Title: Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams
Author: Matthew Walker
Rating: ★★★★☆
Review:
I have always had a hard time sleeping, so I like learning more about sleep in the hope of finding a way to sleep better. Unfortunately, this book doesn’t focus on how to sleep, just how important sleep is for learning, mood, longevity, etc. (Side note: Walker does teach a MasterClass on how to sleep.)
What I didn’t really like about the book was the author’s doomsday attitude about sleep. According to Walker, you can’t make up sleep. Statements like that make me think: Why bother changing as it is too late for me? I also don’t like how he repeats the same concepts over and over. I get that not everyone has a degree in neuroscience, but the constant repetitions make me feel like he thinks his readers are idiots. Overall, the book was an easy read, and I do think sleeping enough is important for one’s health, to be safer drivers on the road, etc.
Notable Quotes:
- “Every species studied to date sleeps.”
- “The best bridge between despair and hope is a good night’s sleep.”
- “Practice does not make perfect. It is practice, followed by a night of sleep, that leads to perfection.”
- “The shorter your sleep, the shorter your life.”
- “If you don’t sleep the very first night after learning, you lose the chance to consolidate those memories, even if you get lots of ‘catch-up’ sleep thereafter. In terms of memory, then, sleep is not like the bank. You cannot accumulate a debt and hope to pay it off at a later point in time. Sleep for memory consolidation is an all-or-nothing event.”