Insomnia is a sleep disorder that affects people worldwide. This text provides those with sleep problems or chronic insomnia an overview of research on the causes of sleep loss and the physical effects of insomnia, as well as possible treatments. Disorders are summarized and illustrated with real-life stories about sleep experiences and remedies. This is a concise guide to help readers improve their sleep habits and lives.

Clinical practice related to sleep problems and sleep disorders has been expanding rapidly in the last few years, but scientific research is not keeping pace. Sleep apnea, insomnia, and restless legs syndrome are three examples of very common disorders for which we have little biological information. This new book cuts across a variety of medical disciplines such as neurology, pulmonology, pediatrics, internal medicine, psychiatry, psychology, otolaryngology, and nursing, as well as other medical practices with an interest in the management of sleep pathology. This area of research is not limited to very young and old patientsâ€"sleep disorders reach across all ages and ethnicities. Sleep Disorders and Sleep Deprivation presents a structured analysis that explores the following: Improving awareness among the general public and health care professionals. Increasing investment in interdisciplinary somnology and sleep medicine research training and mentoring activities. Validating and developing new and existing technologies for diagnosis and treatment. This book will be of interest to those looking to learn more about the enormous public health burden of sleep disorders and sleep deprivation and the strikingly limited capacity of the health care enterprise to identify and treat the majority of individuals suffering from sleep problems.

The first source on insomnia treatment since the advancement of newer drug options and cognitive behavioral therapies, Insomnia: Diagnosis and Treatment presents a comprehensive reference on the complications, evaluation, and treatment of insomnia. Ideal for sleep medicine specialists, psychiatrists, and neurologists, this text uses a multi-discipl

“An insomniac’s ideal sleep aid—and that’s a compliment. With her collage of ruminations about sleeplessness, [Benjamin] promises no real cure . . . Her slim book is what the doctor ordered.”—The Atlantic Insomnia is on the rise. Villainous and unforgiving, it’s the enemy o f energy and focus, the thief of our repose. But can insomnia be an ally, too, a validator of the present moment, of edginess and creativity? Marina Benjamin takes on her personal experience of the condition—her struggles with it, her insomniac highs, and her dawning awareness that states of sleeplessness grant us valuable insights into the workings of our unconscious minds. Although insomnia is rarely entirely welcome, Benjamin treats it less as an affliction than as an encounter that she engages with and plumbs. She adds new dimensions to both our understanding of sleep (and going without it) and of night, and how we perceive darkness. Along the way, Insomnia trips through illuminating material from literature, art, philosophy, psychology, pop culture, and more. Benjamin pays particular attention to the relationship between women and sleep—Penelope up all night, unraveling her day’s weaving for Odysseus; the Pre–Raphaelite artists’ depictions of deeply sleeping women; and the worries that keep contemporary females awake. Insomnia is an intense, lyrical, witty, and humane exploration of a state we too often consider only superficially. “This is the song of insomnia, and I shall sing it,” Marina Benjamin declares.

From renowned ABC News anchor/correspondent and former insomniac Diane Macedo, comes a practical, user-friendly guide to getting better sleep. The Sleep Fix flips the switch on common advice, illuminating the reporter’s relentless search for how to get a good night’s sleep and the surprising, scientific, and practical solutions she found along the way. Roughly thirty percent of the population is estimated to be living with insomnia, while many more unknowingly suffer from other sleep disorders. In The Sleep Fix, Macedo aims to change that with perspective-shifting research and easy-to-implement solutions based not just on science and experts, but also her own years-long struggle. As an early-morning reporter and overnight news anchor, Macedo learned the hard way how valuable sleep is, and how it affects everything from our heart to our brain to our immune system. The longer Macedo struggled, the more her health deteriorated. Desperate, she tried standard sleep tip after standard sleep tip, but nothing worked - instead, it made her worse. Finally, after developing a tolerance to sleeping pills, Macedo decided to attack the problem as a journalist, interviewing sleep experts from all over the world to get to the bottom of what really keeps us from sleeping—and the various ways to fix it. As Macedo explains, the solution to catching zzz’s isn’t as simple as giving up caffeine, or putting away your phone before bed. With her down-to-earth explanations and humor, she instead teaches us how to: • Understand sleep biology • Identify sleep obstacles • Flag sleep myths and separate fact from fiction • Try counterintuitive approaches • Shift our mindset Most importantly, Macedo — a busy, working mom — teaches us how to adjust and fit these solutions into our everyday lives. Offering expert wisdom, cutting-edge research, intimate sleep stories from public figures, and actionable advice, The Sleep Fix is the tell-it-like-it-is guide this sleep-deprived world has been waiting for.

