Ten wide-awake
Book Clubbers met to talk about Why We Sleep, by Matthew Walker. Although the group gave a general “thumbs up”
about the book, there were complaints: Here are most of them, without attaching
them to anyone specific. Many at the meeting contributed to this list!
More than just me fell asleep while reading Why We Sleep
Too clinical and not entertaining enough
First half of the book was repetitive, boring
Better book to skip through rather than read cover-to-cover
Sweeping generalizations about best sleep habits
More attention on working people than on those moving into
their retirement years, thus less relevant to some of us
Everybody at
the meeting admitted to having some sleep problems. I handed out several sleep scales
for everyone to look at. It’s easy to find these online, and there are probably
more:
The Pittsburgh Sweep Quality Index with some instructions for
evaluating it.
SATED Questionnaire
The Epworth Sleepiness Scale
Sleep Scale from the Medical Outcomes Study
When we began
discussing the questions, there were a few that were trick questions, e.g., Question
#1 The author didn’t mention any organs of the body that don’t benefit from
sleep.
Question #2 Making
a list of consequences of not getting enough sleep regularly: Some of us added
some consequences that weren’t mentioned in the book:
Susan: Memory
retention (this valid consequence was dealt with by some experiments the author
described later in the book)
Marcia: The
tiredness nurses experience working a 12-hour shift regularly (not to mention their
extra shifts and taking over shifts to help co-workers).
Cindy: Young
children can develop symptoms of autism by not sleeping enough.
Joyce: Sleep-deprived
children can be diagnosed, sometimes incorrectly, with ADHD (attention-deficit
hyperactivity disorder).
We talked
some about the studies Walker described. Among the questions, there was a listing
of a critical article someone had written about Why We Sleep accusing
the author of massaging the data from the studies he described.
Joyce said that the statistics in
the studies tended to be very detailed, and in some cases very large numbers
were used. She explained that the larger the study sample (number of people,
rats, etc.), the smaller the differences the study can detect. In some studies, very small amounts were said
to be doubled or tripled, but these numbers could refer to “statistical
significance,” which is measured in very small decimal numbers. When, for
example, a statistical significance of 0.003 is doubled, that can indicate as small
an amount as 0.006, whereas use of the word “doubled” gives the reader the
impression that the significance was large. We had some good discussion about
the studies and the criticisms.
We all
enjoyed a quote from the book that Marcia read to us about what the obstetrician
might say to a brand new mother right after delivery: “Your child will, for the
rest of his life, repeatedly lapse into a state of apparent coma; and while his
body lies still, his mind will oft be filled with stunning bizarre
hallucinations.”
Our
discussion ranged from studies to sleep history to sleep deficits working
people have because of schedules, long drives, and conflicting family obligations.
Thinking of children, we discussed sleep needs, school activities that meet
before and after the core school day, and the problems that can arise from lack
of enough sleep and often be ignored or misdiagnosed. I thought we touched on much
of the variety of sleep-related topics in the book. We agreed that
the book is a valuable study of sleep and has good recommendations in it!
