Secret Life of Sleep
eBook - ePub

Secret Life of Sleep

  1. 272 pages
  2. English
  3. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

Secret Life of Sleep

About this book

Embark on an exploration of what lies behind our eyelids when we surrender to the secret life of sleep. What makes us cross the line from waking to slumber? According to Harvard scientists it's our 'sleep switch' – a cluster of neurons in the hypothalamus. For the ancient Greeks it was the god Hypnos, caressing you with his wings. For the Blackfeet Indians, a butterfly.From the meaning of dreams to the dangers of sleeping pills, Kat Duff brings insights from the latest in sleep science, the paintings of Salvador Dali, the musings of Michel de Montaigne, and rituals from around the world to paint a portrait of an activity that we all cherish but know little about. Why do we sleep? What happens in our brains when we sleep? Why are sleep patterns in Western industrialised countries so unhealthy? Is the boundary between sleep and wakefulness as clear cut as we might have supposed?Tackling the full breadth of what sleep means to us, The Secret Life of Sleep blends cutting-edge research with captivating narrative to explore a hidden world that is both intimate and mysterious.

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Yes, you can access Secret Life of Sleep by Kat Duff in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Social Sciences & Cultural & Social Anthropology. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title
  3. Copyright
  4. Contents
  5. Prologue
  6. 1 When the Sandman Comes: Falling Asleep
  7. 2 Opening the Inn for Phantoms: Surrendering to Sleep
  8. 3 Cribs, Cradles, and Slings: Sleeping Babies across Cultures
  9. 4 Sleep Stages: Western Science and Eastern Philosophy
  10. 5 Between Sleeps: The Midnight Watch
  11. 6 When Sleep Never Comes: Insomnia’s Toll
  12. 7 Downers, Benzos, and Z-Drugs: The Commercialization of Sleep
  13. 8 The Social Divide: Separating Sleep from Consciousness
  14. 9 When Sleeping Birds Fly: Half Awake and Half Asleep
  15. 10 The Invisible Labors of Sleep: Memory and Invention
  16. 11 Knitting Up the “Raveled Sleave of Care”: Emotional Restoration
  17. 12 Sleep Has No Master: Subversive Dreaming
  18. 13 Ordinary Dreams: When One Hand Washes the Other
  19. 14 Big Dreams: Mysterious Encounters in Slumber
  20. 15 Waking Up Is Hard to Do: Internal and Social Time
  21. 16 Enamored with Wakefulness: Phasing Out Sleep
  22. 17 Waking Up Again: Doubt, Certainty, and the Future of Sleep
  23. Acknowledgments
  24. Notes
  25. Recommended Reading