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When it comes to obesity, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and depression, everything you believe is a lie.That studies from our own government research prove the role of sleeplessness in diabetes, heart disease, cancer, infertility, mental illness, and premature aging; Why the carbohydrate-rich diets recommended by many health professionals are not only ridiculously ineffective but deadly; Why the lifesaving information that can turn things around is one of the best-kept secrets of our day.
"Lights Out"
With research gleaned from the National Institutes of Health, T.S. Wiley and Bent Formby deliver staggering findings: Americans really are sick from being tired. Diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and depression are rising in our population. We're literally dying for a good night's sleep.
Our lifestyle wasn't always this way. It began with the invention of the lightbulb.
When we don't get enough sleep in sync with seasonal light exposure, we fundamentally alter a balance of nature that has been programmed into our physiology since Day One. This delicate biological rhythm rules the hormones and neurotransmitters that determine appetite, fertility, and mental and physical health. When we rely on artificial light to extend our day until 11 PM, midnight, and beyond, we fool our bodies into living in a perpetual state of summer. Anticipating the scarce food supply and forced inactivity of winter, our bodies begin storing fat and slowing metabolism to sustain us through the months of hibernation and hunger that never arrive.
Our own survival instinct, honed over millennia, is now killing us.
Wiley and Formby also reveal:
"Lights Out" is one wake-up call none of us can afford to miss.
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
26 of 27 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I bought this book as had heard it recommended from various sources (Such as Robb Wolf/Mark Sissons), so thought I'd give it a try.
While I find the concepts interesting, and certainly do agree that most people in modern society do not get enough sleep, I was not a fan of the way the book was written.
The writing style is more of a kind of prose, rather than a book based on research which it claims to be. While there are a big list of references at the back, none of the claims in the book are backed up with specific references. It also drags on and on - The salient points could have been summarised in a few pages, but instead is is drawn out into a long incoherent waffle (Though perhaps this was intentional to make you want to turn your lights out and go to sleep!)
There are also some glaring errors in statements they portray as fact, for example at one point they claim that insulin is only secreted when carbohydrates are eaten - This is simply not true.
The main concept of the book is that we evolved to live seasonally - In the winter when nights were longer we'd sleep a lot more (from Dusk till Dawn), this would change our hormonal balance and decrease cravings for carbs, which would be in short supply. At the peak of summer, when days are longest we'd sleep the least, and carvings for carbs would be highest, causing us to gorge on fruits, thus storing a layer of fat to get us through the winter. Now, because of artificial light, we live in perpetual summer - Building up an ever greater sleep debt, and in a constant fat layering mode.
Although this theory is interesting, I have a couple of problems with it:
1) We evolved in Africa, relatively close the equator, where the difference in day length does not vary massively with the seasons. Does this mean these seasonal adaptations are more recent (as in lactose tollerance), that are only present in Northern Latitudes?
2) The authors presume that with no electric lights or TVs our ancestors simply went to sleep from Dusk till Dawn. Again, I think there is little evidence for this. Documentaries I have seen of traditional hunter-gatherer tribes show them staying up talking, singing and smoking late into the night - Even going out and hunting in the dark.
While I do agree with the basic idea that we are not getting enough sleep, I believe that more traditional sleep patterns would have been more erratic, with some longer periods at night coupled with snoozes during the day (habits exemplified by many of the few remaining HG tribes).
If you are looking for a book that will help you make positive lifestyle changes to help you loose weight and improve your health, this is not it. I'd recommend something like the Primal Blueprint by Mark Sissons - Quick concise with good practical advise. I'd only consider this book if you have a particular interest in the field of nutrition and want to read it with a critical eye.
All that said, I do believe that Western Society is chronically sleep deprived, and that this is more than likely a contributory factor to our current state of (un)health, so I commend the writers for highlight this issue.
While I find the concepts interesting, and certainly do agree that most people in modern society do not get enough sleep, I was not a fan of the way the book was written.
