My book club recently read, “My Stroke of Insight,” by Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, Ph.D.
Dr. Taylor likes to say she lost her “left mind” during a massive stroke that immobilized the left hemisphere of her brain. She was 37 years old when this happened; during her recovery she slept and slept some more. In fact, “honor the healing power of sleep” is number 10 on Dr. Taylor’s list of “Forty Things I Needed the Most” in recovery.
A neuroanatomist, Dr. Taylor’s discoveries about the brain led her to be invited to speak at the famed TED Conference last year. As a scientist, she was able to study her own brain functions (motion, speech, feelings) through the stroke itself and then recovery.
Seven years later, her brain continued to need 11 hours of sleep, then stabilized at nine and a half, although Dr. Taylor considers herself a “happy napper.”
You don’t need to go through a stroke to honor the healing power of sleep, though. Just ask anyone who doesn’t.
Photo credit: Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor
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Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor on Oprah’s Soul Series
Fri, May 29, 2009
Sleep Physiology