[b_b]

I definitely get where you are coming from, given the unfortunately common practice of misconstruing scientific studies to make exclamatory headlines.

I should add then, that the author definitely backs up the studies (which are multiple and often independently discovered) with reasoning about why certain things are evolutionary advantageous and how they fit in to societal phenomenons. I hope you will give this book a chance :)

[westoncb]

Thanks b_b, that does increase my interest and I'll probably look a bit closer now :)

[guiambros]

disclaimer: I've commented so many times on this book before [1][2][3][4] that I may sound like the author's PR person (spoiler: I am not; just truly enjoyed the book).

I second parent's comment that for me this was one of those perspective-altering books in recent years. Even now, months after I finished, I still have several thoughts going through my head: why schools start so early, the societal impact of sleep deprivation, why doctors complete ignore the importance of sleep for your health [5], what happens when you drink alcohol (particularly at night), how Alzheimer's works, lucid dreams, and more.

I had already read about most of it in piecemeal over the years, but having everything pieced together for me, in a cohesive and fluid narrative, really helped for things to "click" for me.

Of course, if you want just the TL;DR, the gist is "Yeah, you really should sleep 7 to 8h per night, no joke". But if you want to understand the WHY, then it's a great read.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17381548

[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17446932

[3] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17520658

[4] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17589509

[5] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17531171

[Ntrails]

> why schools start so early

Because they need to fit in around the schedules of working parents. I'm loathe to accept that this is a source of problems given the likely issue is actually the time students go to sleep, how long they sleep for, and what time they wake up.

The solution does not obviously need to be changing school start times rather than student behaviour

(seriously though, I'd love to hear the counter, as there probably is one)

[KevanM]

I've just started reading this, but the counter is that at the age the students are their bodies start to produce chemicals that mean their sleep pattern tends towards late nights (evolutionary advantageous as young fitter ones of the tribe are active at the most dangerous time of day) and consequently are sleepier if forced to wake at a time where their body is still chemically calling for sleep.