The writing style is more of a kind of prose, rather than a book based on research which it claims to be. While there are a big list of references at the back, none of the claims in the book are backed up with specific references. It also drags on and on - The salient points could have been summarised in a few pages, but instead is is drawn out into a long incoherent waffle (Though perhaps this was intentional to make you want to turn your lights out and go to sleep!)
There are also some glaring errors in statements they portray as fact, for example at one point they claim that insulin is only secreted when carbohydrates are eaten - This is simply not true.
The main concept of the book is that we evolved to live seasonally - In the winter when nights were longer we'd sleep a lot more (from Dusk till Dawn), this would change our hormonal balance and decrease cravings for carbs, which would be in short supply. At the peak of summer, when days are longest we'd sleep the least, and carvings for carbs would be highest, causing us to gorge on fruits, thus storing a layer of fat to get us through the winter. Now, because of artificial light, we live in perpetual summer - Building up an ever greater sleep debt, and in a constant fat layering mode.
Although this theory is interesting, I have a couple of problems with it:
1) We evolved in Africa, relatively close the equator, where the difference in day length does not vary massively with the seasons. Does this mean these seasonal adaptations are more recent (as in lactose tollerance), that are only present in Northern Latitudes?
2) The authors presume that with no electric lights or TVs our ancestors simply went to sleep from Dusk till Dawn. Again, I think there is little evidence for this. Documentaries I have seen of traditional hunter-gatherer tribes show them staying up talking, singing and smoking late into the night - Even going out and hunting in the dark.
While I do agree with the basic idea that we are not getting enough sleep, I believe that more traditional sleep patterns would have been more erratic, with some longer periods at night coupled with snoozes during the day (habits exemplified by many of the few remaining HG tribes).
If you are looking for a book that will help you make positive lifestyle changes to help you loose weight and improve your health, this is not it. I'd recommend something like the Primal Blueprint by Mark Sissons - Quick concise with good practical advise. I'd only consider this book if you have a particular interest in the field of nutrition and want to read it with a critical eye.
All that said, I do believe that Western Society is chronically sleep deprived, and that this is more than likely a contributory factor to our current state of (un)health, so I commend the writers for highlight this issue.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I love this book as I feel it discusses an area that to date has not been fully explained. It is written in a very logical and easy to read manner and is entirely captivating. I don't think it should be viewed as a diet book but instead of a method of understanding how we could make our lives better and much healthier. For me it has helped to explain why I seem to gain weight whenever I cross time zones despite eating healthily. Sleep is a vital component of our lives and this book explains why in so much detail.
24 of 29 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Anyone interested in nutrition and health should find the information in this book beneficial. It is one of those books that is difficult to put down once you have started reading it. The title belies the depth and breadth of its information. Its authors seem well versed in current nutritional research and are able to make deductions and connections which other researchers hesitate in doing. One of the very few books that I have reread immediately on completing the first reading. I have put into practice its recommendations and while the benefits appear subtle in the short term they are indeed interesting.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Enlightening!
This book is a really interesting read. I got much more of an education about the workings of my body and influence of foods on hormones than I was expecting. Read more
Published 5 months ago by ClaireB
Brilliant informative book.
I'm a personal trainer and i learned so much from reading this book, it improved my health & sleep so much it just amazed me how good i felt and with so much energy. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Locofilth
The "hidden" harm of light at night in the modern 24 hour day?
I am a nanotechnologist. However my hobby is astronomy. Light pollution, caused by unnecessary light at night, is destroying our birthright, our heritage of the wonders of the... Read more
Published on 22 Nov 2009 by G. Cliff
Sheer Brilliance
This is a book everyone should read.
The info is so insightful and so logically set forth, that it demonstrates how obviously out of sync the human animal is from nature and... Read more
The info is so insightful and so logically set forth, that it demonstrates how obviously out of sync the human animal is from nature and... Read more
Published on 8 Jan 2009 by Mario Sa
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