Sleep

beginning of each unit the author has included a brief overview of the material to be covered, as well as the objectives the author has set up for each unit. Unit one is concerned with the principles and methods of teaching which may serve as guides to teaching in schools of nursing; a conceptual model of the total educative process is presented. The second unit is concerned with learning and the learner, and covers such material as the nature of learning, including characteristics and types, and how the physical and social aspects of the environment influence both teaching and learning. The problems of planning, organizing and directing learning activities are covered in unit three, while unit four is concerned with the methods of teaching and how the teacher can get the utmost results from each method. The last two units cover the areas of audio-visual aids and evaluations. This book should be of great value to anyone in nursing education, and should be a valuable reference for every teacher, from the newest to the oldest. JOSEPH W.

EHARDT,R.N.

Oak Park, Illinois

SLEEP by Gay Gaer Luce and Julius Segal, 335 pages, Coward-McCann, Inc., New York City, N.Y. 1966. Price 85.95. An integral part of our lives is sleep. One third of every human’s life is spent in this profoundly mysterious state. This book gives a totally absorbing account of all there is known to date about sleep. Through extensive research and experiments it has been discovered that personality, basic drives and all motive forces of waking are influenced by sleep patterns. Despite the numerous experiments there remains a veil of mystery surrounding that portion of our sleep that we term as dreaming. It has been proven that within our bodies there are biological “clocks” which have a profound effect on our physical and mental health. Man

Nov-Dec lY66

can survive starvation for a three-week period but loss of sleep for the same lvngth of time will turn a normal human into a psychotic. Constantly interrupted sleep which deprives the sleeper of the active dream state will result in hallucinations, delirium and disorientation. Since the advent of open heart surgery some doctors have been puzzled by peculiar postoperative reactions. Studies were made on 99 patients at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center to determine the cause of these unusual reactions. In conjunction with knowledge gained from existing sleep laboratories it was apparent that sleep loss contributed to the mental stress of a severe operation. Postoperatively a patient who has undergone major cardiac surgery is placed in an intensive care unit. The special monitoring machines, oxygen cooling tents and the attached cables and wises that encumber the patient combine to create a noisy atmosphere. The ward is usually a busy place and to the patient it is a frightening place. This, in addition to hourly medical checks and constant nursing care, prevents any prolonged sleep on the part of the patient. Symptoms resembling schizophrenia or acute brain syndrome developed after three to five days and usually vanished when the patient was moved to a private room and allowed to sleep uninterruptedly. Sleep and its predominant factor of dreaming is of vital interest to all. It would be impossible to mention here even a small portion of all the intensive research that has just recently opened the door to man’s nighttime self. Dreaming is a functional part of the fetus in utero and this phenomenon continues throughout the life span of all individuals. Yet, the biochemistry of sleep is still virgin territory. This book is fascinating reading for layman and medical personnel alike because of the impact of the subject on our daily lives.

CAROLINEROGERS,R.N. Queens Village, N.Y.

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