Woman's Book of Sleep , livre ebook

231

pages

English

Ebooks

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Écrit par
Amy Wolfson

Publié par
New Harbinger Publications

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231

pages

English

Ebooks

0001

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Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne En savoir plus

Publié par

New Harbinger Publications

Date de parution

01 janvier 0001

EAN13

9781626250307

Langue

English

Poids de l'ouvrage

1 Mo

Until very recently, the majority of sleep research was conducted on male populations. Researchers have found, however, that sleep is as important to a woman''s health as nutrition and exercise, yet the vast majority of women do not get enough of it.

In The Woman''s Book of Sleep, author and women''s sleep specialist Amy Wolfson helps you understand what kinds of physiological or psychological factors are contributing to your troubled sleep. The book reviews the variety of intervention strategies that are thought to enhance sleep and offers tips on what really works. A unique appendix helps you tap sleep disorder resources, including local centers and sleep associations.

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Publié par

New Harbinger Publications

Date de parution

01 janvier 0001

EAN13

9781626250307

Langue

English

Poids de l'ouvrage

1 Mo

THE WOMAN’SBOOK OF SLEEP

A Complete Resource Guide

Amy R. Wolfson

New Harbinger Publications

Publisher’s Note This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering psychological, financial, legal, or other professional services. If expert assistance or counseling is needed, the services of a competent professional should be sought.

Distributed in the U.S.A. by Publishers Group West; in Canada by Raincoast Books; in Great Britain by Airlift Book Company, Ltd.; in South Africa by Real Books, Ltd.; in Australia by Boobook; and in New Zealand by Tandem Press.

Cover image: La Dormeuse by Tamara de Lempicka, © 2001 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris Cover design by Salmon Studios Edited by Karen O’Donnell Stein Text design by Tracy Marie PowellCarlson

Library of Congress Card Catalog Number: 01132308 ISBN 1572242493 Paperback

Printed in the United States of America

New Harbinger Publications’ website address: www.newharbinger.com

In memory of my mother and best friend, Judith P. Wolfson, who taught me wonderful sleep habits years before I ever became a psychologist and sleep researcher.

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Contents

Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .vii Acknowledgments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xi

Introduction to Sleep and Women’s Health . . . . . . . . .1 Normal Sleep over the Life Span . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 Understanding Your Menstrual Cycle and Sleep Patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15 Sleep Patterns during Pregnancy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25 Childbirth and Postpartum Months: Sleeping for Two or More . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37 SleepWake Patterns during Menopause . . . . . . . . . . .51 Work, Motherhood, and Sleep . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63 Sleep Problems for Women: Insomnia . . . . . . . . . . . . .77 Sleep Apnea and Other Sleep Disorders . . . . . . . . . . .101 Physical Health and Sleep. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .115 Emotional WellBeing and Sleep . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .131

vi The Woman’s Book of Sleep * *

Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .149 Appendix A: Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .151 Appendix B: Forms, Questoinnaires, Relaxation Instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .157 Appendix C: Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .181

References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .193 Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .211

Foreword

As I buckled my seat belt and prepared for the fivehour flight back home to San Francisco from Washington, D.C., I made sure that I had easy access to Dr. Wolfson’s final draft of this book and my new John Grisham novel. It was only 4:30A.M. in San Francisco when I left Dulles airport at 7:30A.M., and I had just completed an intense two days of work in Washington with little sleep. My plan was to take a nap after reading a few chapters from this book and get started on the novel. Well, I never made it to my nap or the novel! I read the entire set of manuscript pages for Dr. Wolfson’s book and started to write this foreword before I landed back in San Francisco. How she had time to write such a thorough book and include such uptodate information, with her busy teaching and research schedule, is a mystery to me. But it is no mystery that Dr. Wolfson is a dedicated scientist and expert on this topic. She says she wrote this book for women. However, I have to respectfully disagree. What struck me most about this book, its contents, and the way in which it is written, is that it is definitelynotjust for women. Although women do suffer from sleep problems more often than men, men would also benefit greatly from the information contained in this book—not just to understand their mothers, wives, or daughters, but to understand their own personal sleeprelated health. Written in an engaging style, this book takes us through the rel evant physiology we need in order to understand the sleep issues within each chapter as well as the “SleepSmart Strategies” Dr. Wolfson presents at the conclusion of each chapter. We learn through reading this book that Dr. Wolfson is not only a busy profes sional herself, but also a wife and a mother. Her examples, from her own personal life as well as from diverse women who participated in her research studies, make the content real and relevant to today’s

viii The Woman’s Book of Sleep * *

busy working women as we experience modern societal pressures on a daily basis. Dr. Wolfson has tackled the complexities of female physiology related to sleep that most sleep researchers have managed to avoid since research first began in sleep laboratories in the early 1950s. Not only is the physiology presented in an easytounderstand format— she obviously took great pains to make it sound so simple and straightforward—yet so accurate and detailed. She presents the com plex physiology of women’s health, hormones, and cycles in a way that should be read by all adults, whether or not one they have a problem with sleep. Sleep—what is normal and healthy, or what is abnormal and problematic—is a relatively new area of scientific inquiry. As Dr. Wolfson explains, we are learning a great deal more about the func tions and dysfunctions of sleep every day. But we still know very lit tle about sleep problems women experience at key times in their lives, like pregnancy and menopause. My particular opinion is that we can learn even more when we follow Dr. Wolfson’s example and include women as subjects in sleep research studies, rather than ignore them because of the complexities of their hormonal functions. For instance, Dr. Wolfson discusses the important relationship between body temperature fluctuations and sleep patterns. Yet most of this knowledge comes from manipulating the temperature of male subjects in a laboratory setting. Could there be a better natural exper iment than to study women, who have temperatures that fluctuate every month with ovulation, temperatures that increase during preg nancy, and temperatures that fluctuate hourly during menopausal hot flashes? A researcher would not have to perform complex manipulations of the subject’s temperature if only the research sub ject were a woman—just wait a few minutes or days, and it will change without drugs, blankets, or hot tubs! I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, and actually was sur prised that I remained awake for the entire flight, particularly since the content in these ten chapters is already familiar to me, I was suf fering from jet lag, and I had had little sleep during the previous week. If you are planning to read this book all in one sitting, as I did, it is possible to do just that. But if you are planning to sit down to read and digest one chapter at a time, as Dr. Wolfson recommends, you will still benefit even more from the new knowledge you gain at each sitting. If you are planning to read this at night to help you fall asleep, I can tell you that it probably won’t happen. The information is presented in a way that is just too engaging, and I didn’t sleep a wink, even in my sleepdeprived state on the airplane. Dr. Wolfson’s approach—that you can best help yourself sleep better when you understand your own unique sleep needs and the

Foreword ix * *

physiological basis behind them—is one that women can best relate to. You will need to read the important information, and the SleepSmart Strategies in the pages that follow, in order to learn how best to do that for your own particular sleep issue, or to help your family members and friends. Just as on airplanes you are advised to apply the oxygen mask to yourself first, then to your child, you can apply the information in this book to yourself, and then to others around you. Most adults, but particularly women, will find they can relate to many of the situations presented by Dr. Wolfson and the many women she has studied over the years. I know I did. Like myself, you will want to keep this book handy on your bookshelf, since the resources Dr. Wolfson provides in the back will be helpful to you long after you finish reading this book. Enjoy the book, and pleasant dreams!

Kathryn A. Lee, R.N., Ph.D., F.A.A.N. (Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing) Professor, Family Health Care Nursing Director, Perinatal Nursing Master’s Program James and Marjorie Livingston Chair in Nursing

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