to get this done and try to sleep more this weekend." "Sometimes I try to sleep in, but it just doesn't happen." "It takes me forever to fall asleep at night."

These phrases are becoming increasingly common for us to say and hear--and even tell ourselves. And Arianna Huffington sets out a good case for what this all means. Without a doubt, we are in a sleep deprivation crisis as a society. With the pressure to do more and more in the same amount of time in a day, people are overextending themselves and giving up something essential to survival: sleep. As we are also more stimulated and connected by technology, it makes it that much harder to wind down at the end of a long day.

While we often dismiss this as okay, using some of the phrases above, it has health implications that we may not always know are there. Fatigue and exhaustion are just the tip of the iceberg. Sleep has been shown to have connections to healthy weight, blood pressure, and several other conditions.

But knowing we're sleep deprived is just the beginning. Especially since almost everyone would admit that they feel tired or sleep deprived on some level at some point in any given week. Where Huffington takes things a step further is offering some suggestions for how we can each start addressing the crisis in our own lives. Working on the issue starts with each person. Not only is this because society isn't going to shift until the people pushing for the shift reaches critical mass. It's also because the tactics and strategies for prioritizing sleep need to be determined on an individual basis.

This is an interesting read. Huffington has collected a great deal of research and anecdotes in one nice, tidy place. And while I don't think anything here is particularly profound or novel, it's a stimulating and thought-provoking read.

[Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher via Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review.] ( )

Arianna Huffington became an apostle of sleep after collapsing from exhaustion in her hotel room and breaking her cheekbone. She was a workaholic who burned candles at both ends who viewed sleep dimly, if not as disdainfully as some other famous people in her new book, The Sleep Revolution. After coming to realize how unhealthy and unsustainable her lifestyle had become, she made peace with sleep and recognizing that many Americans shared her proclivity for work and productivity above all else, became an evangelist for it. Her book diagnoses both a personal and societal issue. She catalogs the costs and externalities of lack of sleep (accidents, health problems, loss of productivity at work, etc.), provides a lot of scientific evidence about sleep's benefits, discusses dreams, and finally, in the second half of the book, gives some tips on how to get a good night's sleep. She covers a lot of ground, and she does so in a very readable way. However, partly because she is addressing both the larger societal issues, as well as those that may plague individuals, this book is less a self-help book for a person looking for specific tips (there is some of this, but it's not the focus) than a more general read. ( )

Very well written, and very informative - the part I could get through. However, for some reason, reading about sleep made me...

Sleepy. Very sleepy.

So I will have to finish this some other day. I will say, her writing is concise and approachable, and her research is deep. ( )

Well researched and cited. Presents the details on the value of sleep. Fast read. ( )

This is an important book to read. The book tells us very clearly how a minimal amount of sleep is a must for us to live a healthy, productive life. The statistics provided beas testament to this. I would have liked some more methods of how to go about getting the required sleep. ( )

Summary: Huffington summarizes the research on sleep, the impact of sleep deprivation on our lives and performance, and steps we may take night by night to reverse this deficit and improve our lives.

Are you sick and tired of being sick and tired?

Arianna Huffington argues that this book is for all those who are, which includes many of us in our fast-paced modern society. We are the sleep-deprived, and it has crucial impacts on our relationships, our performance, our sense of well-being and even our basic health. Sleep deprivation is associated with weight gain, increased susceptibility to illness, and a variety of other ill effects that literally may shorten our lives.

The first part of the book is titled "Wake up call" and explores the statistics about sleep deprivation, including the dangers of drowsy driving, which are as great as intoxicated driving. She considers the sleep industry, particularly the dangers of pharmaceutical sleep aids, which may result in all kinds of bizarre behavior. She then explores the science of sleep, and here as elsewhere reiterates the importance of 7-8 hours of sleep a night and the particular value of REM sleep. She includes a chapter on sleep disorders and their treatment. This is when we dream and she, along with many through history, suggests keeping a dream journal by one's bed to note down one's dreams upon awakening from them when they are clearest in our minds.

The second part of the book explores "sleep hygiene," what we should do and not do to get a good night's sleep, preferably without any chemical sleep aids. She talks about how much sleep we need at different stages of life (never less than 7 hours!), strategies with children, in families, for college student, and when traveling, particularly across time zones. She, as many others extols the value of a nap, which may partly reverse the effects of sleep deficits and has been shown to improve work performance. Reducing light (particular the blue light of computer screens), stowing our technology in another room, watching diet (especially late night sugary snacks), curbing caffeine after 2 pm, and having bed-time rituals (baths, night clothes, etc.) that relax one are critically important.

