Publisher's Synopsis
"We spend roughly a third of our lives in bed, but for millions of us, not all of that time is spent sleeping. We strive for eight hours per night, only to lie awake thanks to stress, our ever-present devices, a new baby, or that 4pm coffee you thought you needed. As sleep scientist and recovering insomniac Merijn van de Laar shows, we're hardly the first to experience this. When homo sapiens evolved hundreds of thousands of years ago, when saber-toothed tigers were their biggest nighttime worry, wakefulness served to protect one's tribe at night. Research shows these episodic sleep patterns even gave our ancestors an evolutionary advantage. We can look to their example for guidance in improving our sleep health, too: how our sleep patterns change as we age, the benefits of communal sleep, the importance of environmental factors such as temperature and light. While our myriad gadgets may distinguish us from early humans, understanding t
