Matthew Walker on Why We Sleep

I wrote the following mini review for July 2018’s edition of Highlights, produced by the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity.

Matthew Walker, Why We Sleep: The New Science of Sleep and Dreams (London: Penguin Books, 2017).

It’s easy to see why this book has enjoyed consistently high sales since it was first published: it’s a fascinating foray into the universal phenomenon of sleep – why we need it, the benefits it brings, and the damage its lack causes. Michael Walker, Professor of Neuroscience and Psychology at Berkeley, explores the needs of the brain for sleep, the impacts of sleep deprivation, how and why we dream, sleep disorders, and dealing with sleep disturbances – all the while reminding us how our sleep patterns are under assault on multiple fronts. It makes sense: for Christians, the rhythm of day and night is part of God’s good design for human beings, involving an expression of our dependence on him. Since God really is concerned with the whole of our lives, that includes the third of our lives we spend – or should spend – sleeping.