In January of 1999, an otherwise nonviolent man under great stress at work brutally murdered his wife in their backyard. He then went back to bed, awakening only when police entered his home. He claimed to have no memory of the event because, while his body was awake at the time, his mind was not. He had been sleepwalking. In The Twenty-four Hour Mind, sleep scientist Rosalind Cartwright brings together decades of research into the bizarre sleep disorders known as parasomnias to propose a new theory of how the human mind works consistently throughout waking and sleeping hours. Thanks to increasingly sophisticated EEG and brain imaging technologies, we now know that our minds do not simply "turn off" during sleep. Rather, they continue to be active, and research has indicated that one of the primary purposes of sleep is to aid in regulating emotions and processing experiences that occur during preceding waking hours. As such, when sleep is neurologically or genetically impaired or just too short, the processes that good sleep facilitates-those that usually have a positive effect on our mood and performance-can short circuit, with negative results that occasionally reach tragic proportions. Examining the interactions between conscious and unconscious forms of thinking as they proceed throughout the cycles of sleeping, dreaming, and waking, Cartwright demystifies the inner workings of the human mind that trigger sleep problems, how researchers are working to control them, and how they can apply what they learn to further our understanding of the brain. Along the way, she provides a lively account of the history of sleep research and the birth of sleep medicine that will initiate readers into this fascinating field of inquiry and the far-reaching implications it will have on the future of neuroscience. The Twenty-four Hour Mind offers a unique look at a relatively new area of study that will be of interest to those with and without sleep problems, as well as anyone captivated by the mysteries of the brain-and what sleep continues to teach us about the waking mind.
Show moreIn January of 1999, an otherwise nonviolent man under great stress at work brutally murdered his wife in their backyard. He then went back to bed, awakening only when police entered his home. He claimed to have no memory of the event because, while his body was awake at the time, his mind was not. He had been sleepwalking. In The Twenty-four Hour Mind, sleep scientist Rosalind Cartwright brings together decades of research into the bizarre sleep disorders known as parasomnias to propose a new theory of how the human mind works consistently throughout waking and sleeping hours. Thanks to increasingly sophisticated EEG and brain imaging technologies, we now know that our minds do not simply "turn off" during sleep. Rather, they continue to be active, and research has indicated that one of the primary purposes of sleep is to aid in regulating emotions and processing experiences that occur during preceding waking hours. As such, when sleep is neurologically or genetically impaired or just too short, the processes that good sleep facilitates-those that usually have a positive effect on our mood and performance-can short circuit, with negative results that occasionally reach tragic proportions. Examining the interactions between conscious and unconscious forms of thinking as they proceed throughout the cycles of sleeping, dreaming, and waking, Cartwright demystifies the inner workings of the human mind that trigger sleep problems, how researchers are working to control them, and how they can apply what they learn to further our understanding of the brain. Along the way, she provides a lively account of the history of sleep research and the birth of sleep medicine that will initiate readers into this fascinating field of inquiry and the far-reaching implications it will have on the future of neuroscience. The Twenty-four Hour Mind offers a unique look at a relatively new area of study that will be of interest to those with and without sleep problems, as well as anyone captivated by the mysteries of the brain-and what sleep continues to teach us about the waking mind.
Show moreIntroduction: The Role of the Night Mind in our Emotional
Economy
Chapter 1. Where Do We Go When We Go to Sleep?
Chapter 2. The Mind Asleep: How Dreams Develop
Chapter 3. Short Sleep and Its Consequences: Insomnia and Major
Depression
Chapter 4. Sleepwalking into Danger: Murders Without Motives
Chapter 5. More NREM Parasomnias: Self-injury, Sleep Eating, Sleep
Sex, Exploring, Protecting
Chapter 6. Sleep Experts in Court: Evidence of the State of
Mind
Chapter 7.. Warnings from the Land of Nod: Nightmares and REM
Behavior Disorder
Chapter 8. The Revival of the Unconscious
Chapter 9. Dream Work: Regulating Emotion and Updating the Self
Chapter10.The Twenty-four Hour Psychology: From Nonsense to Science
Rosalind D. Cartwright is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Psychology and in the Neuroscience Division of the Graduate College, Rush University. In 2004 she was named Distinguished Scientist of the Year by the Sleep Research Society.
"Professor Rosalind Cartwright is a true pioneer of sleep research.
She was there in the field's formative years and her particular
interest in the function and meaning of dreams is reflected in a
record of high-quality scientific publications spanning more than
four decades. In The Twenty-four Hour Mind, Cartwright describes
both her research as well as that of many other sleep scientists in
an exciting, eminently readable and thought provoking
narrative. She examines numerous important and intriguing topics,
including insomnia, depression, sleep walking, forensic sleep
medicine and the role of dreams in human consciousness. In her
Introduction, Cartwright
writes, 'Come Along. I promise it will be an interesting ride.' The
Twenty-four Hour Mind is a promise well kept!"--Michael V.
Vitiello, University of Washington, Seattle, and Past President,
Sleep Research Society
"An engaging account of the history of sleep research. [Cartwright]
skillfully weaves in her 50 years' worth of work in the field,
delving into her own theories about the purpose of dreams and
highlighting the importance of sleep to maintain our physical and
mental well-being."--Scientific American Mind
"This is an easy-to-read, interesting, and informative book about
the neurophysiology, purposes, and meanings of sleep and
dreaming...Often surprising, and richly informative." --JAMA
"Rosalind Cartwright, a well-respected sleep researcher and
therapist, presents a strong argument for viewing sleep and its
resulting dreams in a new light that is reflected in the title of
her book, The Twenty-Four Hour Mind: The Role of Sleep and Dreaming
in Our Emotional Lives... The combination of sleep research and
clinical analysis that Cartwright brings to The Twenty-Four Hour
Mind should be of interest to a broad audience. It is well written
and should
be generally appreciated because most of us have a self-interest in
a better understanding of the mysteries of sleep."
--PsycCRITIQUES
"A respected pioneer in the field, Professor Cartwright is the
leading authority
on the role of sleep and dreaming in our emotional lives. Her
unique and personal experience as a researcher, clinician, teacher,
and sleep expert in court cases involving murder and other acts of
non-lethal aggression makes this book a captivating read...I highly
recommend it as the go-to source for reviewing important dream and
sleep studies, fascinating clinical cases, and what we have learned
about the sleeping mind-body connection along the way."
--Doody's
"This very absorbing and beautifully written book describes
cogently some of the psychophysical aspects of sleep and how our
present understanding of them has been reached, and in doing so
underscores just how much remains outside our comprehension. It
also reviews the illustrious career of one of the pioneers in sleep
research, compelling in its own right. Readers interested in either
will not be disappointed. " --Journal of Clinical Sleep
Medicine
"The work is focused and concise, emphasizing the author's own
contributions and career experiences to a greater degree than the
large corpus of research pertinent to the question of sleep/dream
function. It is therefore an excellent primer for the sleep
neophyte, an informed guidebook for the practicing clinician, and a
solid review of Cartwright's theoretical position on the function
of sleep and dreaming. Readers should be better able to appreciate
the
'24-hr mind' theory as an increasingly valid perspective in the
ever-growing field of nocturnal neuroscience." -- SLEEP
"Cartwright offers an absorbing history of sleep research, at once
revealing how far we've come in understanding this vital third of
our lives and how much still remains outside our grasp." -- Maria
Popova, Brain Pickings
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