This title is useful for people who snore. People with severe sleep apnea may struggle for breath all through the night, not breathing for as long as 90 seconds at a time during their sleep. This syndrome, which affects at least four percent of men and two percent of women, can cause daytime fatigue, traffic and work accidents, deteriorating cognitive abilities, and cardiovascular problems. In this book Peretz Lavie, an expert in sleep research, provides an accessible discussion of the history, physiology, and risk factors of sleep apnea.

Peretz Lavie is Andre Ballard Professor of Biological Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. He was one of the founders and is currently a board member of Sleep Health Centers, which is affiliated with the Brigham & Women's and Beth Israel hospitals in Boston.

"In this engaging and historically rich book, we discover the prevalence of sleep apnea, its ability to disrupt our everday lives, and its key role as a major risk factor for hypertension, heart disease, and other degenerative conditions. The book also provides a comprehensive road map to overcoming this pervasive problem." Ray Kurzweil, author of The Age of Spiritual Machines and recipient of the National Medal of Technology