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A review by vigneswara_prabhu
The Sleep Revolution: Transforming Your Life, One Night at a Time by Arianna Huffington
3.0
Like when cutting up some vegetables, Remove the head and the tail and the rest is fit for consumption. That can also be true for ‘[b:The Sleep Revolution: Transforming Your Life, One Night at a Time|25893700|The Sleep Revolution Transforming Your Life, One Night at a Time|Arianna Huffington|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1453058792l/25893700._SY75_.jpg|45775601]’ by [a:Arianna Huffington|27082|Arianna Huffington|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1206675333p2/27082.jpg].
It took me some time to get into the book, as the first few chapters were little more than a collection of statistics and newspaper reports. The whole book in fact is a poor man’s version of , [b:Silent Spring|27333|Silent Spring|Rachel Carson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1442353674l/27333._SY75_.jpg|880193] or [b:The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer|7170627|The Emperor of All Maladies A Biography of Cancer|Siddhartha Mukherjee|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1280771091l/7170627._SY75_.jpg|7580942]. In fact whole parts of the book can be considered an extended blog post.
Around chapter 3, I started to get mildly interested. And it was around Chapter 4, The science of sleep that things started to get more engaging. The author, (or her research team, from what i can tell in the acknowledgements) have done an admirable job of mentioned a plethora of research from broad fields, from sports science, to psychology to Neuroscience and molecular biology to create a comprehensive picture, which could be summarized ‘succinctly’ as, Sleep Good, Sleeplessness bad.
The whole book in general is repeated assertions of the above. Then again this is something which needs to be said. As much as we know, and feel the importance of sleep, at the end of the day (a pun which i thoroughly enjoyed) sleep gets the last priority in our daily lives. Where project deadlines, and socializing and career and family takes front seats.
While of these, some are unavoidable (just because sleep is important doesn’t mean you can leave your newborn crying at the middle of the night); others are not. Really most of the lessons from the book are stuff from thousands of articles, many from huff post itself have told us.
You need at least 8 hours of sleep during the night
Lack of sleep affects your productivity
Caffeine is bad for sleep.
Technology and blue light is bad for your eyes and sleep.
A well rested man is much well equipped to deal with life
What I did understand is how to make sleep a priority. Humans spent one third of their lives sleeping. And it’s not something we can avoid, no matter how much we wish to. So we need to start layering our day around our sleep cycle, not the other way around.
One of my favorite chapters, Chapter 6, Dreams. I’m a bit biased towards that subject. Dreams, what they may represent, what they actually might be, and what they can be. Anything from, our brain running a simulation, while it repairs itself using biological drainage fluids (it’s a thing), to a gateway to a distant realm of Morpheus (as many a philosopher might expound), or an untapped compendium of creative energy and possibly answer to all of lives questions and a medium to be closer to the divine realm. All of it, and dreams are mysteriously engaging.
I also appreciate how the author makes an effort to explore the sleep and relaxation cultures from around the world. (An outlook she may have gained from studying in the Visva-Bharati university)
But as mentioned in the beginning, the book starts losing steam towards the end. The book lost its sway, beyond chapter 8, Sleeping together. The last chapters felt more like endorsements to the hotels, companies, products and apps which the author supports. Nothing wrong with that. Just didn’t seem relevant. (Although there was a chapter about sports science, sleep and improved performance which had several points of food for thought.)
So in conclusion, the best take away from the book is how we should start giving sleep the attention and importance it deserves. You drink when thirsty, eat when hungry and sleep when tired. As simple as that.
And if you learn to gain harmony with your sleep time, who knows, then perhaps we might get the idea for the next revolutionary machine, or your seminal literary work, or your thesis which might qualify you for the Nobel prize.
It took me some time to get into the book, as the first few chapters were little more than a collection of statistics and newspaper reports. The whole book in fact is a poor man’s version of , [b:Silent Spring|27333|Silent Spring|Rachel Carson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1442353674l/27333._SY75_.jpg|880193] or [b:The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer|7170627|The Emperor of All Maladies A Biography of Cancer|Siddhartha Mukherjee|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1280771091l/7170627._SY75_.jpg|7580942]. In fact whole parts of the book can be considered an extended blog post.
Around chapter 3, I started to get mildly interested. And it was around Chapter 4, The science of sleep that things started to get more engaging. The author, (or her research team, from what i can tell in the acknowledgements) have done an admirable job of mentioned a plethora of research from broad fields, from sports science, to psychology to Neuroscience and molecular biology to create a comprehensive picture, which could be summarized ‘succinctly’ as, Sleep Good, Sleeplessness bad.
The whole book in general is repeated assertions of the above. Then again this is something which needs to be said. As much as we know, and feel the importance of sleep, at the end of the day (a pun which i thoroughly enjoyed) sleep gets the last priority in our daily lives. Where project deadlines, and socializing and career and family takes front seats.
While of these, some are unavoidable (just because sleep is important doesn’t mean you can leave your newborn crying at the middle of the night); others are not. Really most of the lessons from the book are stuff from thousands of articles, many from huff post itself have told us.
You need at least 8 hours of sleep during the night
Lack of sleep affects your productivity
Caffeine is bad for sleep.
Technology and blue light is bad for your eyes and sleep.
A well rested man is much well equipped to deal with life
What I did understand is how to make sleep a priority. Humans spent one third of their lives sleeping. And it’s not something we can avoid, no matter how much we wish to. So we need to start layering our day around our sleep cycle, not the other way around.
One of my favorite chapters, Chapter 6, Dreams. I’m a bit biased towards that subject. Dreams, what they may represent, what they actually might be, and what they can be. Anything from, our brain running a simulation, while it repairs itself using biological drainage fluids (it’s a thing), to a gateway to a distant realm of Morpheus (as many a philosopher might expound), or an untapped compendium of creative energy and possibly answer to all of lives questions and a medium to be closer to the divine realm. All of it, and dreams are mysteriously engaging.
I also appreciate how the author makes an effort to explore the sleep and relaxation cultures from around the world. (An outlook she may have gained from studying in the Visva-Bharati university)
But as mentioned in the beginning, the book starts losing steam towards the end. The book lost its sway, beyond chapter 8, Sleeping together. The last chapters felt more like endorsements to the hotels, companies, products and apps which the author supports. Nothing wrong with that. Just didn’t seem relevant. (Although there was a chapter about sports science, sleep and improved performance which had several points of food for thought.)
So in conclusion, the best take away from the book is how we should start giving sleep the attention and importance it deserves. You drink when thirsty, eat when hungry and sleep when tired. As simple as that.
And if you learn to gain harmony with your sleep time, who knows, then perhaps we might get the idea for the next revolutionary machine, or your seminal literary work, or your thesis which might qualify you for the Nobel prize.