Dreamland: Adventures in the Strange Science of Sleep [Hardcover]

David K. Randall (Author)

Book Description

Release date: August 13, 2012 | ISBN-10: 039308020X | ISBN-13: 978-0393080209 | Edition: 1

An engrossing examination of the science behind the little-known world of sleep.

Like many of us, journalist David K. Randall never gave sleep much thought. That is, until he began sleepwalking. One midnight crash into a hallway wall sent him on an investigation into the strange science of sleep.

In Dreamland, Randall explores the research that is investigating those dark hours that make up nearly a third of our lives. Taking readers from military battlefields to children’s bedrooms, Dreamland shows that sleep isn't as simple as it seems. Why did the results of one sleep study change the bookmakers’ odds for certain Monday Night Football games? Do women sleep differently than men? And if you happen to kill someone while you are sleepwalking, does that count as murder?

This book is a tour of the often odd, sometimes disturbing, and always fascinating things that go on in the peculiar world of sleep. You’ll never look at your pillow the same way again.

10 illustrations

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Amazon Best Books of the Month, August 2012: Forget about outer space and deep-ocean trenches. There are scientific mysteries far closer to home. In our bedrooms each night, something odd happens--we try to fall asleep. No one knows exactly why. What happens if we don't sleep? Do men sleep differently than women? Why is it so hard to put children to sleep? And if Freud was wrong about dreams, then why do we dream? In Dreamland: Adventures in the Strange Science of Sleep, David K. Randall answers these questions and more. He takes us through the history of human thinking about sleep, all the way up to the latest rest techniques used by Olympic athletes. You'll sleep better having read this book. --Benjamin Moebius

Review

“Starred review. This fabulous book is likely to address any and all questions you might have about sleep.... There’s plenty of practical information, like how to overcome insomnia without drugs, how to combat snoring, how to encourage young children to get to sleep and, perhaps most useful, how to bet successfully on professional football games: our circadian rhythms favor West Coast teams over East Coast teams on Monday nights. This is one book that will not put you to sleep.” (Publishers Weekly )

“...Randall emphasizes the too-often neglected common-sense realization that sleep is no void; rather, it is perhaps one-third of the puzzle to living well. The author also notes that sleep is not an undifferentiated continuum; the most restful sleep arrives in five stages of about 90 minutes each. A welcome study of an element of life that is often "forgotten, overlooked, and postponed."” (Kirkus Reviews )

“Though he doesn’t go into minute detail, Randall provides a comprehensive and accessible introduction to a mystifying but necessary part of life.” (Booklist )

“A lively overview of recent research into sleep.” (Maureen Corrigan - NPR's Fresh Air )

“An accessible and well-researched guide to a fascinating subject.” (New Scientist )

“The most diverting and consistently fascinating book on the topic ever... but you couldn’t find a more charming guide to what we do know than Dreamland.” (Laura Miller - Salon.com )

“Randall’s wit and curiosity make him a comforting guide.” (Boston Globe )

“Randall has done a lot of good reporting, writes clearly and makes even the scientific aspects of his subject easily accessible... The result is an enjoyable, edifying book that goes down easy... The one thing Dreamland will not do—sorry, insomniacs—is put you to sleep. The topic and the treatment are both too interesting.” (Daniel Akst - Newsday )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1 edition (August 13, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 039308020X
• ISBN-13: 978-0393080209
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 1 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (64 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #77,819 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #50 in Books > Medical Books > Psychology > Sexuality
  • #50 in Books > Medical Books > Psychology > Research
  • #56 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Diseases & Physical Ailments > Sleep Disorders

More About the Author

David K. Randall is a senior reporter at Reuters and has also written for the New York Times, Forbes, and New York. He is an adjunct professor of journalism at New York University and lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

148 of 155 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Getting a good night's sleep takes work August 5, 2012

By las cosas

Format:Kindle Edition

The author awoke one night having painfully sleepwalked into a wall. After incurring what must have been a substantial medical bill for a series of tests to determine the cause, he is assured that he is fine. The author knew very well that sleepwalking into walls isn't fine at all. He then set out to become an expert on the various aspects of sleep. The result is this rather quirky book consisting of thirteen chapters, each devoted to a different aspect of the issue, ranging from apnea machines to whether your baby should sleep with you.

