Alice Gregory - Nodding Off: The Science of Sleep from Cradle to Grave

Also available in the Bloomsbury Sigma series:

Sex on Earth by Jules Howard

p53: The Gene that Cracked the Cancer Code by Sue Armstrong

Atoms Under the Floorboards by Chris Woodford

Spirals in Time by Helen Scales

Chilled by Tom Jackson

A is for Arsenic by Kathryn Harkup

Breaking the Chains of Gravity by Amy Shira Teitel

Suspicious Minds by Rob Brotherton

Herding Hemingways Cats by Kat Arney

Electronic Dreams by Tom Lean

Sorting the Beef from the Bull by Richard Evershed and Nicola Temple

Death on Earth by Jules Howard

The Tyrannosaur Chronicles by David Hone

Soccermatics by David Sumpter

Big Data by Timandra Harkness

Goldilocks and the Water Bears by Louisa Preston

Science and the City by Laurie Winkless

Bring Back the King by Helen Pilcher

Furry Logic by Matin Durrani and Liz Kalaugher

Built on Bones by Brenna Hassett

My European Family by Karin Bojs

4th Rock from the Sun by Nicky Jenner

Patient H69 by Vanessa Potter

Catching Breath by Kathryn Lougheed

PIG/PORK by Pa Spry-Marqus

The Planet Factory by Elizabeth Tasker

Wonders Beyond Numbers by Johnny Ball

Immune by Catherine Carver

I, Mammal by Liam Drew

Reinventing the Wheel by Bronwen and Francis Percival

Making the Monster by Kathryn Harkup

Best Before by Nicola Temple

Catching Stardust by Natalie Starkey

Seeds of Science by Mark Lynas

Outnumbered by David Sumpter

Eye of the Shoal by Helen Scales

To my parents Jo and Gerry, my husband
The Golden Wolf, and my occasionally
nocturnal children Hector and Orson.
Thank you.

Contents

First and foremost, thank you to my boys Hector and Orson for their endless energy but equally for agreeing to sleep once in a while so I could work on this book. To my beloved husband, The Golden Wolf (AKA Paul Taylor) Im grateful for everything, but perhaps most of all my daily zeitgeber of coffee in bed. To my parents Joanna and Gerry Gregory, for no doubt allowing me to disrupt your sleep regularly throughout the years.

Thanks to Jim Martin, Bloomsbury publisher and friend, who proved that he was far from a 1980s executive, by getting the importance of sleep straight away. I am also grateful to Anna MacDiarmid for her input and support throughout and to my excellent copy editor Emily Kearns. Thanks also to the superb illustrator Marc Dando. I have a lot to thank the other Bloomsbury authors for too, including Rob Brotherton, Liam Drew, Vanessa Potter, Laurie Winkless and Helen Scales and to the additional members of Neuwrite including Roma Agrawal and Christine Dixon.

A particular thanks to the many sleep experts for their generous input whether providing feedback, quotes, flagging additional interesting articles or for their general kindness. Their help has been truly invaluable, however any errors in the text are all mine. These experts include Daniel Buysse, Erika Forbes, Lisa Meltzer, Brian Sharpless, Sarah Blunden, Malcolm von Schantz, Brant Hasler, Michael Grandner, Michael Gradisar, Roger Ekirch, Stephanie Crowley-McWilliam, Luci Wiggs, Kristin Knutson, Jason Ong, Nicola Barclay, Dan Denis, Megan Crawford, Colin Espie, Simon Archer, Mike Parsons, Dieter Riemann, Candice Alfano, Peter Franzen, Rotem Perach, Sibah Hassan, Wendy Troxel and Kira Vibe Jespersen.

Other academics have also provided invaluable support or feedback, including my dear friend Essi Viding, as well as Ian Craig, Tim Matthews, Louise Arseneault, Angelica Ronald, Tom OConnor, Lucy Foulkes, Jon Mill, Chloe Wong and Richard Rowe. Thanks too to the many academics who have made a huge difference to my career, including Allison Harvey for introducing me to sleep research; Avi Sadeh, wonderful collaborator and friend whose inspiration and advice I miss so greatly; and Thalia Eley, Avshalom Caspi and Temi Moffitt who have been my main mentors, supporting me throughout my career becoming both role models and friends. I am also incredibly grateful to the many students and collaborators who have taught me so much and whose work I have described in this book.

Thanks also to my beloved family and friends for sharing their excitement about this project. There are too many to name all here but a few stand out, including Mary Anderson-Ford for breezily renaming this book Nodding Off , reading two drafts, and her friendship and enthusiasm throughout. James Smithies was incredibly supportive, entertaining my kids and offering his time and expertise. He kindly read every chapter multiple times, despite this not being a classics book. Thanks also to Rashad Braimah and Gabriele Esu for their kindness and tips along the way. Thanks too to my sister Anna Gregory for commenting on an early draft and to her husband Joe Shrapnel. Thanks to Christy Kirkpatrick for her inside publishing knowledge and tips, as well as her friendship. I am also grateful to Ed Fitzhugh, Nick Raggett, Lynne Huby, Esther Paterson, Ali Newport, Ciara McEwen, Bryony Weale, Joanne Jensen, Ed Horrox, Adriana Martyr, Gerry Girou, Maria Napolitano, Nizar El-Chamaa, Rachel Jupp, Rebecca Mitchell, Jenny Stock, Kitty Travers, Hiroe Baba and Ana Richmond. Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa The Heap for (together with my parents) looking after my wolf pups, allowing me to write this book.

I am grateful to my friends and colleagues at Goldsmiths. In particular to Chris French for convincing me not to give up at any of the various hurdles (and for being an excellent luncheon companion). He also read the entire book and has given support throughout. Im also particularly grateful to Yulia Kovas, Lauren Stewart, Caspar Addyman and Gustav Kuhn who have read early chapters or sections of this book. And Joydeep Bhattacharya for his feedback on the Figure.

Thanks to the many special children in my life: my nephews Holden and Harlan, as well as Felix, Andre, William, Harry, Toby and Baby Alice.

Finally, to the countless people who have allowed me to include their own experiences and anecdotes (anonymised) in this book: I am immensely grateful and wish you lots of restful sleep in the years ahead.

Anecdotes are provided to illustrate points made in this book. Apart from those referring to celebrities or scientists, names and details have been altered to protect anonymity. The author is not clinically trained, but is a sleep researcher. Some tips for improving sleep are provided throughout this book. However, before making any alterations to your lifestyle you should talk to your doctor who can consider your personal circumstances and whether changes would be appropriate for you.

Bleary-eyed from weeks of partying in sticky-carpeted nightclubs, I slotted myself into the third row of a lecture hall in Oxford. I was attending the last class of term on a course covering mental illness and was preparing for a kip. Sleep was calling and I promised myself that I would study everything on the reading list in exchange for some shut-eye. But I didnt nod off. I listened and hungrily digested every single word.

For an hour, Allison Harvey then a newly minted lecturer in the Department of Psychology, now a professor at Berkeley, University of California mesmerised us. Her subject was what I was lacking: sleep. Thinking about it, it seemed odd that despite having spent three years learning about the mind and behaviour, I couldnt recall any other lectures on this topic. And yet Harvey was arguing that our slumber is essential to our waking existence.