Counting Sheep: The Science and Pleasure of Sleep and Dreams - Paul Martin

...local library, I was intrigued. Counting Sheep - The Science and Pleasures of Sleep and Dreams . . . it had to be worth a read, surely? Maybe it would provide me with a clue . . .

I'd never heard of Paul Martin before, but the first page tells me that he has attended Cambridge University (gaining a PhD in behavioural biology) and was a Harkness Fellow in the School of Medicine at Stanford University, that he lectured at Cambridge University, ...
...I found my copy of Counting Sheep at Waterstones in Preston for £7.99 four years ago, but checking Amazon today, it seems to be available only in the "Used and New" section. Waterstones' website says it isn't available to buy online but might be found in-store, but it is listed on HarperCollins' website priced £7.99, at this link:

http://www.harpercollins.co.uk/Our_Titles/Pages/Home.aspx?objID=9074   ... more

Sleep - one pastime I have always been enraptured with. I'm told I was a great sleeper as a baby, at nursery school I vividly remember struggling to get up in the morning (even a the age of three), but I've also had a tortured relationship with sleep since my teenage years. Between being too excited to sleep all night after I thought my crush-of-three-years had asked me out at eighteen, being too scared to go to sleep after watching Silence of the Lambs aged 14 in case Anthony Hopkins appeared in my bedroom and tried to eat me (I know, I know - but I had a wild imagination) and spending time in halls of residence only to discover that they were floodlit at night and impossible to sleep in with fire doors banging all over the places, I have finally admitted it - I cannot sleep!

So finding this book in the health/complementary medicine/alternative therapies section of our local library, I was intrigued. Counting Sheep - The Science and Pleasures of Sleep and Dreams . . . it had to be worth a read, surely? Maybe it would provide me with a clue . . .

I'd never heard of Paul Martin before, but the first page tells me that he has attended Cambridge University (gaining a PhD in behavioural biology) and was a Harkness Fellow in the School of Medicine at Stanford University, that he lectured at Cambridge University, was a civil servant in Whitehall and then became a science writer. Yet, as my dad might say, academic lists are all very interesting but can the man write a good book? I think he can.

Divided into seven sections - Preliminaries, Insufficiencies, Mechanisms, Dreams, Origins, Problems and Pleasures - the book starts with a good introduction to our relationship as humans with the importance of sleep and why we don't (and probably should) give the body the time to rest that it needs rather than feeling that we "must" get up early to look like efficient workers, keen students, willing public servants or whatever else we may be. One thing that strikes me about Paul Martin's writing is that it is so very accessible - he clearly has academic leanings and having being a civil servant, you might expect him to be able to churn out a lot of words without actually saying anything at all. But his style is about as far from verbose as you could hope to find, and he neither patronises his reader nor "shows off" by using complex, obscure words when shorter, more familiar ones will do. To give an example from early on in the book, Martin points out that - in the modern world - "the more conventionally successful you are, the less free time you will probably have. Having nothing to do is seen as a sign of worthlessness, while ceaseless activity signifies status and success". If you are the kind of person who has ever wondered why you have to be available at all times to help anyone who needs it (my dad, I must admit, built up a business on basically that principle of "24-7 support") and why we are so ashamed or embarrassed to say, "No, I know you need someone to do overtime tonight and yes, I do need the money, but I can't work because I'm tired and can't be at my best when I'm tired", you will probably love this book.

Something I particularly like (as an avid "collector of interesting quotes") is the way Paul Martin has sourced and made use of many quotes, whether from Thomas More in Utopia (he thinks More's vision of a people who give eight hours to sleep, eight to work and eight to leisure is an excellent way to split the day), Arthur Conan-Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories or even that famous flier, Charles Lindbergh. I don't think there is one of these snippets that doesn't stop and make you think - whether you're wondering how Lindbergh kept going on a long-flight and why he let people disturb his rest when he needed it so badly or whether you wonder why Sherlock Holmes thinks he can do without sleep. But for those of a less theoretical frame of mind, Martin also considers many other other examples and statistics - such as the experiment where a DJ tried to stay up for ten days flat and was so affected by his sleep deprivation that his personality changed drastically, the average amount of sleep that trainee doctors (and practising doctors, come to that!) get on night shift and how badly it might affect their ability to make major decisions. He even makes an excellent point about such catastrophes as the 1985 Challenger disaster and the Selby rail crash - that official hearings and enquiries always look for physical things to blame (mechanical failures etc) rather than for physiological and psychological factors (ie. that the tiredness of those preparing Challenger in time for the launch may have also led them to overlook important checks and details). Whether you believe that sleep deprivation can truly have such dangerous consequences or you're more sceptical, I can't dispute the fact that reading this book made me stop and think.

I don't quite know what you'd categorise this book as - it's not what I think of as "new age", and the quote from the Evening Standard on the back cover calls it "a popular science book" - but I found it very interesting and definitely thought-provoking. It provides some very valuable material about sleep and, although I was reading it with a view to simply finding out more about sleep (and possibly dreams), I actually think it would be an excellent book to put in front of any sleep-deprived person you know (or perhaps a very tired person who is trying to convince themselves that they can manage on minimal rest).

I don't think it's the kind of book that will make you change your life drastically - it would be a bit unrealistic to expect a workaholic to close the book, phone their boss and hand in their notice then find a lifestyle that enables them to work less and rest more - but it might make you stop and think about whether you really need to check your e-mails last thing at night in bed, or whether you absolutely have to go to that all-night party you're expected to attend after a long day at work, or whether you'd be better off running a hot bath and letting your mind chill out instead.

I found my copy of Counting Sheep at Waterstones in Preston for £7.99 four years ago, but checking Amazon today, it seems to be available only in the "Used and New" section. Waterstones' website says it isn't available to buy online but might be found in-store, but it is listed on HarperCollins' website priced £7.99, at this link:

http://www.harpercollins.co.uk/Our_Titles/Pages/Home.aspx?objID=9074  

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