One way of discovering how any bodily organ does what it does is to study the effects produced when it goes wrong, and that’s as true of the sleeping brain as any other organ. The Secret World of Sleep is a book of case studies, the personal stories of patients who have passed through the Sleep Disorders Centre based at two hospitals, Guy’s and St. Thomas’s, in London.
    As the author puts it, “…while we think of our brains switching off at night, these patients illustrate that quite the opposite is true. The functions and dysfunctions of our nocturnal brains are as numerous and varied as those of the daytime, and influence every aspect of our waking lives too.” And some of the things people struggle with, for years, when sleep goes haywire are astonishing. For example, cases of people having sex in their sleep (or, more usually, attempting to have it) are so well-known this condition even has a name: sexomnia. What doesn’t have a name is climbing out of bed during the night, getting fully dressed and then driving a car for miles—without mishap and all while sound asleep. Or compulsively eating vast amounts of food at night, fast asleep.
    Then there’s cataplexy, an instant collapse into deep sleep triggered by a sudden emotion—laughing at a joke for instance. Can you imagine going through life half-afraid to laugh at anything funny for fear of keeling over in front of everybody? Narcolepsy is worse: this is excessive sleep, sleeping the majority of the time, and can include falling asleep without warning at any moment—while walking down the street say, or crossing a busy road, or just trying to do a day’s work. Then there are disorders of our internal body-clock: picture a 24-hour wall-clock running just a little too fast; every now and then it will be showing the right time, before creeping ahead again until, weeks later, it is the full twelve hours out of synch. Incredibly, there are people saddled with an internal clock just like that.
    The conventional view is that we are either awake or asleep, and one thing this book has taught me is that it’s not that clear-cut at all. Also, the brain isn’t awake or asleep as a unit either; some parts sleep while the rest is awake (I knew dolphins and birds such as swifts do this, but had no idea that, to a much lesser extent, so do we). One message that comes across from this book overall is of increasingly blurring “boundaries”—as much between “awake” and “asleep” as between the biological and psychological.
    To be honest, while the individual cases here are fascinating, I’m not sure I learned as much about sleep itself as I was hoping to. I did read this book out of interest in the brain though, rather than because of any sleep problems of my own; and that’s something it definitely has given me: a real appreciation of just how lucky I am that I don’t; a true appreciation, for the first time really, of a good night’s sleep. ( )

The Nocturnal Brain
5 Stars

A collection of case studies of patients attending the author's sleep clinic together with the medical and scientific explanations for the various 'lesions', i.e., disorders/conditions presented in each case.

The book is exceedingly well-written with a narrative style that makes the neurological terminology easy for the layperson to understand.

The subject matter is utterly fascinating and Dr. Leschziner's presentation, analysis and discussion kept me turning the pages.

In sum, one of the best non-fiction works I've read. ( )

“You can survive longer without food than without sleep. The fact that sleep is fundamental to life is unarguable, but in modern society, at least until recently, we have taken for granted that sleep simply happens, and is a necessary evil to allow us to live our waking lives.”

I’ve been plagued by insomnia since I was a teenager, and nothing has ever really resolved the issue, though I’ve tried everything from hypnotherapy to sleeping tablets. It’s something I’ve always just managed, but I am finding as I get older that its having increasingly negative effects. So I was curious as to what I might learn about disordered sleep in The Nocturnal Brain, from neurologist and sleep specialist Dr. Guy Leschziner.

In each chapter of The Nocturnal Brain, Leschziner introduces a patient with a particular sleep issue. He provides a case history, presented with commentary from the patient, and explains the diagnosis, causes and subsequent treatment. From snoring to sleep-walking, narcolepsy to night terrors, the disorders examined range from the common to the bizarre, and I found them all quite fascinating.

Leschziner has made a good attempt at making the science accessible for a lay person though at times it can become a little dense. What is clear is that for many people sleep is a complicated process. It can be affected by a combination of biological and psychological factors, and as such sleep medicine often requires a multidisciplinary approach.

I found The Nocturnal Brain to be an interesting and engaging read, and Leschziner has convinced me to look into arranging a consultation with a sleep specialist. ( )

This is a really neat look at our brain and sleep issues, but I do NOT recommend it if you are a hypochondriac. I found it fascinating and educational, though on the scary side as far as some of the illnesses / disorders discussed. (Thank goodness the really scary ones are also really rare.) ( )

I'm not a doctor so can't really say but all seems a bit sketchy and reaching. Was hoping for more science and fewer curious cases. ( )