Customer Reviews

The Body Clock Advantage: Finding Your Best Time of Day to Succeed In: Love, Work, Play, Exercise

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In this book, Dr, Edlund condenses knowledge of human circadian rhythms into an understandable and useful package. He describes how the body clock effects virtually every aspect of behavior and performance and demonstrates how just a little knowledge of the internal clock can improve function.

The "how to " information is particularly relevant to those of us who routinely tend to cut into our sleep time or subvert our body clocks just to meet the demands of daily life. ( I never realized how many accidents occur between midnight and six , for example, forty times the daytime mortality for truckers.) The author's LENS program of light, exercise, naps and socialization, offers hope for shift workers. There are also useful programs for athletes tyring to break records, students studying for exams, dieters, when all else has failed, and even terrorism prevention.

This is an amusing, easy to use, practical book. I would have liked an index and a few more scientific references but neither detracted from my enjoyment of reading it.

In my daily practice of primary care medicine, where I deal frequently with the challenging problems of obesity, sleep disorder, sexual dysfunction,inability to concentrate on tasks, fatigue, and depression, I now have another valuable resource in my armamentarium.

Dr.Edlund in very understandable language lays out a practical and sensible game plan for dealing with life's problems. His explanations of how the human body responds to time change and the variability of individuals, ie: larks vs. owls, is intriguing. How to harness time and use it to one's advantage by being cognizant of the effects of light vs. dark hours and manipulate these effects with light boxes can certainly improve the quality of one's life.

Dr. Edlund's expertise on diet, exercise, sleep, and pharmacology helps the reader adjust his lifestyle for a healthier existence. This book offers something positive for everyone. It serves as a user's guide for the body.

The Body Clock Advantage is easy to read and offers practical advice on a variety of subjects. Dr. Edlund offers nuts and bolts solutions for a variety of challenges facing modern people such as reducing jet jag, improving romantic relationships, and establishing a pain free exercise program. The writing style keeps your attention throughout the book (I read it in less than 3 days!). He weaves real life examples into the advice so it's easy to "get the point" and see the value of using your body clock to your advantage.
It's hard to pick a favorite section because so many apply. I discovered that my husband is an owl and that I'm not ... I now have practical things to help me if I want to stay up late with him. I particularly enjoyed the section on not only WHY to fit breakfast into my busy day, but HOW to do it. I followed the advice and feel better at work already! I'm going to recommend this book to family, friends, and coworkers! It can help eveyone and it's easy!

As someone who has never understood America's obsession with getting to work at 7:00 am, or getting my kids onto the football field in the freezing cold on a Saturday morning at 0 dark thirty, I was thrilled to find a book that makes it socially acceptable to admit that I'm simply not a lark. I need to sleep past 7:00 am. The first couple of chapters of the book the author presents some interesting case studies and you think, wow! I really need to know this stuff, but as the book goes on you realize all the good stuff is up front, in the first few chapters. The light box, while interesting, is not practical unless you have a serious case of the owl. The chapter on jet lag was interesting because I travel all the time across multiple time zones and have come to rely on sleeping pills for time zone adjustment (which is one method the recommends as long as you control the use to cope with jet lag and don't make it an every day habit). I have never tried the melatonin - its too complicated for me to remember, take it when to stay awake? and how much to fall asleep? I haven't changed my basic habits, because I could never get to work on time with everyone else, but instead of walking in cowering my head and trying to look like I've been there for an hour, I now stroll into work guilt free long after everyone else and leave a copy of the book out on my desk just in case anyone has a problem with that. I didn't get all that much from this book except for the fact that it is a subject near and dear to me. I felt the book fell short in a couple of regards, some of the ideas are very superficial and not expanded to the point of being really useful. If you have a school age child who is a natural owl, life can be very difficult for you and for them, but I don't really see sitting them under a light box as a practical solution. However,if your school ager can't get up in the morning, it does help to realize they are not just lazy slobs, but battling a true physical condition that really is not their fault. If you are really having trouble as an owl in a lark's world, this book might help give you some ideas, but if you have already learned to adjust, it might not be that useful to you.

I am gonna be forty years old this year and I wanna be prepare mentally and physically and this book its helping me a lot to be aware of my upcoming age its a very good book I recommended for those who wants to loose weight and get better sleep at night.

There are probably about 20 books every person should get and read as a kind of human body instruction manual. This is one of them. If you work a job which makes regular sleep difficult, this book has many tips I've used to great success. It will most likely convince you to make time for ample sleep in your routine as an essential priority alongside nutrition and activity. Better sleep will improve almost every aspect of your life. With all the expensive "solutions" weight loss gurus, self help speakers, and fitness device manufacturers try to sell, this is a cheap and incredibly effective investment to improve your life.