The book can generally be divided into two parts: the ludicrousness of ignoring sleep's importance, and sleep taken so seriously it has become big business. While the reader is provided information that may be of help in understanding any sleep related problem he or she suffers from, this is not the purpose of the book. Instead, the book is a very enthusiastic ramble (pilgrimage?) through the various facets of sleep, a subject rarely studied until recently. "This is not your typical advice book filled with ten easy steps to perfect sleep. But you will come away with a new understanding of all that goes on in your body while you are sleeping and what happens when you neglect sleep for too long."

Each chapter follows a similar arc. Following a catchy chapter heading like Between the Sheets is a stock photo somewhat related to the chapter, in this case a picture of two sets of feet...between the sheets. Definite points off for these inexcusably lame photos that add absolutely nothing to the book. After the photo we are given a vignette, usually of a person, with a dilemma or quest. For example, how a professional baseball trainer decides that sleep deprivation is a problem for his pitchers and what he can do about it (naps!). This personal interest component then leads to the subject matter of the chapter. Between the Sheets, for example, primarily examines whether people sleep better alone or with a partner. We are then given interesting factoids on the subject and too many tangents that feel like the publisher told him the book wasn't long enough and he needed to puff it out another 100 pages.

Despite these drawbacks, I recommend this book to anyone interested in, but clueless about, the science and business of sleep. If you are interested in the psychoanalytic aspects of sleep, and particularly dreams, this is definitely not the book for you. Stringing together research and comments by various scientists he thoroughly debunks Freudian ideas on the subject. A typical quote: "None of Freud's claims are true by any of our standards today." I have no idea whether this is entirely justified, just passing on what I read.

I certainly wouldn't want my review to keep you from reading the book, but for those with only a minor interest in the subject, here are my favorite sleep factoids from the book (and all are direct quotes):
- Depression rates were forty times higher for patients with insomnia than those without sleep problems.
- If sleep doesn't serve an absolutely vital function, it is the greatest mistake evolution ever made. That function is still a mystery.
- Sleep is made up of five distinct stages that the body cycles through over roughly ninety-minute periods.
- Before the discovery of rapid eye movements, our understanding of sleep hadn't undergone any dramatic revisions in more than two thousand years.
- By 2011 there were over seventy-five recognized sleep disorders, and the number continues to grow.
- Adult bodies are not built to sleep past noon.
- Architects and construction companies surveyed by the National Association of Home Builders predict that by 2016 more than half of all new custom-built homes in the United States will have separate master bedrooms.
- About one in fifteen parents [in the U.S.] admitted to sharing a bed with their child in a study published in 1993. By 2007, the number had grown to about one in three.
- Those who have lost their sight after they were toddlers continue to dream with images, for instance, while those who were blind from birth dream with sounds.
- If you can't get in a full night's sleep, you can still improve the ability of your brain to synthesize new information by taking a nap.
- In the Gulf War, one of every four American combat deaths was a result of fire from U.S. forces. [sleep deprivation being a major contributing cause]
- Almost all cases of sleep crime involve men.
- Somewhere inside the cells of most living things is what amounts to a fairly accurate twenty-four-hour clock, known as the circadian rhythm.
- Sleep, for instance, is the time when the body sends growth hormones to repair damaged muscles.
- Studies of teenagers around the globe have found that adolescent brains do not start releasing melatonin until around eleven o'clock at night and keep pumping out the hormone well past sunrise. Adults, meanwhile, have little-to-no melatonin in their bodies when they wake up.
- Sleep apnea was the cause of thirty-eight thousand fatal heart attacks and strokes in the United States each year.
- A study in 1994 found that about 10 percent of women, and 25 percent of men, have difficulties breathing in their sleep. These numbers climb as a person gets older, so that as many as one out of three elderly men have at least a mild case of sleep apnea. All told, about twenty million Americans have the disorder.
- Two of every five adults in the United States have problems falling and staying asleep that aren't related to a persistent sleep disorder.
- By 2010, about one in every four adults in the United States had a prescription sleeping pill in their medicine cabinets. But here's the twist. A number of studies have shown that drugs like Ambien and Lunesta offer no significant improvement in the quality of sleep that a person gets. They give only a tiny bit more in the quantity department, too.
- The best predictor of quality sleep was maintaining a room temperature in a narrow band between 60 and 66 degrees Fahrenheit.

