Sleep to Save Your Life: The Complete Guide to Living Longer and Healthier Through Restorative Sleep

A guide to life–saving sleep––addressing the modern epidemic many of us unknowingly suffer from, and showing how to confront this new big health risk in order to live longer, healthier lives.

Humans spend 1/3 of their lives sleeping. With eating and exercise, sleep completes the crucial triad for health. Yet today a sleep crisis is undermining our productivity, relationships, and short–term and long–term health. Current research identifies poor sleep (specifically sleep apnea) as a significant cofactor in a growing number of diseases (e.g., asthma, hypertension, heart disease, depression, diabetes). Poor sleep makes any illness worse. It runs in families. It is affected by habits, allergies, anatomy, diet/exercise, and smoking. It is the modern malady of our stress–laden, 24/7 lives.

Sleep to Save Your Life reveals these new understandings and what to do about them, based on Dr. Lombardo's experience advising transit unions, Wall Streeters, athletes, and police in the "city that never sleeps." Easy–to–follow physiology is combined with self–assessments, dietary and behavioral programs, and advice on getting the best treatment. We learn why you shouldn't hit the snooze button. . .how getting extra sleep doesn't counteract sleep deprivation. . .which activities worsen sleep problems. . .when and what to eat for better sleep. . .whether chamomile tea, warm milk, and other remedies really work. . .and more. This is a total guide covering at–home help alongside discussion of cutting–edge medical treatment.

Gerard T. Lombardo, M.D., is the founder and director of the Sleep Center at Methodist Hospital in Brooklyn, and assistant professor of Medicine at Weill Medical College of Cornell Medical Center. He lives with his family in Brooklyn, New York.