The Nocturnal Brain: Tales of Nightmares and Neuroscience Audiobook (Free)

‘With my job on Today, I’ve become enthusiastic about sleep. The Nocturnal Brain interweaves bizarre real life tales with leading edge neurological research in the true tradition of Oliver Sacks. A fascinating browse.’ Martha Kearney, BBC Radio 4

‘Casebooks of neurological disorders are often strange and wonderful, but that one is particular.’ Sunday Instances

‘The Nocturnal Mind will not guarantee to get rid of your insomnia, nonetheless it does make for an entertaining and thought-provoking bedtime about The Nocturnal Brain: Tales of Nightmares and Neuroscience read.’ The Guardian

For Guy Leschziner’s patients, there is no rest for the weary in mind and body. Sleeping disorders, narcolepsy, night time terrors, apnoea and sleepwalking are simply a sample of the conditions afflicting sufferers who cannot sleep – and their experiences in looking to are the stuff of nightmares. Demonaic hallucinations frighten people into paralysis. Restless legs rock both the sleepless and their sleeping partners with unstable and uncontrollable kicking. Out-of-sync circadian rhythms mistake the organic body clock’s times and nights.

Then there are the severe cases. A female in a state of deep rest who gets outfitted, unlocks her car and drives for a number of miles before returning to bed. The man that has spent years cleaning out kitchens while ‘sleep-eating’. The teenager susceptible to the severe, yet unfortunately nicknamed, Sleeping Beauty Symptoms, stuck in a cycle of excessive unconsciousness, bingeing and uncharacteristic shows of aggression and hypersexuality while awake.

With compassionate tales of his individuals and their conditions, Leschziner illustrates the neuroscience behind our sleeping minds, revealing the many biological and psychological factors necessary in getting the rest that won’t only maintain our physical and mental health, but also improve our cognitive skills and overall happiness.