The Harvard Medical School Guide to a Good Night's Sleep (Harvard Medical School Guides)

After having finished the book, I could summarize its impression in one sentence: there is nothing wrong with the book. That's why I gave an average or three stars to this product. In other words, it was not particularly terrible but offered me no new information in the arsenal of sleep.I'm always eager to improve my knowledge in health and wellbeing. So I bought this book, hoping to gain useful "beyond conventional wisdom" type of knowledge in sleep, though I don't suffer from a sleep disorder or work shifts.I was really hoping that the book addressed the power of sleep from a preventive medicine/anti-aging perspective. For example, many of us have probably heard or read that the body makes the peak amount of the human growth hormone (HGH) during 12am and 2am. Thus, we are advised to go to bed before midnight to maximize the release of HGH. I've been curious that given that there are different patterns of sleep preference among people (larks, hummingbirds, and owls), whether the release pattern of HGH also depends on your sleep preference - i.e. if you are an owl, your body's HGH production peaks later than 12am, thus defying the conventional wisdom of "go to be before midnight".The book gave no insight for such curiosity from preventive perspective, but does a good job of listing and describing major sleep disorders and conventional therapies for each of them, including behavioral therapies, cognitive therapies, and medications.Given that, this book is probably suited for a clinical researcher or family physician who wants t a good reference to find a therapy for a particular sleep disorder.However, if you are interested in a preventive/anti-aging perspective as I am, this book doesn't offer a great insight.

I have sleep apnea and have been struggling to adapt to the CPAP mask. I've questioned the whole business of sleep therapy and whether using the CPAP mask every night for the rest of my life was justified or effective. Dr. Epstein's book lays it on the line. It appears to be a remarkable summary of the research, making the case for sleep therapy of many kinds, but is especially strong on sleep apnea. I really got the idea that the book was written on two levels. First, it is authoritative enough for MD reading. Second, it is clear enough for patients to read. My mental struggle with the CPAP therapy has been going on for two years. After reading this book, the prospect of wearing the mask for the rest of my life doesn't seem onerous at all. Reduced risk of diabetes, obesity, heart disease, stroke, and car collisions. There are many other important topics addressed as well. And its hard to imagine a better source. Invaluable.

As an insomniac, I purchased this book desperately looking for help and answers. Luckily I bought it along with two other books, which I would recommend a lot more, "Zen Sleep: Enlightenment for a good night's rest" and "No more sleepless nights." These books did give me a lot to work with regarding my insomnia, which is primarily mental. They discuss how a good night's sleep isn't actually necessary to live well and be successful (which paradoxically mollified my sleep struggle by taking it off its pedestal). Many people, like Albert Einstein, slept poorly and infrequently and still accomplished amazing things. It's not about sleep but how we perceive it and insist on controlling it time after time.On the other hand, this absurdly pathologizing book takes a totally medical model stance and goes into detail about the consequences of not sleeping well and how the body doesn't adapt to poor sleep, which just made me worry more. If a busy mind keeps you up at night, this book is not for you. It just gives general common sense advice about not having caffeine, keeping a silent and dark room to sleep in and blah blah. Any google search on what's needed for good sleep replaces the need for this book.I would recommend this book, possibly, to people who have insomnia for other reasons than a busy, agitated mind on over-drive. Maybe it can help with other sleep issues like sleep apnea, which less people have. It's just super medical and focuses on how baleful not sleeping enough can be which accomplishes generating fear and more of the same worrying and rumination without providing an creative tools or remedies.

Full of good information, albeit a bit dated. It's not dry or sleep-inducing, but it is full of helpful information a good sleeper like myself recognizes as true. The reason I bought it is because I know that one of the biggest blessings in life is a good nights rest.

This is a great book if you desire to do some serious sleep research! We all need to sleep and it's great to find a book that covers all aspects of sleep and tips on how to achieve optimal sleep results. I was diagnosed with sleep apnea and the author covers this sleep disorder as well and gave me great insight to my condition. I highly recommend this book!

Was a good book. explains a lot about why you might not be getting as good of sleep as you should.

Everything here is information you can get on the internet, but it is a good read.

A friend was having trouble staying asleep at night so I ordered this book. He said it didnt help at all. I feel he just read most of it & never put any in to practice??????????????

Although I find this book interesting, nothing in it has helped.

very good book on explaining sleep disorders

Strangely, after reading this, one of my sleeping disorders went away on its own! The section on good sleep hygiene is really useful for anyone. It's easy to read and I really like his approach on changing our behaviours around sleeping before turning to sleeping medication.

Je le garde pour le consulter en cas d'insomnie !! Il est pratique , pédagogique ! Il se lit comme un roman !

Very informative, factualRecommended by my specialistExcellent and working for me .......