Millions of people around the world take some form of sleeping pill to get a good night’s sleep. Yet the number of deaths involving sleeping pills has increased dramatically. What does this say about our habits— and addictions? Sleep is undeniably a strange state in which we have to let our guard down. While we sleep, the body produces hormones, it grows and repairs itself, and it prepares its immune system. Good sleep also protects us from dementia and it is during sleep that our memories are consolidated and catalogued. Sleep is so important that we die of sleep deprivation before starvation. Can we really learn by listening to audiobooks whilst we sleep? How can we prepare ourselves for working a night shift or recovering from jetlag? Do teenagers need a lie-in and how useful is a siesta?

Using real science to unmask sensationalist claims and new fads, laying bare the dos and don’ts of sleep, acclaimed author and chemist Ulf Ellervik analyzes the substances we use to keep us awake and ultimately helps us understand how we can finally get a good night’s sleep.