The Enchanted World of Sleep

by Peretz Lavie; Translated by Anthony Berris

• ISBN13: 9780300074369
• ISBN10: 0300074360
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 1998-02-17
• Publisher: Yale University Press

Summary

For those who have puzzled over the mysteries of sleep, this panoramic view of modern sleep research by a pioneer in the field offers enlightening answers. Interweaving facts with fascinating case histories and anecdotes, Lavie discusses all that is known about sleep, dreaming, and sleep disorders, including landmark discoveries from his own sleep laboratory. 49 illustrations.

Table of Contents

Foreword	ix
Michel Jouvet
Introduction	xi
Sleep and Death	1	(7)
Brain Waves	8	(10)
Nathaniel Kleitman	18	(8)
The Rhythm of Sleep	26	(9)
The Twenty-five Hour Day	35	(19)
From Sun Clocks to Biological Clocks	54	(11)
Dreams: Creatures of the Brain	65	(11)
Alfred Maury and the Dream of the Guillotine	76	(13)
Dreaming as a Separate Reality	89	(9)
Do Fish Dream?	98	(13)
The Need for Sleep	111	(18)
The Eccentricity of REM Sleep	129	(22)
Sleep Centers	151	(10)
Sleep Medicine: The First Steps	161	(13)
Treating Insomnia	174	(10)
The Physical and Medical Causes of Insomnia	184	(5)
Disorders in Sleep Timing	189	(16)
Children Who Refuse to Sleep	205	(11)
Excessive Sleepiness, or ``In the Arms of Morpheus''	216	(18)
Narcolepsy: Reversal of the Natural Order	234	(9)
Epilogue	243	(4)
References	247	(16)
Index	263

Excerpts

Foreword

Every night the story of sleep, which is as old as time itself, unfolds before us.

More than three billion years ago, evolution discovered the biological clock of blue-green algae, a clock which would force us to fall asleep in a regular cycle even if we were imprisoned forever in total isolation.

Some five hundred million years ago, during humankind's developmental process, the homeostatic mechanisms which prevent us from remaining awake for prolonged periods were created in the vertebrates. About two million years ago, neurobiological mechanisms helped create the dream condition which from that time on has played a major role in human culture.

It was the dream experience which evoked the assumption of duality between body and soul and which, apparently, became the catalyst for the creation of the concepts of "eternal life" and "God."

Finally, in 1879 Thomas Alva Edison invented the light bulb and became responsible, quite inadvertently, for the myriad discomforts which derive from the incompatability between our sleeping time and the substitution of light for darkness. The various constraints which sometimes force us to remain awake at night are the root cause of the vexing divergence between the internal human clock, which continues to deny Edison, and the dictates of modern society. With extraordinary eloquence based upon a vast store of professional knowledge and innovative concepts of the physiology of sleep and dreams, among them that of the "forbidden zone for sleep," Peretz Lavie tells us the story of what is contained in a single night's sleep.

Although I am unable to summarize Lavie's contribution to the study of sleep here, the opportunity I have been given in these few inadequate preparatory remarks are an expression of my great admiration for both this wonderful book and its author, who is one of the most talented pioneers in the study of sleep and dreams.

Michel Jouvet

Introduction

In my various encounters with people, I am frequently asked the unavoidable question "What do you do?" and then find myself hesitating for a few seconds before replying, "I am engaged in the study of sleep."

My hesitation stems from the fact that experience has taught me that there are two responses to my reply. The first is usually accompanied by a burst of laughter: "The study of sleep? What needs to be studied about sleep?" This is usually followed by a reflex yawn, with which my questioner seems to be telling me, "I, too, study the subject occasionally."

The second response is a prompt request for advice and medication to combat snoring, insomnia, or other sleep-linked problems.

When my grandfather -- a farmer who tilled the land with every fiber of his being -- first heard that I intended to devote myself to the study of sleep, he tried to convince me to look for a more "useful" profession. "What can a man achieve in his life if he is occupied with sleep?" he argued vigorously.

It is sometimes difficult to convince people that sleep is an enthralling subject, but it is my hope that readers of this book will end up feeling as I do.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from The Enchanted World of Sleep by Peretz Lavie. Copyright © 1996 by Yale University Press. Excerpted by permission. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.