Insomniac / Edition 1

by Gayle Greene

Overview

I can't work, I can't think, I can't connect with anyone anymore. . . . I mope through a day's work and haven't had a promotion in years. . . . It's like I'm being sucked dry, eaten away, swallowed up, coming unglued. . . . These are voices of a few of the tens of millions who suffer from chronic insomnia. In this revelatory book, Gayle Greene offers a uniquely comprehensive account of this devastating and little-understood condition. She has traveled the world in a quest for answers, interviewing neurologists, sleep researchers, doctors, psychotherapists, and insomniacs of all sorts. What comes of her extraordinary journey is an up-to-date account of what is known about insomnia, providing the information every insomniac needs to know to make intelligent choices among medications and therapies. Insomniac is at once a field guide through the hidden terrain inhabited by insomniacs and a book of consolations for anyone who has struggled with this affliction that has long been trivialized and neglected.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780520259966
Publisher:	University of California Press
Publication date:	03/10/2008
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	520
Product dimensions:	8.68(w) x 5.66(h) x 1.29(d)

About the Author

Gayle Greene is Professor of Literature and Women's Studies at Scripps College, Claremont California. She has published books on Shakespeare, women writers, and scientific issues. Her most recent books are Doris Lessing: The Poetics of Change and The Woman Who Knew Too Much: Alice Stewart and the Secrets of Radiation. She is a member of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM), a professional medical society for researchers and clinicians, and is the patient representative on the board of the American Insomnia Association, an organization within AASM.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

1. Insomnia
2. Sleepstarved
3. Blame the Victim
4. Sleepless in Seattle: The Conferences
5. The Brain of an Insomniac
6. Sleep, Stress, and Stages of Life
7. Rock, Hard Place: The Drugs
8. Change Your Attitude, Change Your Ways: Behavioral Modification
9. Asleep at the Switch: The Clinics
10. Alternatives
11. Bedding Down with the Beast
12. Making Change

Notes
Glossary
Selected Bibliography
Index

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Greene's book is the best available on the subject."—New England Journal of Medicine

"Insomniac is far too interesting to lull you into dreamland."—O: the Oprah Magazine

"A harrowing memoir."—Wall Street Journal

"Provides . . . insights that many sleep researchers and doctors have lost track of. . . . Among the best books of its kind."—Nature

"Greene imparts a feeling of solidarity to fellow sufferers."—Library Journal

Editorial Reviews

Insomniac is far too interesting to lull you into dreamland.

O: The Oprah Magazine

A harrowing memoir.

Wall Street Journal

Greene’s book is the best available on the subject.

New England Journal Of Medicine

Disturbing, important book.

Seattle Times

Provides . . . insights that many sleep researchers and doctors have lost track of. . . . Among the best books of its kind.

Nature

No easy answers - but fascinating.

People

Provides . . . insights that many sleep researchers and doctors have lost track of. . . . Among the best books of its kind.

Nature Lib

“A harrowing memoir.

Wall Street Journal

No one can describe a journey better than someone who's made the trip, and insomniac Greene's exploration of the disorder is both fascinating and disturbing. Many people, including doctors and insomniacs themselves, believe that sleeplessness is the patient's fault: too much caffeine and stress, irregular bedtimes, lack of exercise. In fact, no one knows what causes it, but the effects of insomnia are clear: as Greene, a professor of literature and women's studies at Scripps College, shows, sleep deprivation kills creativity, reduces levels of the hormones needed to repair cells and is directly linked to weight gain and memory loss, high blood pressure and diabetes. Insomniacs are usually referred to mental health practitioners or the growing number of sleep labs offering behavior modification or drugs (which, for Greene, have always "buil[t] tolerance, and rapidly," necessitating ever-larger doses). "This is a somewhat cranky book," Greene admits, and rightly so. "You can't live with this problem as long as I have, you can't be blown off and written off as many times as I have, and not get cross." Supplementing her own experience with that of other chronic insomniacs and a look at the science of sleep, Greene offers an enjoyable and informative account that will provoke even readers who get their full eight hours a night. (Mar.)

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Publishers Weekly

A lifelong insomniac battles the stigma attached to her disorder. For Greene (Literature and Women's Studies/Scripps Coll.; The Woman Who Knew Too Much: Alice Stewart and the Secrets of Radiation, 1999, etc.), the frustration of insomnia goes far beyond the endless nights waiting for sleep to come, which she describes in harrowing, redolent detail. What she finds so deplorable is the fact that insomnia is largely ignored or belittled by the general public, medical professionals and even fellow sufferers. Even though sleeplessness has proven links to heart disease, diabetes, depression, weight gain and memory and concentration loss, the medical community generally labels insomnia as a symptom or syndrome, rather than a disease. Though there is no known cause or cure for insomnia, a pathetically small amount of money is allocated to sleep research. Even more problematic is how few are willing to admit their own insomnia-perhaps because patients often assume much of the burden of blame. Greene has been advised to monitor her caffeine and meal times, to increase or decrease her exercise patterns, to meditate and to engage in countless other nonmedical remedies. She has been referred to mental-health professionals, hypnotherapists and nutritionists, and has been prescribed vitamins, sleeping pills and anti-anxiety medication. Finally, Greene decided to take matters into her own hands, seeking out countless perspectives to find out what, if anything, works. The results are mixed. The book may prove far more effective as a wake-up call to the medical profession than as a prescriptive guide for patients, though many may find her empathetic tone helpful. An honest, passionate and relentless quest,but at more than 500 pages, even fellow sufferers may be (perhaps happily) exhausted by Greene's overzealous tome. Agent: Jean Naggar/Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency

Kirkus Reviews