The Promise of Sleep ─ A Pioneer in Sleep Medicine Explores the Vital Connection Between Health, Happiness, and a Good Night's Sleep

Sleep better, live longer with the groundbreaking information and step-by-step program in this revolutionary book.

Healthful sleep has been empirically proven to be the single most important factor in predicting longevity, more influential than diet, exercise, or heredity. And yet we are a sleep-sick society, ignorant of the facts of sleep--and the price of sleep deprivation. In this groundbreaking book, based on decades of study on the frontiers of sleep science, Dr. William Dement, founder and director of the Stanford University Sleep Research Center, explains what happens when we sleep, when we don't, and how we can reclaim the most powerful--and underrated--health miracle of all.

Taking us on a fascinating tour of our sleeping body and mind, Dr. Dement reveals the price we have paid for ignoring sleep--an epidemic of heart disease, 33 percent of traffic-fatigue-related accidents, and immeasurable mental and psychological disadvantages. And he offers a hands-on prescription for vibrant good health and longevity, including...self-tests to determine how much sleep you really need...the role of prescription and over-the-counter sleeping aids...the latest research on how sleep affects the immune system...how to combat insomnia, snoring, and jet lag...plus information on sleep disorder clinics nationwide, Web sites, and more.

Taking readers on a fascinating tour of our sleeping body and mind,

Dr. William C. Dement reveals the price paid for ignoring sleep--an epidemic of heart disease, traffic-fatigue-related accidents (responsible for a full third of all traffic accidents), and immeasurable mental and psychological disadvantages. Offering a hands-on prescription for vibrant good health and longevity, THE PROMISE OF SLEEP includes self-tests to determine how much sleep you really need, full information on the role of prescription and over-the-counter sleeping aids, the latest research on how sleep affects the immune system, helpful methods for combating insomnia, snoring, and jet lag, plus information on sleep disorder clinics nationwide, sleep disorder Web sites, and more. -->

William C. Dement, M.D., Ph.D., is the world's leading authority on sleep, sleep deprivation, and the diagnosis and treatment of sleep disorders. In 1970 he founded the world's first sleep disorders center at Stanford University. In 1975 he launched the American Sleep Disorders Association and served as president for its first twelve years. Each year since 1971 he has taught the popular "Sleep and Dreams" course at Stanford University and has written the first undergraduate textbook in the field. He was also chairman of the National Commission on Sleep Disorders Research, whose final report led directly to the creation of a new agency within the National Institutes of Health, the National Center on Sleep Disorders Research. He lives with his family in northern California.

Christopher Vaughan is the author of How Life Begins: The Science of Life in the Womb, named as one of the best books of 1996 by the National Association of Libraries. He lives in Palo Alto, California, with his wife and two children.