Wide Awake at 3:00 A.M. by Choice or by Chance?

by Richard M. Coleman

Describes the effects of the biological clocks found in each human being, discusses shift work, jet lag, dreams, and insomnia, and looks at the purpose and stages of sleep

Genres: Psychology, Science

195 pages, Paperback

First published June 28, 1986

Reviews

[Chloe]

Ironically, this book was so interesting that it messed up my sleep schedule. Also, I was distraught upon learning that there used to be commercial flights on supersonic jets and they stopped???? WHY

[Kim Browers]

Even though this was written in the 80's, I found the content to be extremely educational. There was a practical list of what to do if you personally suffer from insomnia, as well as many study findings that talk about how to overcome poorly designed sleep schedules (by work, travel, or just personal lifestyle). I would recommend reading this if you're interested in the physiology of sleep. It was written for the average reader, and I didn't find the style to be too academic, making it a fast and enjoyable study of sleep.

[Tom]

A bit dated, published 30 years ago, but still informative.

[Jackson]

Now 3:00am just keeps coming up ... this is a good book to soothe sleeping fears and give sleeping advice to those with mid-night wakefulness

[Brenna]

This book provides a world history of anecdotal evidence behind our sleep patterns and how they function. If you like deep dives you may enjoy this read. Fascinating stuff.

[grundoon]

3.5 The current state of understanding as of 30 years ago, from a co-director of the Stanford Sleep Disorders Clinic, written for a lay audience. Certainly some interesting material touching upon biological rhythms, shiftwork, insomnia, jet lag and the general abandonment of such areas as dream research while waiting for technological leaps. Well done for its time (the context in which I'm rating it), and piques interest in the data and directions since.