Sleep Well, Sleep Deep

According to Lukeman (What Your Dreams Can Teach You), a psychologist and clinical hypnotherapist, more than a third of all Americans suffer from lack of sleep. How well we sleep plays a role in both mental and physical health, from headaches and irritability to impaired judgment (according to the author, more than 100,000 car crashes a year are caused by sleep-deprived drivers). Lukeman presents the means to abolish sleeplessness: he contends that a calm and relaxed mind is essential to deep sleep and explains that people are in charge of their own sleeping habits. A helpful personal sleep quiz allows readers to assess their sleep potential and identify the reasons why they aren't sleeping well. Lukeman then methodically provides practical advice and strategies for achieving deep sleep. This reader-friendly guide also includes information on natural sleeping aids, sleep disorders, self-hypnosis, dream analysis (the ""Sleep, Dreams, and Health"" chapter is particularly interesting), how to defeat jet lag and how to teach children to get a good night's rest. Readers who find themselves staring at the ceiling at 3 a.m. would benefit by devoting those currently sleepless hours to reading Lukeman's helpful book. (Nov.)