This book critically evaluates the popular notion that today's society
is suffering from 'sleep debt', or what Horne calls 'societal
insomnia' - an apparent chronic loss of sleep, which can lead to obesity
and related physical and mental disorders including heart disease.
It presents evidence which suggests that sleep debt has not in fact
worsened to any marked extent over the last hundred or so years, by
looking back at some historical writings on sleeplessness and
integrating the findings with, evidence-based research that he has
undertaken over the last decade.
Written in a concise and understandable way, and interwoven with
real-world insights, the book will be useful to academic and students of
cognitive, critical and social psychology, neuroscience and sociology,
as well as anyone who is interested in the social and psychological
implications of sleep and sleeplessness.