The author of Why We Sleep (2018), Matthew Walker, is Professor of neuroscience and psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a world authority on sleep.
Insufficient sleep can adversely impact a person with disability in multiple ways, including:
- Impairing performance at work, and in life generally, thus adding a burden to what may already be a challenging daily routine.
- Reducing opportunity for managers to stay abreast of policies in support of people with disability because:
- Poor sleep reduces performance and leads a higher work volume because of reduced efficiency and effectiveness, leaving less time to read material often considered less important in any case – as its not core business related, and:
- Reduces comprehension and recall of what is read.
- Insufficient sleep can make managers less empathic, responsive, and ethical in their conduct. So, not only are they less aware of their duties to be inclusive, they are less inclined to be so, as well. This applies to everybody, of course.
- People with disability can also be less inclined to stand up for their rights, and more inclined to endure non-inclusive and unempathic conduct.
- Insufficient sleep can exacerbate adverse health conditions by increasing risk of some (sometimes in surprising ways); and lowering the effectiveness of the immune system for others.
- Insufficient sleep can lead to the use of solutions that are either ineffective or dangerous (like sleeping tablets).
Walker says that sleep deprivation has become an epidemic in our culture because of lifestyle patterns, what and when we eat and drink, and the way we use tech like mobile phones, tablets, and computers.
If you are struggling to get through the day, or have difficulty getting to sleep, this book is a sobering opportunity to review what you are doing.
Sleep is fundamental to our lives, and yet we know so little of it. I bought the audiobook out of curiosity.
Now there’s a lot of things I am now going to do differently – or not all, or not so much.
Why We Sleep is exceptionally well written. I have the audiobook. It’s easy to listen to, though alarming at times when I am disabused of foolish notions and beliefs that are just plain wrong.
The book is readily available as an audiobook on Audible, as an ebook on Kindle, as a paperback, hardcover, or as an audio CD.