38 of 43 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Brief Summary and Review August 9, 2012

By The Book Reporter

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

*A full executive summary of this book is now available at newbooksinbrief dot com.

We spend up to a third of our lives sleeping, and yet, unless we are not getting enough of it, or are experiencing a sleeping disorder of some kind, most of us hardly ever give our sleep a second thought (other than to rue over how much precious time it takes up). Science too largely neglected sleep for the longest time, treating it mainly as a static condition during which the brain was not doing much of anything interesting. However, ever since rapid eye movement (REM) was discovered in the 1950's the science of sleep has really taken off, and the discoveries that have come out of it go to show that this unconscious period is more interesting than we ever could have imagined. It is these discoveries that writer David K. Randall explores in his new book 'Dreamland: Adventures in the Strange Science of Sleep'.

The book is split into 13 chapters, with each chapter (outside of the introduction and conclusion) exploring a separate topic in the world of sleep. In the book we learn about such basics as REM sleep and the 5 stage sleep cycle, as well as the benefits of sleep and the harmful effects of sleep deprivation. It turns out that sleep is instrumental in such things as muscle regeneration, long-term memory formation, skills acquisition, problem-solving, emotional control, and creativity. Dreaming, we find, plays an important role in many of these benefits, thus making it seem far less likely that Freud was correct in thinking that dreams are actually a manifestation of subconscious wish fulfillment.

We also learn that our natural sleeping pattern is set by our circadian clock, and that many of our routines in the modern world run somewhat against this natural pattern. As it turns out, these routines not only have a negative effect on our sleep, but on our waking lives as well. Fortunately, many organizations are now beginning to take these lessons to heart, and are modifying their policies and practices to help ensure that their members are getting the sleep that they need. For instance, high schools are starting later; businesses are allowing their employees to take naps, and hiring on fatigue management consultants to help eliminate the effects of under-rested employees; sports teams are hiring trainers to ensure that their players are getting enough sleep, and to manage the difficulties of inter time-zone travel; and the military is allowing its soldiers more rest during peace time, and also monitoring and managing sleep during combat.

We also learn about the difficulties of, and the controversy surrounding putting your children to bed, and how the practice of co-sleeping (sleeping in the same bad with your infant) is making a come-back. At the same time, the tradition of sleeping in the same bed as your partner is taking a hit, as more and more couples experiment with sleeping in separate beds--and even in separate bedrooms.

Last but not least, we learn about sleeping disorders such as sleep apnea (continual waking up due to blockage of the windpipe), and the billion dollar business of treating and controlling this very distressing (and potentially deadly) disorder; sleepwalking, and the bizarre phenomenon of crimes committed while sleepwalking (including child molestation, rape, and even murder)--as well as how the justice system is dealing with these very troubling cases; and also insomnia, and the sordid history of sleeping pills--as well as the latest techniques in fighting sleeplessness, including cognitive behavioral therapy.

Fortunately, we also learn that there are several ways to improve our sleep other than with pills or therapy, such as by avoiding coffee, alcohol and bright light before bed; getting some regular exercise; turning down the room temperature (and/or taking a cool shower)before bedtime; and practicing some breathing techniques to help us fall asleep (one such exercise has you focus on your breathing by thinking 'in' as you inhale, and 'out' as you exhale).

Virtually every chapter contains a treasure trove of fascinating information about the topic in question, and the author lays it all out in a very clear and interesting way. If you are curious about the world of sleep, and what science has to say about it, then you can't go wrong. A full executive summary of this book is available at newbooksinbrief dot com; a podcast discussion of the book is also available at the site.

27 of 32 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars soporific August 31, 2012

By Andrew Yavelow

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I bought this book (at full price!) based on an interview with the author on Fresh Air. The book is a big disappointment. The writing is long-winded and cutesy, and there is not much actual information about sleep in the book. Mostly, it's a series of meandering essays regarding self-evident topics like, "why it's important to sleep if you're in a war." Very basic stuff, non-compellingly presented. The only new info I learned was that humans' natural sleep pattern is split into two periods -- and I learned all about that in the radio interview. I found this book a waste of my money and time.