Counting Sheep · the Science and Pleasures of Sleep and Dreams by Martin, Paul -- Read -- Imperial Library of Trantor

Index

Title Page Copyright Notice Contents Part I: Preliminaries

1. A Third of Life

A sleep-sick society? The universal imperative Half asleep Nice, not naughty

Part II: Insufficiencies

2. Sleepy People

Are we sleep-deprived? Are you sleep-deprived? Reasons for not sleeping Ancient and modern Sleepy drivers Sleepy pilots Sleepy doctors The madness of politicians Truly, madly, sleepily The price of eternal vigilance is liberty

3. Dead Tired

Sleepiness Fighting the beast A soil for peevishness Tired people are stupid and reckless Alcohol, beauty and old age Champion wakers Uses and abuses

4. The Golden Chain

A waking death Body and soul Sleep, immunity and health The Battle of Stalingrad Sleepless in hospital

Part III: Mechanisms

5. The Shapes of Sleep

Measuring sleep Falling asleep again, what am I to do? The sleep cycle The paradoxical world of REM The sleep cycle continued Waking up The quality of sleep Meditating – or only sleeping?

6. Morpheus Undressed

The rhythms of life So SAD Larks and owls Genes and sleep A sleeplessness that kills

7. Strange Tales of Erections and Yawning

Nocturnal erections The mystery of yawning

8. Friends and Enemies of Sleep

Brother caffeine Sister alcohol Tobacco Food for sleep Exercise is bunk, isn’t it? Things that go bump in the night Shift work Poppy, mandragora and drowsy syrups Hypnotic exotica

Part IV: Dreams

9. The Children of an Idle Brain?

To sleep, perchance … Do flies dream? A dream within a dream? Dreaming as madness Are dreams meaningful? Like wine through water Can dreams be sinful?

10. A Second Life

A creative state Stevenson’s Brownies Lucid dreams The great dreamer

Part V: Origins

11. From Egg to Grave

Screaming babies Bad children Yawning youth Old and grey and full of sleep

12. The Reason of Sleep

The evolution of sleep What is sleep for? What is REM sleep for? Reverse learning To sleep, perchance to learn Should machines sleep?

Part VI: Problems

13. Bad Sleepers

An intolerable lucidity Why can’t you sleep? Storm and stress and sleep What to do? Staying awake

14. Dark Night

Walking and talking Nightmares, night terrors, sleep paralysis and the Old Hag Moving sleep Midnight feasting Soggy sheets Aching heads Troubled guts Troubled minds Sudden nocturnal death Narcolepsy

15. Pickwickian Problems

The wonderful world of snoring Silence is golden Breathless in bed Consequences – mostly dire Unblocking those tubes

Part VII: Pleasures

16. And So to Bed

A brief history of beds Sleeping partners

17. An Excellent Thing

Puritans and hypocrites Naps, nappers and napping Sweet dreams Blessed oblivion Give sleep a chance In praise of horizontalism

Acknowledgements References Index Also by Paul Martin British Praise for Counting Sheep Copyright