Saved by the Siesta

An expert guide to the new health trend that is helping people around the world feel more energised and less stressed.


Saved by the Siesta explains how siestas work and the remarkable role they can play in overcoming the destructive effects that a shortage of sleep can have on the brain and the body.


A daytime nap fulfils all the same functions as a night’s sleep — it’s hormonal, purifying, curative, consolidating, and reinvigorating. It also helps us to combat sleepiness, pain, depression, weak immunity, stress, hypertension, excess weight, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.


But to take advantage of all this we need to be aware of the siesta’s subtleties: its various types; the correct body position to adopt; the times that are conducive to sleeping; the most effective duration; the stages of sleep that heighten awareness, cognitive performance, memory, and creativity; and how to get to sleep quickly and wake up without feeling sleepy.


Saved by the Siesta provides all this information, and more. It is a lucid and accessible synthesis of the science of sleep, and a practical guide to the benefits of napping.