Michael Breus - 22 May

This book is dedicated to everyone who has ever been on a diet and wondered why it didnt work .

The time, energy, and effort I put into this book is dedicated to my wife Lauren even though she sleeps with the TV, cat, and Chihuahua in our bed; and my wonderful children Mini Coop, the best son in the whole world, and Carson, who always reminds me that she is my girl and full of awesomeness. Remember, everything you do, you do better with a good nights sleep .

Part I:
The Science of Sleep Meets the Science of Weight Loss

I have a confession to make: I am obsessed with sleep and the dangers of sleep deprivation. A couple of years ago I passed out from exhaustion, broke my cheekbone, and got five stitches over my eye. Ever since then, Ive studied the ways sleep affects every aspect of our lives: work, relationships, and, especially, our health. In fact, in 2010 the Huffington Post launched Sleep Challenge in conjunction with Glamour magazine, and both editor-in-chief Cindi Leive and I asked our readers to join us in resolving to get more sleep. Michael Breus, the Sleep Doctor, provided medical expertise for the challenge, and his observations on the strong connection between weight loss and sufficient sleep were just one of the many discoveries that came from that challengealthough certainly one that many women will find compelling.

For me, getting enough sleep is much more than a health tip. It helps us access the keys to unlocking the big ideas that will change our world. As I said, my obsession with sleep started with a bangmore like a thud, actually. That was the sound of my face hitting the edge of my desk. It was April 2007. The night before, I arrived home from the airport at midnight, following a week-long tour of colleges with my daughter. I had agreed to her requestokay, it was more like a demandthat there be no checking of my BlackBerry during the day, which meant staying up very late at night catching up on work. That particular morning, I got up just after 5 a.m. to pretape a CNN show. I returned home and, after about an hour, began to feel cold.

Next thing I knew, I was lying on the floor, bloodied. I had passed out from exhaustion and banged my head on the way down. The result was a broken cheekbone and five stitches under my eyebrow.

Thats when I knew I needed to mend my estranged relationship with sleep. We had once been quite close, especially early in my career. But, as time went by, responsibilities piled up and we grew apart, taking each other for granted. Sometimes wed go days and barely see each other. However, when it comes to wakeup calls, few are as effective as the spilling of your own blood.

So sleep is back in my life. And the more I study the issueand the more I see how sleep deprived weve become as a nationthe more I realize that sleep is, in fact, the next big feminist issue.

Obviously, women have made great strides in all areas of society, especially the workplace. But our national delusion that the way to be ultraproductive is to cut back on sleep is particularly destructive for women. On average, single working women and working mothers actually get 1hours less sleep than the minimum 7hours the body needs to function.

This, really, is no surprise. Just because women have added responsibilities in the workplace doesnt mean the division of labor at home has changed accordingly.

In the macho boys club atmosphere that dominates many offices, women too often feel they have to overcompensate by working harder, longer, and later. In fact, lack of sleep has become a sort of virility symbol. I had dinner recently with a guy who kept bragging that he had gotten only 4 hours of sleep the night before. I wanted to tell himthough I didntthat our dinner would have been a lot more interesting if he had gotten 5. In the cult of no sleep, 7 a.m. is the new 9 a.m. Trying to make a breakfast appointment is now an exercise in sleep deprivation one-upmanship. Oh, hi, Arianna, yeah, eight is a bit late, but its fine because thatll give me time to play a few sets of tennis and get in a couple of conference calls to London first.

This has to stop. The scientific research is innot getting enough sleep is not a sign of virility.

Lack of sleep leads to an increased risk of high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, weakened immune system, anxiety, depression, and heart diseasethe risk for which goes up more for women than for men. Lack of sleep can also, I kid you not, give you a very bad hair day, since the stress of not sleeping accelerates female hair loss. And, as Dr. Breus shows, there is a direct line between the dark circles under your eyes and the extra inches around your waist!

Sleep deprivation is also involved in one of every six fatal car crashes. So, literally, it is killing us. And when its not killing us, its turning us into zombies. Its no coincidence, for example, that sleep deprivation is a key strategy of many cults. They force members to stay awake for extended periods because it degrades their decision-making ability and makes them more open to persuasion.

And its not only decision-making that suffers, but also memory and creativity. Sleep deprivation severely affects relational memory, which is the brains ability to combine and synthesize distinct facts. Its the sort of thinking that allows us to see the big picture and solve problems with creative and innovative breakthroughs.

But your brain just doesnt do it as well if you dont get enough sleep. Bill Clinton, who famously claimed to survive on only 5 hours of sleep, once admitted, Every important mistake Ive made in my life, Ive made because I was too tired.

Do you want more proof? Lack of sleep played a role in the Three Mile Island meltdown, the Exxon Valdez oil spill, and the explosion of the Challenger space shuttle.

If Lehman Brothers had been Lehman Brothers and Sisters, they might still be around. While the brothers were busy bragging about having gotten only 4 hours of sleep, some Lehman Sister might have noticed the iceberg looming up ahead, because thats the central part of leadership: seeing the icebergs before they hit the Titanic.

The prevailing culture tells us nothing succeeds like excess, and that working 70 hours a week is better than working 60. Were told that being plugged in 24/7 is expected, and that sleeping less and multitasking more are an express elevator to the top.

I couldnt disagree more. Its time for us to open our eyes to the value of shutting them.

Arianna Huffington

March 2011

I also want to thank the following people.

• My coauthor, Deb Bruce, PhD, without whom this book would never have been written. Thanks for getting this book out of my head and onto the paper.
• Arianna Huffington, for her amazing foreword and for continuing to bring the power of sleep out of the darkness and into the light.
• My father, Alan, who taught me that the key to any accomplishment is persistence. Amen, brother.
• Myra Brown, my business partner, friend, and guardian. Thanks, MB. Without your ideas, coaching, and outlines this book might never have been written.
• The whole Brown family: Dan, Hilary, Phoebe, Lili, and Dr. and Mrs. Goldstein, for putting up with all the crazy hours, stress, and late-night editing your wife, mom, and daughter has had to go through.