Sleepyhead: Narcolepsy, Neuroscience and the Search for a Good Night

by Henry Nicholls

How bad is it really, not to get eight hours of sleep? What happens to our brain when we're sleep deprived? How much sleep should we really be getting?

Sleep is something so fundamental that most of us take it for granted, undervalue it, and rarely look directly at it - in the last century, the amount we sleep has fallen by 20%.
Henry Nicholls doesn't have this problem - he suffers from narcolepsy, a disorder he developed at age twenty-one. For the healthy but overworked majority, this might sound like an enviable condition, but for Henry, the inability to stay awake is profoundly disabling.

Through personal reflections, interviews with fellow narcoleptics, insomniacs and neuroscientists, anecdotes from medical history, and insights from art and literature, Henry Nicholls travels through the half-lit world of sleep. He considers how sleep is seen in contemporary culture, and delves into the history of sleep theory: how it was irrevocably damaged by Freud, and how this has created a medical vacuum for the treatment of sleep disorders.

Sleepyhead is a scientific, cultural and autobiographical journey into the hinterlands of sleep, told with penetrating intelligence, humour and gentleness.

• ISBN13: 9781781255872
• Publish Date: April 2018
• Publish Status: Unknown
• Imprint: Profile Books
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 352
• Language: English

Reviews

[Jeff Sexton]

The Science of Sleep. As told by a narcoleptic journalist. This was actually a fascinating book about the hard science of sleep - all the way to the gene and chromosome level of certain sleep disorders. Other than the first chapter and last chapter, the traditional setup and summary, the remaining 10 chapters cover the hard science of sleep - everything from how light plays a large part in our circadian rhythm cycles to exactly how the current thinking on most sleep disorders was discovered by studying dogs. The *one* caution here is that if you come in looking for a quick pointer or two on how to sleep better... well, you'll get that. But you'll get the hard science explanation of *why* it is, rather than a short and sweet "do this, just do it". Excellent book, very thoroughly researched - the last 24% or so is bibliography and index!

[MurderByDeath]

As one or two of my BL friends might know, I have narcolepsy; I was diagnosed almost 5 years ago, but it's likely I've had it most of my life - because I don't suffer from cataplexy (the uncontrollable bouts of muscle paralysis), we all just thought I was lazy.   That sounds like a jest, but it isn't; so little is known about narcolepsy, cataplexy and all the other sleep disorders that science is just beginning to focus on, that society tends to equate someone being tired during the day with being lazy, hungover or a new parent. I don't overindulge and I'm not a parent, so ... lazy.   Except it turns out I'm not, something my sleep doctor has been trying to tell me for 4.5 years, but I didn't really believe until I read this book.   Now I know, really know, that I have been the unfortunate victim of an auto-immune response run amok.  My immune system killed off the areas of my brain responsible for making hypocretin, probably because the cells looked too much like strep, or flu.  As Nicholls explains, hypocretin does a LOT for us, not the least of which includes making sure the body is either asleep or awake (not both), modulates dopamine and serotonin, and controls the trigger for REM.  The upside for narcoleptics: we're a little less likely to suffer addictions; the downside: it's a moot point, since we don't need drugs to hallucinate.     This was the thing I wanted most from this book and I got it - I have a much greater understanding of what's going on at a chemical level in my brain.  I am also left with no doubt as to whether or not I really have narcolepsy.  This is a spectrum disorder, and I am solidly on the spectrum.   But I learned so much more, because this book isn't just about Narcolepsy; the author spends a solid amount of time and focus on other sleep disorders too; those that are intimately familiar to a large number of people, like insomnia, and those that are just now beginning to be formally identified, like Restless Leg Syndrome and the rare but terrifying Fatal Familial Insomnia; a prion disease that stops sleep completely and is always fatal.   This isn't a self help book, or a book of strategies for dealing with sleep disorders, but the author does discuss a few different avenues science is taking towards sleep management, and these apply to pretty much anyone searching for healthy sleep.  I could wish for more coverage of current medical treatments, but honestly, there really aren't that many, though research tantalisingly looks to be on the right track.   If you're interested in sleep disorders in general, and the science of sleep, this is a good introduction to both, though the author's battle with narcolepsy is what gives the book its focus.  He includes a very thorough notes section with complete citations, and a section of recommended further reading that includes several titles aimed at the broader topic of sleep's importance to everyone's health, as well as a few titles more explicitly aimed at specific sleep disorders.  While this is not one I'd generally recommend to everyone, it's definitely informative to anyone suffering from a lack of healthy sleep.