Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams

Edit: Recently, I came across an article quite critical of the facts presented in this book, which came as a shock to me. Here's the link to the article - Why We Sleep is riddled with scientific and factual errors . While this severely damages the reputation of the book, my stance remains unchanged - that sleep is of utmost importance in our lives and we really do need to give it prominence.

—————–

Original Review:

An exceptional book that is also a cautionary tale for our society. In our productivity-obsessed twenty-first century, sleep usually takes the backseat in our race to get more done with our limited time. I myself have been guilty of that, on multiple occasions - trying to fit all the things that I want to do in a day and consequently ignoring this wonderful remedy to all my problems. We have idolized people who seem to achieve extraordinary things on less than an optimal amount of sleep for far too long.

We need to pull ourselves back from the race, slow down, and get a good night's sleep. As it turns out and quite contrary to the popular belief - the more sleep you get, the more productive you are.

PS: For anyone wondering about the optimal duration of sleep, eight hours really is the recommended time - which includes the time you take to drift off to sleep (normally 10-15 mins), five cycles consisting of NREM and REM sleep of 90 mins each, and the time you take to get fully conscious after waking up (another 10 mins).