Dr Michael Mosley - Fast Asleep: Improve Brain Function, Lose Weight, Boost Your Mood, Reduce Stress, and Become a Better Sleeper

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Originally published in Great Britain in 2020 by Short Books

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Mosley, Michael, 1957 author.

Title: Fast asleep : improve brain function, lose weight, boost your mood, reduce stress, and become a better sleeper / Dr. Michael Mosley.

Description: New York : Atria Books, [2020] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2020011971 (print) | LCCN 2020011972 (ebook) | ISBN 9781982106928 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781982106942 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: SleepPopular works. | Sleep disordersPopular works. | LCGFT: Cookbooks

Classification: LCC RA786 .M68 2020 (print) | LCC RA786 (ebook) | DDC 613.7/94dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020011971

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020011972

ISBN 978-1-9821-0692-8

ISBN 978-1-9821-0694-2 (ebook)

INTRODUCTION

S leep is something we all do; in fact, we spend around a third of our lives in this strange, unconscious state. And yet until recently we understood very little about what sleep is for, how much we need, and the role that dreams play in improving our mental health.

The good news is that over the last 20 years there has been a revolution in our understanding of sleep and just how important it is. Not so long ago it was fashionable to brag that you hardly slept at all, and the mark of a successful businessperson or politician was their ability to get by on very little shut-eye. Former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher was held up as a shining example of someone who could operate without much sleep (which turned out to be a carefully cultivated myth), while I remember being told by a grizzled medical consultant, when I complained about the impact that lack of sleep was having on my empathy and judgment, that sleep is for wimps. Or, as another put it: Theres plenty of time to sleep when you are dead.

Our current attitudes toward sleep are very different. Thanks to recent research, we know that too little sleep can devastate your body, brain, and microbiome (gut bacteria), dramatically increasing your risk of developing a range of chronic conditions such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, and dementia.

And, when it comes to sleep, its not just about quantity, but about quality, too. We have learned, through extensive sleep studies, that if you dont get enough of the right sort of sleep, you increase your risk of depression and memory problems. Which is all very worrying, particularly if, like a third of the adult population, you suffer from insomnia.

Fortunately, there are surprising and highly effective ways to improve your sleep quality, ensuring you fall asleep rapidly, get plenty of deep sleep, and wake up feeling refreshed. This, in turn, should boost your happiness, creativity, and even life expectancy.

The reason I particularly wanted to write this book is because I am obsessed by sleep and have been for many years, not just from a science perspective, but also on a deeply personal level. For the last 20 years, I have suffered quite badly from intermittent insomnia, to the point where I was in real despair. I wanted to find out what I was doing wrong and, of course, I wanted to find out what I could do to make it better.

I wasnt always a poor sleeper. When I was a teenager, I could sleep anytime, anywhere. I once slept in a photo booth (I had missed the last train home). Another time I slept in a telephone kiosk. I never worried about going to sleep or staying asleep, because that came naturally.

I didnt always get a good nights sleep, but that was my choice. Like most teenagers, I was keen to burn the candle at both ends. As a medical student, I often stayed up partying, then went straight into some feverish last-minute cramming. Which I now realize was wildly counterproductive. You need sleep to consolidate your memories, as I will explain in this book.

As my medical training progressed, sleep became ever more precious. I found I just couldnt function any longer on a few hours sleep a night. I became intensely irritable and Im sure that both my judgment and my empathy were impaired. But, even so, I could still go to sleep and stay deeply asleep for hours when I was given the chance. Despite the disruption to my sleep pattern caused by the irregular hours I had to work, I never had any problem drifting off.

Then, as I entered my late twenties, everything changed. By then I was married and I had started a new career in television. The hours were long and unpredictable, though nothing like as bad as in medicine. At this time my wife, Clare, was working as a junior doctor and regularly working 120 hours a week. It was not unusual for her to be on duty for three or four days with only a few hours of broken sleep a night, which blunted her thinking. She told me that after one particularly grueling week, she briefly fell asleep standing, during an operation. Fortunately, she woke up before anyone noticed.

Not only did work absorb almost every waking hour, it also began to intrude on our sleep. On the occasions that Clare was actually sleeping at home, she would regularly wake me up in the middle of the night to help her look for patients, which in her sleep-deprived state she was convinced were lost in the cupboards or waiting for her downstairs. Clare has parasomnia, a quite common set of sometimes bizarre nocturnal behaviors, which include a tendency toward sleepwalking and sleep talking.