Saved by the Siesta

Millions of people struggle every day against a chronic lack of sleep that exhausts them and threatens their health. There is a simple remedy— a daytime nap.

Saved by the Siesta explains how siestas work and the remarkable role they can play in overcoming the destructive effects on the brain and the body of a shortage of sleep, for a siesta is like a night's sleep in miniature.

A daytime nap fulfils all the same functions as a night's sleep—hormonal, purifying, curative, consolidating, and reinvigorating. It also has the same therapeutic values: it helps us to combat sleepiness, pain, depression, weak immunity, stress, hypertension, excess weight, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.

But to take advantage of all this, we need to be aware of the siesta's subtleties—its various types; the correct body position to adopt; the times that are conducive to sleeping; the most effective duration; the stages of sleep that heighten awareness, cognitive performance, memory, and creativity; and how to get to sleep quickly and wake up without feeling sleepy.

Saved by the Siesta provides all this information, and more. It is a lucid and accessible synthesis of the science of sleep, as well as a practical guide to the taking of naps to overcome disturbed night-time sleep.

Brice Faraut, a sleep specialist and neuroscientist, pleads for the nap—sleeping, he says, is a panacea, a miracle of nature that we too often neglect.
-Le Figaro

According to the National Institute for Sleep and Vigilance, 31 per cent of French people sleep on average just over five-and-a-half hours a night during the week. The same is true everywhere—in Sweden, the United States, Mexico ... A nap therefore appears to be the lifeline. According to the author, it can heal severe fatigue, and fight drowsiness, pain, depression, immune weakness, stress, hypertension, obesity, or cardiovascular disease. And he provides proof of this by citing the extensive research carried out on the subject.
-La Recherche

An illuminating reflection on a health topic too often neglected—sleep debt ... Always educational, supported by numerous studies and packed with practical advice, this book will help you heed your internal clock. The only thing left to do is put it into practice.
-Page des Libraires