Why We Sleep: The New Science of Sleep and Dreams is a 2017 popular science book about sleep written by Matthew Walker, from England, who is a professor of neuroscience and psychology and the director of the Center for Human Sleep Science at the University of California, Berkeley. In the book, Walker discusses the importance of sleeping, the side effects of failing to do so, and its impact on society. The book asserts that sleep deprivation is linked to numerous fatal diseases, including dementia. Why We Sleep became a New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller. The book received generally positive reviews from mainstream critics, while also garnering criticism from academics for making broad or unfounded claims and alarmism.
Background According to Walker, who had never written a book at the time, he was motivated to write the book after an encounter with a woman who glanced at his work related to sleep and its benefits for health, stating, "When that comes out, I want to read it". Walker described this encounter as a sincere "independent ratification" that made him write the book. The book took Walker roughly four and a half years to write. Walker and his team spent roughly 20 years studying the rejuvenating ability sleep has. Walker's communication style, in which he makes use of "metaphors and analogies effectively", allowed him to explain ideas related to sleep in detail.
At 18 years of age, Walker, who was a medical student at the time, became an "accidental sleep researcher" and moved over to studying neuroscience because of his habit of asking many questions. It was during his PhD at London's Medical Research Council when Walker learned about how little information there was on sleep. A scientific paper helped Walker with his research after his failure to determine the differences of brainwave activity between various dementia found in people, with the paper's contents describing the areas of the brain each variant of dementia attacks. It was then Walker realized that in order to measure his patients' brainwave patterns properly, they need to be asleep. Walker spent six months teaching himself how to set up his sleep laboratory, which allowed him to voice his findings on sleep differences amongst his patients. Walker noted that many people misinterpret the amount of sleep they actually receive, likely caused by deep thought during the light sleep phases. Following the release of the book, Walker went on to describe his book as having the potential to make readers sleep and jokingly admitted to being concerned to hear if his book kept people awake at night.
Contents The book is written from a neuroscientific view, mainly devoted to discussing the impact of sleep on the functions of the human brain. It is divided into four parts, focusing on how sleep works, its benefits, the reason for dreams and sleep issues surrounding society. The book is written so that it does not need to be read sequentially. Walker discusses the effects of the widespread loss of sleep, with the goal for readers to endeavour to achieve eight hours of sleep once they learn about the connection of sleep loss to other health issues, such as Alzheimer's disease. Also explained by Walker is why adults who sleep for less than 6 hours at the age of 40 and over have a higher chance of suffering a cardiac arrest or a stroke during their lifetime.
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