The style throughout is a mix of information and personal story, making the book highly accessible and an easy read. She includes at the end appendices with a sleep quality questionnaire, guided meditations, and hotels and mattress firms that have taken sleep seriously.

My only quibble with the book is that some people in my own faith tradition would object to using the meditative practices she endorses, particularly at the end of the book, because they are rooted in a different religious tradition and worldview. I wish she had included some of the Christian practices that have a long history including contemplative prayer, compline and night prayers, and the use of the Examen of consciousness to review the day before resting. All of these (and others not mentioned here) prepare us for rest or help us during wakeful periods at night. Perhaps those in the Christian tradition need to do a better job teaching and practicing these!

However, there is so much that is helpful in this book concerning our need for sleep, the benefits of getting sufficient amounts of sleep, and hindrances to sleep. It is such a helpful contrast from a highly successful business woman to the "I don't need sleep, and those who do are just slackers" culture of our modern professional world. Her inclusion of other examples from the media, sports, and professional life suggest there are the beginnings of the "sleep revolution" she envisions. Hopefully, this will reach a tipping point, which will hardly address all of society's ills, but could have a marked effect.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.” ( )

My husband suggested I bought this book after he read an interview with Arianna Huffington. I'm very glad I did. For some time now I have been having sleep problems, something I'd never had before.
In the past, even if I settled down to read a book in bed, I would be asleep within minutes - wake naturally after a decent night's sleep, and would sometimes read for half an hour after waking. Mind you I have never been one to laze about in bed once awake, I usually get up and get going.
However, this past few years my sleep pattern has unraveled somewhat. Because I fly between Europe and China several times a year, I put it down to the lingering effect of jet-lag, which I find hits me hard.
But reading this book has really made me think about sleep, my sleep habits and those of my nearest and dearest. It seems that the whole 'First' World is suffering from sleep deprivation, and I am one of them.
The book speaks of how the human attitude to sleep changed radically at the time of the Industrial Revolution, and it has been down hill ever since. Lacking sleep is as damaging as being under the influence of alcohol; most of the accidents involving long-distance trucks are caused by the driver falling asleep at the wheel, in hospitals, young doctors who have been on duty for 12-15 hours at a stretch can make dangerous mistakes because they are exhausted. She quotes a pilot who said he fell asleep in the cockpit and woke to find that the co-pilot was also asleep!
I have never been one to use sleeping-pills (though I know people who do), and after reading this book I am so glad I never went down that slippery slope - the side effects of the most commonly prescribed ones are ghastly at best, and potentially dangerous at worst...and when people who have used them then wake feeling groggy, they take caffeine or something else to get them going and so the whole ghastly cycle continues.
Anyway, enough already as my Jewish friends say, read the book - SERIOUSLY, do yourself a favour and read the book.
Now I am banishing all electronic devices - laptop, iPad, smart phone and Kindle (both mine and those of my husband) - from our bedroom, when you read the book you'll realise why. I have decided on an appropriate bedtime during the week and plan to stick to it, rather than keep going till all hours, and am trying to get a pre-bedtime routine established. So far two much better nights of sleep - but that maybe a fluke...watch this space. ( )

While I enjoyed reading this, there is nothing really new or revolutionary here. The book contains a lot of commonsense information, but most of us know this stuff already, even if we don’t always heed the experts’ advice. News stories, magazine articles, the internet — they have loads of information on how we as a nation, or maybe much of the world, are depriving ourselves from needed rest. I know I am (was), which was why I chose to listen to this.

Arianna Huffington is not a sleep expert. She quotes lots of expert sources for that. What she has done is compile a lot of information on sleep in what I see as an attempt to change the culture of sleep less, accomplish more. If you are not already familiar with the subject, or want a refresher, then reading this would be a good choice.

Audio production:
The book was narrated by Agapi Stassinopoulos. The narrator sounds a lot like Ariana, so much so that at first I didn’t realize Ariana wasn’t the narrator. Aside from Aniana reading it herself, which would be credible, the choice of a narrator with such a heavy (and at times difficult to understand) accent doesn’t make sense. Listen to the sample below before making a decision on audio vs print. ( )