Sleep

I travel a lot each year, the kind that most people get anxious about, involving 10+ hr time changes. People are often surprised at how little this affects me and I am often asked to share my techniques. So I thought I'd take some time to write out what I have learned. Read More

Most people who come to see me complaining of fatigue are worried something is wrong with them physically but turn out only to be sleep deprived. Sleep seems to be something we all wish we did more, making us for the most part a chronically and persistently sleep-deprived society. Read More

Sleepiness is a major cause of motor vehicle accidents, and teenagers and young adults seem to be especially at risk. Teenage drivers are three times as likely to be involved in car accidents than middle age adult drivers, and studies have shown that 2/3 of sleepiness-related crashes occur in teens and young adults. Read More

Should you take that nap during the day, or plow through the rest of the day with the help of caffeine? How beneficial is napping for learning? How beneficial is a good night's sleep? What are the other positive outcomes of sleep? Fascinating new research, including a recent study conducted by Matthew Walker and his colleagues at UC Berkeley are helping to get a grip on these questions. Read More

There's been a lot of talk about sleep lately. When I wrote Insomniac, I felt like a lone voice decrying the dangers of sleep-deprivation, the toll sleep loss takes on our minds, bodies, moods. Read More

This week I was asked what the best strategy is for helping a child who is afraid of the dark fall asleep at night.

Some children REALLY don't like being left alone in the dark, and become anxious when the lights are turned off in their room. Instead of falling asleep, they become very alert, hearing goblins every time the house creaks, or burglars with each gust of wind outdoors. Read More

One is surprised when first learning that most of the sophisticated and intelligent processes in the brain are unconscious. In action production, the heavy lifting is done by unconscious processes. Read More

Also seen at the Huffington Post . Read More

Nice advice if you can follow it.

Over many years as a couples therapist I have observed that when a couple is angry at each other, one partner often deals with it by avoidance and falls dead asleep while the other can't fall asleep and glares at their partner sometimes feeling the urge to smack 'em. Read More