March/1998
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GOODBYE INSOMNIA, HELLO SLEEP Dunkell, Samuel, MD (Birch Lane Press, 1994, 227 pp., $18.95)
Reviewed by Lynne Lamberg
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Dunkell, who heads Insomnia Medical Services in New York City, first provides an overview of sleep, with emphasis on three types of insomnia (sleep-onset, middle, and early a.m.) Dunkell believes 90 percent of cases of insomnia can be cured with the aid of sleep hygiene and relaxation techniques and discontinuance of long-term use of sleeping pills.
He then segues into jet lag, shift work, narcolepsy, sleep apnea and other sleep disorders, sleep in children and in seniors. Following these chapters is a major section on sleep positions (Dunkell is the author of a previous book on this topic), which he asserts offer insight into the causes and appropriate treatment for insomnia. (People who adopt a full fetal position are "emotional, sensitive, artistic, have intense
one-on-one relationships, and early morning insomnia." Women who sleep in this configuration, he says, usually have the capacity for multiple orgasms. What this last assertion has to do with insomnia is unclear.)
He then discusses dreams, ending with the concept of sleep fitness as a desirable goal. There is a lot of information in this book that addresses its central theme, but also a lot that is beside the point. The reader should not be required to do the editor's job. The book is the only one of those reviewed here with a satisfactory notes and reference section.
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