“Sleeplessness gets the Susan Sontag illness-as-metaphor treatment in this pensive, compact, lyrical inquiry into the author’s nighttime demons.” —Kirkus Reviews In 2016, Samantha Harvey began to lose sleep. She tried everything to appease her wakefulness: from medication to therapy, changes in her diet to changes in her living arrangements. Nothing seemed to help. The Shapeless Unease is Harvey’s darkly funny and deeply intelligent anatomy of her insomnia, an immersive interior monologue of a year without one of the most basic human needs. Original and profound, and narrated with a lucid breathlessness, this is a startlingly insightful exploration of memory, writing and influence, death and the will to survive, from “this generation’s Virginia Woolf” (Telegraph). “Captures the essence of fractious emotions—anxiety, fear, grief, rage—in prose so elegant, so luminous, it practically shines from the page. Harvey is a hugely talented writer, and this is a book to relish.” —Sarah Waters, New York Times–bestselling author “Harvey writes with hypnotic power and poetic precision about—well, about everything: grief, pain, memory, family, the night sky, a lake at sunset, what it means to dream and what it means to suffer and survive . . . The big surprise is that this book about ‘shapeless unease’ is, in the end, a glittering, playful and, yes, joyful celebration of that glorious gift of glorious life.” —Daily Mail “What a spectacularly good book. It is so controlled and yet so wild . . . easily one of the truest and best books I’ve read about what it’s like to be alive now, in this country.” —Max Porter, award-winning author of Lanny

Treatment of Late Life Insomnia is an extremely valuable, authoritative and comprehensive resource not only for practitioners of sleep medicine but also for any health-care practitioner who finds themselves working with the elderly population. —Michael V. Vitiello, Ph.D. Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington & Editor in Chief (for the Americas) of Sleep Medicine Reviews Insomnia occurs among older adults (65+ years) at a rate 50% to 100% higher than in younger age groups, and the consequences of insomnia in the elderly are much more severe than in younger age groups. Elders who exhibit a chronic pattern of insomnia dwell on their anticipation of a poor night′s sleep. In many cases, this worry takes on an obsessive quality that degrades multiple aspects of the individual′s life. In the past decade there has been a great deal of clinical research directed toward the development of effective interventions for insomnia among older adults. Methods of insomnia assessment have been developed and key diagnostic issues have crystallized. Yet until now, no book has gathered together this flourishing body of literature. Treatment of Late-Life Insomnia provides a comprehensive research/clinical accounting of insomnia treatment in older adults. The first section of the book, Overview, describes typical normal and disturbed sleep patterns in older adults, demographics, and methods of evaluation and differential diagnosis. The core of the book, the middle section, entitled Intervention Strategies, reviews the clinical outcome research of the major treatments for late-life insomnia and teaches the clinical procedures in the style of a clinical handbook. The final section, Special Treatment Topics, explores cutting-edge research and methods of clinical management for pressing topics in late-life insomnia that have only recently attracted systematic investigation. This book is geared toward students, scientists, and health practitioners engaged in the areas of geriatrics, sleep disorders, and behavioral medicine. These disciplines cut across a wide variety of professional groups that would find such a book useful, including psychology, psychiatry, counseling, internal medicine, geriatric medicine, nursing, and social work.

Guidance for the restless insomniac--analysis and philosophy combine to provide comfort on even the longest of sleepless nights. Not being able to sleep is deeply frightening. We panic about our ability to cope with the demands of the next day; we panic that we are panicking; the possibility of sleep recedes ever further as the clock counts down to another exhausted, irritable dawn. Our societies have learnt to treat insomnia with the best-applied discipline we know: medicine--in particular, with pills powerful enough to wrestle consciousness into submission. But there are other things to do besides, or alongside, medicalising insomnia. We can reflect on our sleeplessness, define it to ourselves and others, try to understand where it springs from in human nature and speculate on what it might--in its own confused way--be trying to tell us. This book is an eloquent guide to, and companion through, the long sleepless hours of the night. We come away from its soothing pages informed, consoled and armed with insights that will make us feel a lot less alone--as we wait for sleep, eventually, to come.

Break the cycle of anxious thinking and rumination that keeps you up at night. With this much-needed guide, you’ll learn to quiet your mind, relax your body, feel less tense, and finally get the sleep you need. Sleep plays a crucial role in our waking lives. While we sleep, our bodies are recharging with energy, damaged tissue is repaired, and our memories are stored. When we don't get enough sleep, we are tired, less positive, less motivated, less focused, and more likely to feel depressed. We may even experience more intense cravings for high-fat, sugar-rich foods. And yet, despite the myriad advantages of getting a good night's sleep, countless people suffer from chronic insomnia. If you’re one of them, this book can help. In this guide, a trained mindfulness expert teams up with a behavioral sleep specialist to offer evidence-based meditations and an innovative four-week protocol to address the emotional stresses and anxieties that lie at the root of sleep issues. You’ll learn practices grounded in mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), mindful self-compassion (MSC), and guided mindfulness and acceptance for insomnia (GMATI) to alleviate the mental, emotional, and physical suffering caused by insomnia. You’ll also learn to identify both internal and external factors that may be compromising your sleep, and develop a plan to address these issues. There is nothing we can do to “make” ourselves fall asleep. In many ways, this is why insomnia can be so maddening. But what we can do is help create the conditions necessary for healthy slumber. The mindfulness tools in this book will help you do exactly that.

Proceedings of a Japanese-German International Symposium held in Erfurt, Germany, October 9-10, 1996