Writing style
Conversational · Direct · Journalistic · Technical
Why We Sleep
Science and nature
- Print length
- 360 pagesScribner, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc., 2017
Description
Why do humans spend roughly a third of life asleep, and what happens when modern schedules treat that need as optional? Matthew Walker organizes this popular-science account around the mechanisms and functions of sleep, moving from circadian rhythms and accumulating sleep pressure to REM and NREM stages, dreams, memory formation, and synaptic pruning. He connects those processes to learning, reasoning, emotional regulation, immunity, metabolism, and appetite, then widens the inquiry to the social consequences of chronic sleep deprivation. The book presents sleep not as passive downtime but as a biological activity woven through physical and mental health. Its central argument challenges readers to reconsider personal habits and institutions that routinely sacrifice rest for work, school, and convenience.
Reading profile
About this profile
Collected’s assessment, not reader ratings. Complexity runs from 1 (least demanding) to 5 (most demanding).
- Writing
- How much attention the sentences and language require.
- Ideas
- How much interpretation or abstract reasoning the book asks of you.
- Structure
- How much you need to keep track of speakers, timelines and connections.
- Background knowledge
- Prior knowledge needed to follow the book, beyond what it explains.
- Emotional intensity
- Emotional pressure, from gentle (1) to intense (5). Separate from difficulty.
Pace
Moderate
Tone
Cerebral · Earnest · Unsettling
Structure
Argumentative
Focus
Argument · Ideas · Information
Emotional intensity
3 / 5
Reading complexity
1–5 · higher means more demanding- Writing
- 3 / 5
- Ideas
- 4 / 5
- Structure
- 3 / 5
- Background knowledge
- 2 / 5
Themes
Book details
For the print edition listed above.
- Publisher
- Scribner, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
- Language
- English
- ISBN
- 9781501144318
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