Letter to Editor (Sleep disorders for dummies).

qxp

4/1/2005

11:05 AM

Page 209

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Review of "Sleep Disorders for Dummies"

William C. Dement, M.D., Ph.D.
J Clin Sleep Med 2005;1(2):209

To the editor:

Returning to the strengths of Sleep Disorders for Dummies, it

explains the field of sleep medicine in terms any layman could
readily understand, it helps an individual determine what sleep
disorder he or she might have and if it would be advisable to seek
professional help. It also explains enough about behavioral sleep
medicine that some individuals might treat their sleep disorder
without professional help. Imagine that!
Let's step back to the larger picture: Millions of individuals
have undiagnosed sleep disorders and most will not seek professional help. Few will ever see a sleep disorders specialist. For
these legions, Sleep Disorders for Dummies is a welcome addition to local bookstore's shelves.

fter reading Sleep Disorders for Dummies by Max

Hirschkowitz and Paul B. Smith, I concluded that it was one
of the best -- if not the best -- books for the general public that I
have ever read. I was accordingly happy to write its foreword.
The book's potential role in enhancing public awareness about
sleep and sleep disorders was further enhanced in my mind by
being part of a very popular series. I was therefore surprised to
encounter a somewhat unsympathetic review in the January 2005
issue of this journal by Wolfgang Schmidt-Nowara, M.D.
Although he states that the self-help guide largely succeeds in
accomplishing its stated objective to educate the reader who
seeks help for non-restorative sleep, Dr. Schmidt-Nowara spends
most of his review criticizing the book for perceived shortcomings. I have glanced through the book one more time and I stand
by my original assessment: This is an excellent book for individuals who feel they may have a sleep disorder and wonder what to
do. It should also prove to be very helpful to their families.
Dr. Schmidt-Nowara is quite correct in pointing out that Sleep
Disorders for Dummies omits or spends little ink dealing with
many major medical problems associated with sleep. The book's
stated intent, however, is to refer the individual to the appropriate specialist for proper medical care.
Dr. Schmidt-Nowara also asserts that Sleep Disorders for
Dummies tends to, "exaggerate, to stretch the truth by allusion
and to (employ) frank misstatement." He objects, for example to
implied links between poor sleep and increased mortality and
between poor sleep and infectious disease as well as to discussing
jet-lag light visors. He implies that such hypotheses and products
are "junk science." All would agree with Dr. Schmidt-Nowara
that the jury is still out in each of these areas. However, since a
body of published research exists in each of them1-3, the term
"junk science" might be a bit of an overstatement. Further, the
implied generalization does not exist. Dr. Schmidt-Nowara actually succeeded in finding the three needles of possibly controversial sentences in a huge haystack of information.

REFERENCES
1.
2.

3.

Disclosure Statement
Dr. Dement has indicated no financial conflict of interest.
Submitted for publication March 2005
Accepted for publication March 2005
Address correspondence to: William C. Dement, Stanford University School of
Medicine, 701 Welch Road, Suite 2226, Palo Alto, CA, 94304; Tel: (650) 7236320; Fax; (650) 725-7341; E-mail: dement@stanford.edu
Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, Vol. 1, No. 2, 2005

209

Daniel KF. Do we sleep too much? Sleep 27 2004; 13.

Krueger JM, Majde JA. Humoral links between sleep and the
immune system: research issues. Ann NY Acad Sci 2003;992:920.
Boulos Z et al. Light visor treatment for jet lag after westward travel across six time zones. Aviat Space Environ Med 2002; 73:95363