Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Sleep: Make sure you get enough!


Today's NYTimes's Science section has a special feature on sleep, with quite a few articles covering lots of different things. This article by Jane Brody, for example, is on the effects of too little sleep on academics (and other things too); its emphasis is similar to that in Po Bronson's article we linked to a few days ago.

Another article examines the West's taboo proscription against kids co-sleeping with their parents. ["Ask parents if they sleep with their kids, and most will say no. But there is evidence that the prevalence of bed sharing is far greater than reported."]

And finally, this page has some nice quotes from scientists, philosophers, poets and other celebrities. Here's one from Leon Lederman, a physics Nobel winner:

My experience was that one can survive on two to three hours of sleep per night — with occasional naps — for two or three weeks. After that, all pretenses of rationality were blown. I’ve since asked sleep scientists what happens to your brain in a three-minute nap that restores your ability to drive, teach, think and yell at grad students. They’ve never answered.

2 Comments:

  1. Anonymous said...

    Do you know more about the taboo of kids sleeping with their parents? When I was a kid my only options were sleep in bed with parents and siblings or sleep on the floor :)

    Biswajit

  2. Blue said...

    When left to its own devices my body will sleep for nine hours straight. Usually nine hours exactly. Strange.

    I've always thought it was a bit unfair, too. Why couldn't I be like the NYT person whose body only sleeps for seven?