LOIS MAHARG - THE SAVVY INSOMNIAC

loismah@comcast.net - 734 424 1088

Lois Maharg took her doctor’s advice, read all the books on insomnia, followed the recommendations—and still got no relief from her wakeful nights and washed-out days. Clearly, she needed more than quick answers. As an experienced reporter, she set out to explore insomnia in the hope that deeper understanding would lead to better sleep.The Savvy Insomniac: A Personal Journey through Science to Better Sleep documents her tour through the world of the sleepless. She visited sleep clinics, researchers, therapists, conferences, and fellow insomniacs. She learned about:The body systems that control sleep and waking;Cutting-edge research from leading sleep scientists;The history of insomnia and cultural attitudes toward it;The benefits—and risks—of sleeping pills;Insomnia treatments and new therapies in the pipeline.With stylistic verve and a reporter’s ability to make complex information accessible to all,
The Savvy Insomniac offers the sleepless an illuminating and practical guide to getting rest.A new study from shows that caffeine ingested 6 hours before bedtime has a disruptive effect on sleep and can cause insomnia.For goodness sake, tell me something I don’t already know! Drinking coffee late in the day has always been a surefire summons to insomnia at my house.But there’s a lot about caffeine I didn’t know—and that you might not know either—so I thought I’d pass along a few fascinating factoids.Who’s Sensitive, Who’s Not. Caffeine sensitivity, it’s all in the genes.In 2007 published a paper linking self-rated caffeine sensitivity to differences in a particular adenosine receptor gene (adenosine is a neurochemical whose action is blocked by caffeine).