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.

About the Author
Professor Emeritus of Rush University Medical Center's Graduate College Neuroscience Division

Reviews
"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



Book Information
ISBN 9780199896288
Author Rosalind D. Cartwright
Format Paperback
Page Count 224
Imprint Oxford University Press Inc
Publisher Oxford University Press Inc
Weight(grams) 295g
Dimensions(mm) 152mm * 231mm * 18mm