4 Books About Sleep Worth Staying Awake to Read

What happens if you can’t sleep? Neurologist Leschziner studies people dealing with insomnia, narcolepsy, night terrors, apnea, and sleepwalking. Here he shares stories of cases like the woman who, while sleepwalking, got dressed, got in her car, and drove several miles. He also shows “the neuroscience behind our sleeping minds.” Stories + science!

This came out only last September! Black fatigue is here defined as “the intergenerational impact of systemic racism on the physical and psychological health of Black people.” Winters demonstrates how systemic racism impacts every aspect of life, including economics, education, work, and health. If you want to learn what you can do about it, pick this up.

So what’s up with sleeping? It leaves you so VULnerable. All unconscious for multiple hours. But also sleeping is awesome, so. Why? Walker “explains how we can harness sleep to improve learning, mood and energy levels, regulate hormones, prevent cancer, Alzheimer’s and diabetes, slow the effects of aging, and increase longevity.” He also gives you action items (I love an action item) for how you can improve your sleep. As someone who does that “revenge bedtime procrastination” thing, I am extremely interested in said items.

Kim from For Real liked this! This is focused on how women experience burnout from stress differently than men, why, and what you can do to address it. I am extremely interested in the answer to “what you can do to complete the biological stress cycle — and return your body to a state of relaxation.” It’s probably not “watch Arrested Development over and over again.” Or IS it?