Part I. Preliminaries Page 1 1:. A Third of Life Page 3 A sleep-sick society? Page 5 The universal imperative Page 7 Half asleep Page 13 Nice, not naughty Page 15 Part II. Insufficiencies Page 17 2:. Sleep People Page 19 Are we sleep-deprived? Page 19 Are you sleep-deprived? Page 24 Reasons for not sleeping Page 26 Ancient and modern Page 29 Sleepy drivers Page 33 Sleepy pilots Page 38 Sleepy doctors Page 41 The madness of politicians Page 43 Truly, madly, sleepily Page 48 The price of eternal vigilance is liberty Page 50 3:. Dead Tired Page 52 Sleepiness Page 52 Fighting the beast Page 55 A soil for peevishness Page 59 Tired people are stupid and reckless Page 61 Alcohol, beauty and old age Page 65 Champion wakers Page 68 Uses and abuses Page 71 4:. The Golden Chain Page 71 A waking death Page 76 Body and soul Page 78 Sleep, immunity and healthy Page 79 The Battle of Stalingrad Page 82 Part III. Mechanisms Page 87 5:. The Shapes of Sleep Page 89 Measuring sleep Page 90 Falling asleep again, what am I to do? Page 92 The sleep cycle Page 97 The paradoxical world of REM Page 99 The sleep cycle continued Page 103 Waking up Page 106 The quality of sleep Page 109 Meditating - or only sleeping? Page 110 6:. Morpheus Undressed Page 113 The rhythms of life Page 114 So SAD Page 121 Lark and owls Page 122 Genes and sleep Page 127 A sleeplessness that kills Page 130 7:. Strange Tales of Erections and Yawning Page 132 Nocturnal erections Page 132 The mystery of yawning Page 138 8:. Friends and Enemies of Sleep Page 142 Brother caffeine Page 142 Sister alcohol Page 152 Tobacco Page 155 Food for sleep Page 156 Exercise is bunk, isn't it? Page 159 Things that go bump in the night Page 161 Shift work Page 163 Poppy, mandragora and drowsy syrups Page 165 Hypnotic exotica Page 168 Part IV. Dreams Page 171 9:. The Children of an Idle Brain? Page 173 To sleep, perchance . . . Page 173 Do flies dream? Page 178 A dream within a dream? Page 179 Dreaming as madness Page 183 Are dreams meaningful? Page 186 Like wine through water Page 193 Can dreams be sinful? Page 195 10:. A Second Life Page 197 A creative state Page 197 Stevenson's Brownies Page 204 Lucid dreams Page 206 The great dreamer Page 212 Part V. Origins Page 219 11:. From Egg to Grave Page 221 Screaming babies Page 222 Bad children Page 229 Yawning youth Page 233 Old and grey and full of sleep Page 236 12:. The Reason of Sleep Page 240 The evolution of sleep Page 241 What is sleep for? Page 243 What is REM sleep for? Page 245 Reverse learning Page 247 To sleep, perchance to learn Page 249 Should machines sleep? Page 254 Part VI. Problems Page 255 13:. Bad Sleepers Page 257 An intolerable lucidity Page 258 Why can't you sleep? Page 230 Storm and stress and sleep Page 263 What to do? Page 265 Staying awake Page 267 14:. Dark Night Page 271 Walking and talking Page 271 Nightmares, night terrors, sleep paralysis and the Old Hag Page 274 Moving sleep Page 278 Midnight feasting Page 279 Soggy sheets Page 280 Aching heads Page 282 Troubled guts Page 283 Troubled minds Page 285 Sudden nocturnal death Page 287 Narcolepsy Page 288 15:. Pickwickian Problems Page 291 The wonderful world of snoring Page 291 Silence is golden Page 296 Breathless in bed Page 297 Consequences - mostly dire Page 303 Unblocking those tubes Page 308 Part VII. Pleasures Page 313 16:. And So to Bed Page 315 A brief history of beds Page 317 Sleeping partners Page 324 17:. An Excellent Thing Page 330 Puritans and hypocrites Page 330 Naps, nappers and napping Page 334 Sweet dreams Page 340 Blessed oblivion Page 343 Give sleep a chance Page 344 In praise of horizontalism Page 346 Acknowledgements Page 348 References Page 349 Index Page 399