For more than forty years, William Dement has been researching the subject of sleep and of sleep-related problems. In the present book, he not only reviews important recent discoveries in the field, but also offers readers keys to change the way they sleep — and they way they live. According to Dement, if we don’t sleep well, we cannot be healthy; but it’s impossible to sleep well if we don’t know what disturbs our sleep patterns, or what we stand to gain from an adequate night’s rest. In order to enjoy good health, live longer and feel good about ourselves and our bodies, we are careful about our diets and we make sure we get enough exercise. Yet we often forget that it is equally important to sleep well. Sleep is often sacrificed to the demands of our daily lives. Doctors still tend to minimise the physical, emotional and psychological risks that result from a failure to give sleep its due.
This fundamental work by a world-renowned specialist will help us understand what can be gained by sleeping well. Dement explains what happens to our bodies at night and describes the positive effects that sleep has on our immune systems and on our inner psychology. He defines the principles governing “a good night’s sleep”, and explains how to get rid of insomnia and use medication effectively. This book offers the necessary tools to enable us to find out how we should sleep, in order to feel better and keep healthy.

William C. Dement is a world authority in the field of sleep and in the treatment of sleep disturbances. In the 1970s, he founded one of the earliest centres specialising in the study of sleep at Stanford University, in California. He continues to teach at Stanford.

Christopher Vaughan is the author of How Life Begins : The Science of Life in the Womb.