The Slumbering Masses: Sleep, Medicine, and Modern American Life (A Quadrant Book)

Americans spend billions of dollars every year on drugs, therapy, and other remedies trying to get a good nights sleep. Anxieties about not getting enough sleep and the impact of sleeplessness on productivity, health, and happiness pervade medical opinion, the workplace, and popular culture. In The Slumbering Masses , Matthew J. Wolf-Meyer addresses the phenomenon of sleep and sleeplessness in the United States, tracing the influence of medicine and industrial capitalism on the sleeping habits of Americans from the nineteenth century to the present. Before the introduction of factory shift work, Americans enjoyed a range of sleeping practices, most commonly two nightly periods of rest supplemented by daytime naps. The new sleeping regimeneight uninterrupted hours of sleep at nightled to the pathologization of other ways of sleeping. Arguing that the current model of sleep is rooted not in biology but in industrial capitalisms relentless need for productivity, The Slumbering Masses examines so-called Z-drugs that promote sleep, the use of both legal and illicit stimulants to combat sleepiness, and the contemporary politics of time. Wolf-Meyer concludes by exploring the extremes of sleep, from cases of perpetual sleeplessness and the use of the sleepwalking defense in criminal courts to military experiments with ultra-short periods of sleep. Drawing on untapped archival sources and long-term ethnographic research with people who both experience and treat sleep abnormalities, Wolf-Meyer analyzes and sharply critiques how sleep and its supposed disorders are understood and treated. By recognizing the variety and limits of sleep, he contends, we can establish more flexible expectations about sleep and, ultimately, subvert the damage of sleep pathology and industrial control on our lives. Matthew J. Wolf-Meyer is an anthropologist (U. of California at Santa Cruz) in a tradition focusing on critique of one's own culture. His subject here is sleep and the treatment of sleep disorders in the US. Early on, the author admits a dual programme; he wants to critique science and medicine, but in doing field study he has seen medicine at work, and is not wholly against it. Critiquing science and medicine in the terms of critical theory without being wholly against them is a tall order. However, the author mostly succeeds. He does so by balancing his interest in critique with an interest in the social history of sleep in America. The book is clearly written; if the author had stuck to social history, this would be an interesting work for general readers. But his sense of the basic introductory information required in the first few pages includes naming Michel Foucault, Henri Lefebvre, Bernard Stiegler, Gilles Deleuze, and Felix Guattari. This dissertation style will limit the book's audience, excluding most medical professionals, people with sleep problems, and general readers interested in social history. The book will be a welcome example of good prose and practical examples for readers in economic, political, and critical theory, however. Emancipatory anthropology needs villains to fight, and Wolf-Meyer finds them in two places. The first is in the idea that people should need to be awake at specific set times, rather than sleeping whenever they want. Readers who attend public school or work in most jobs may find the author somewhat naïve here. The second is integrated or whole-person medicine, which the author sees as a realm of Big Brother-esque social control. But he also notes that the restricted specialties and discipline fragmentation that integrated care was designed to replace lead to misdiagnosis and poor medical care. Wolf-Meyer is too interested in real people to be a good Marxist, and too interested in critical theory to be a good popular writer. He is at home and at his best in academic social history, tying together American ideals of proper work, proper sleep, and proper productivity, and pointing out the economic thinking behind medical concepts like "sleep debt." Annotation ©2013 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com) Cover 1 CONTENTS 8 ABBREVIATIONS 10 PREFACE: Sleep at the Turn of the Twenty-.rst Century 12 INTRODUCTION: From the Lone Sleeper to the Slumbering Masses 18 I. SLEEPING, PAST AND PRESENT 42 1. The Rise of American Sleep Medicine: Diagnosing and Misdiagnosing Sleep 44 2. The Protestant Origins of American Sleep 68 3. Sleeping and Not Sleeping in the Clinic: How Medicine Is Remaking Biology and Society 96 II. CULTURES OF SLEEP 114 4. Desiring a Good Night’s Sleep: Order and Disorder in Everyday Life 116 5. Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep: Children’s Sleep and the Rise of the Solitary Sleeper 146 6. Pharmaceuticals and the Making of Modern Bodies and Rhythms 162 7. Early to Rise: Creating Well-Rested American Workers 176 8. Chemical Consciousness 188 9. Sleeping on the Job: From Siestas to Workplace Naps 198 10. Take Back Your Time: Activism and Overworked Americans 208 III. THE LIMITS OF SLEEP 218 11. Unconscious Criminality: Sleepwalking Murders, Drowsy Driving, and the Vigilance of the Law 220 12. The Extremes of Sleep: War, Sports, and Science 242 CONCLUSION: The Futures of Sleep 260 ACKNOWLEDMENTS 280 NOTES 282 INDEX 302 A 302 B 302 C 302 D 302 E 303 F 303 G 303 H 303 I 303 J 303 K 303 L 303 M 303 N 304 O 304 P 304 R 304 S 304 T 305 U 305 V 305 W 305 X 305 Z 305 Analyzes And Critiques How Sleep And Sleep Disorders Are Understood And Treated. Preface: Sleep At The Turn Of The Twenty-first Century -- Introduction: From The Lone Sleeper To The Slumbering Masses -- Sleeping, Past, And Present. The Rise Of American Sleep Medicine : Diagnosing And Misdiagnosing Sleep ; The Protestant Origins Of American Sleep ; Sleeping And Not Sleeping In The Clinic : How Medicine Is Remaking Biology And Society -- Cultures Of Sleep. Desiring A Good Night's Sleep : Order And Disorder In Everyday Life ; Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep : Children's Sleep And The Rise Of The Solitary Sleeper ; Pharmaceuticals And The Making Of Modern Bodies And Rhythms ; Early To Rise : Creating Well-rested American Workers ; Chemical Consciousness ; Sleeping On The Job : From Siestas To Workplace Naps ; Take Back Your Time : Activism And Overworked Americans -- The Limits Of Sleep. Unconscious Criminality : Sleepwalking Murders, Drowsy Driving And The Vigilance Of The Law ; The Extremes Of Sleep : War, Sports, And Science -- Conclusion: The Futures Of Sleep. Matthew J. Wolf-meyer. A Quadrant Book. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Contents Abbreviations Preface: Sleep at the Turn of the Twenty-first Century Introduction: From the Lone Sleeper to the Slumbering Masses Part I. Sleeping, Past and Present 1. The Rise of American Sleep Medicine: Diagnosing (and Misdiagnosing) Sleep 2. The Protestant Origins of American Sleep 3. Sleeping and Not Sleeping in the Clinic: How Medicine Is Remaking Biology and Society Part II. Cultures of Sleep 4. Desiring a Good Night’s Sleep: Order and Disorder in Everyday Life 5. Before We Fall Asleep: Children’s Sleep and the Rise of the Solitary Sleeper 6. Pharmaceuticals and the Making of Modern Bodies and Rhythms 7. Early to Rise: Creating Well-Rested American Workers 8. Chemical Consciousness 9. Sleeping on the Job: From Siestas to Workplace Naps 10. Take Back Your Time: Activism and Overworked Americans Part III. The Limits of Sleep 11. Unconsciousness Criminality: Sleepwalking Murders, Drowsy Driving, and the Vigilance of the Law 12. The Extremes of Sleep: War, Sports, and Science Conclusion: The Futures of Sleep Acknowledgments Notes Index Abbreviations Preface: sleep at the turn of the twenty-first century Introduction: from the lone sleeper to the slumbering masses Sleeping, past, and present The rise of american sleep medicine : diagnosing and misdiagnosing sleep The protestant origins of American sleep Sleeping and not sleeping in the clinic : how medicine is remaking biology and society Cultures of sleep Desiring a good night's sleep : order and disorder in everyday life Now I lay me down to sleep : children's sleep and the rise of the solitary sleeper Pharmaceuticals and the making of modern bodies and rhythms Early to rise : creating well-rested American workers Chemical consciousness Sleeping on the job : from siestas to workplace naps Take back your time : activism and overworked Americans The limits of sleep Unconscious criminality : sleepwalking murders, drowsy driving and the vigilance of the law The extremes of sleep : war, sports, and science Conclusion: the futures of sleep Acknowledgments Notes Index. The Slumbering Masses addresses the phenomenon of sleep and sleeplessness in the U.S., tracing the influence of medicine and industrial capitalism on Americans’ sleeping habits since the nineteenth century. Drawing on untapped archival sources and ethnographic research with people who experience and treat sleep abnormalities, Matthew J. Wolf-Meyer analyzes and critiques how sleep and its supposed disorders are understood and treated