Sleep : A Groundbreaking Guide to the Mysteries, the Problems, and the Solutions

We spend more than 200,000 hours sleeping in a lifetime, the equivalent of more than 8,000 days. Yet research has only just begun to decode the mysteries behind what can go wrong. Here, Dr. Carlos H. Schenck, one of the most prominent sleep doctors and researchers in the country, takes us on an incredible journey into the mechanisms of sleep, and the spectrum of disorders that can occur when these mechanisms go bizarrely awry.

Dr. Schenck discusses the causes and treatments for common problems-insomnia, restless legs syndrome, sleep apnea, and more. But what sets this book apart is the rare glimpse it offers into the cutting-edge science that he and others have pioneered in identifying, understanding, and explaining the realm of "parasomnias"-the mysterious, more extreme sleep disorders,such as dream enactment, sleep-related eating disorder, sexsomnia, sleepwalking, sleep terrors, sleep paralysis, and even sleep violence, which affect at least 20 million Americans.

Comprehensive, engrossing, and backed by the latest medical research, Sleep is a groundbreaking work about what continues to be one of our most mysterious medical puzzles-making it an indispensable guide for sufferers of all sleep disorders and their families.

Carlos H. Schenck M.D. is a senior staff psychiatrist at the Hennepin County Medical Center and Minnesota Regional Sleep Disorders Center, a renowned interdisciplinary sleep clinic and laboratory, and is an associate professor at the University of Minnesota Medical School in Minneapolis. A recognized expert, he has identified and named numerous parasomnias with his colleagues, and is often quoted in the press, including the New York Times, and the New York Times Magazine. He has also appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show and on CNN. He lives in Minneapolis.