Further Reading — Chapter 30: Sleep, Energy, and Peak Performance

Foundational Academic Sources

Walker, M. P., & Stickgold, R. (2006). Sleep, memory, and plasticity. Annual Review of Psychology, 57, 139–166. Walker and Stickgold's comprehensive review of the sleep-memory relationship — covering declarative memory consolidation during slow-wave sleep, procedural skill consolidation during REM sleep, and the overnight insight effect. More technical than Walker's popular book but provides the research foundation for the memory consolidation claims in the chapter.

Yoo, S. S., Gujar, N., Hu, P., Jolesz, F. A., & Walker, M. P. (2007). The human emotional brain without sleep — a prefrontal amygdala disconnect. Current Biology, 17(20), R877–R878. The study demonstrating approximately 60% greater amygdala activation in sleep-deprived subjects compared to well-rested controls, and the decoupling of the prefrontal-amygdala regulatory circuit. One of the most cited papers connecting sleep deprivation to emotional dysregulation. Short and accessible for an academic paper.

Van Dongen, H. P. A., Maislin, G., Mullington, J. M., & Dinges, D. F. (2003). The cumulative cost of additional wakefulness: Dose-response effects on neurobehavioral functions and sleep physiology from chronic sleep restriction and total sleep deprivation. Sleep, 26(2), 117–126. The study demonstrating that six hours of sleep per night for two weeks produces cognitive deficits equivalent to two full nights without sleep, while subjective sleepiness stabilizes — the empirical foundation for the "people underestimate their impairment" claim. Essential for anyone who believes they function adequately on chronic sleep restriction.

Lally, P., et al. (see Chapter 29 further reading) — for the habit formation timeline claim referenced in the quiz.

Nedergaard, M., et al. (2013). Sleep drives metabolite clearance from the adult brain. Science, 342(6156), 373–377. The study demonstrating glymphatic waste clearance during sleep and its activation during slow-wave sleep — including the clearance of amyloid-beta and tau proteins. The finding establishing a direct biological link between sleep and neurodegenerative risk. Technically accessible for motivated general readers.

Roenneberg, T., Wirz-Justice, A., & Merrow, M. (2003). Life between clocks: Daily temporal patterns of human chronotypes. Journal of Biological Rhythms, 18(1), 80–90. The chronotype research establishing the distribution of morning and evening types across the population, with data on chronotype shift across the lifespan (children → adolescent evening shift → adult morning drift). The source of the social jetlag framework.

Sonnentag, S., & Fritz, C. (2007). The Recovery Experience Questionnaire: Development and validation of a measure for assessing recuperation and unwinding from work. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 12(3), 204–221. The paper introducing Sonnentag's four-dimension recovery framework (psychological detachment, relaxation, mastery, and control) and its measurement. The detachment-as-primary-recovery-dimension finding comes from this program of research.

Books for General Readers

Walker, M. (2017). Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams. Scribner. Walker's comprehensive popular account of sleep science — covering sleep stages, the costs of deprivation, the role of sleep in memory and learning, emotional regulation, physical health, and dreams. Well-written, compelling, and broadly influential. Note: some specific claims in the book (particularly around mortality statistics) have been criticized by researchers for overstating certainty, and one figure was later corrected. The overall scientific picture is accurate and important; readers interested in the specific claims should also check Walker's subsequent clarifications and the academic literature.

Pink, D. H. (2018). When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing. Riverhead Books. Daniel Pink's synthesis of research on chronobiology, cognitive performance peaks, and optimal timing for various types of work and decision-making. Accessible and practically focused. The section on chronotype-matched scheduling and the daily performance curve (peak-trough-recovery) draws on the same research base as this chapter. A good complement to Walker's book.

Loehr, J., & Schwartz, T. (2003). The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, Not Time, Is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal. Free Press. The source of the four-dimension energy management framework (physical, emotional, mental, spiritual). Loehr and Schwartz's framework developed from their research with elite athletes and was extended to corporate performance. The performance-as-oscillation metaphor — full engagement followed by full recovery — is the book's most useful conceptual contribution.

Epstein, L. (2010). The Harvard Medical School Guide to a Good Night's Sleep. McGraw-Hill. A clinically grounded overview of sleep science and sleep hygiene, written by a physician. More conservative in claims than Walker's book and with strong clinical grounding. Particularly useful for readers with sleep disorders who want both the science and practical guidance.

Morin, C. M., & Benca, R. (2012). Chronic insomnia. The Lancet, 379(9821), 1129–1141. (review article rather than book) A comprehensive review of chronic insomnia — prevalence, mechanisms, comorbidities, and treatment — in one of medicine's premier general journals. Establishes CBT-I as the evidence-based first-line treatment. Technical but readable; an important reference for clinical or serious general readers.

On CBT-I and Sleep Treatment

Perlis, M. L., Jungquist, C., Smith, M. T., & Posner, D. (2005). Cognitive Behavioral Treatment of Insomnia: A Session-by-Session Guide. Springer. The clinical manual for delivering CBT-I. Not a self-help book, but the technical source for what CBT-I actually involves. Readers interested in understanding the rationale and evidence for specific techniques (sleep restriction, stimulus control, cognitive restructuring) will find this valuable.

Morin, C. M. (2005). Insomnia: Psychological Assessment and Management. Guilford Press. Another clinical text on CBT-I, by one of the field's leading researchers. Covers assessment, the treatment protocol, and special populations (elderly, chronic pain, psychiatric comorbidities). More accessible than the Perlis et al. manual.

Digital CBT-I resources: Several validated digital CBT-I programs are available, including Sleepio (research-validated) and the Somryst platform (FDA-authorized). These are appropriate for mild-to-moderate insomnia without psychiatric comorbidity.

The Character Reading Lists

Jordan is working through: - Why We Sleep (Walker) — read after identifying the 3 AM pattern; annotated the amygdala research chapter extensively; applied to understanding why his Thursday morning sessions feel qualitatively different than his Wednesday afternoon ones - When (Pink) — Dev recommended it; reading the section on chronotype-matched scheduling and applying it to his team's meeting structure

Amara is working through: - The Harvard Medical School Guide to a Good Night's Sleep (Epstein) — her therapist recommended it as the clinical reference; using it alongside the CBT-I content from her behavior change coursework - The Power of Full Engagement (Loehr & Schwartz) — Kemi sent it with a note: "this is the book I wish someone had given me three years ago"; Amara is reading the sections on emotional energy recovery most carefully