Sleep Demons: An Insomniac’s Memoir

370 Pages·2018·18.721 MB·English

by  Bill Hayes

Praise for Bill Hayes and Sleep Demons
“What if the hum [of sleep] never comes? That’s what writer
and photographer Bill Hayes explores in his magnificent book
Sleep Demons, part reflection on his own lifelong turmoil in the
nocturne, part sweeping inquiry into the sometimes converging,
sometimes colliding worlds of sleep research, psychology, med-
icine, mythology, aging, and mental health.”
—Maria Popova, Brain Pickings
“A skilled and graceful debut that variously reads like a journey
of scientific discovery, a personal memoir, and a literary episode
of Ripley’s Believe It or Not. . . . An intelligent, beautifully writ-
ten book, Hayes’s curious hybrid will delight readers who snore
past dawn as well as those who pace away while the midnight
oil burns.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“A graceful hybrid of a book that’s half research treatise and half
memoir. . . . Lovely writing that may keep readers up late into
the evening.” —Entertainment Weekly
“Memoir, history, and science come together and apart again in
a book that reads very much like a dream, switching genre and
subject with a beautiful logic of its own, illuminated now and
then with flashes of gorgeous insight. . . . Read this one, savor
it, just don’t take it to bed with you.” —Out magazine
“Hayes has created something that goes beyond mere memoir;
call it obsessional autobiography. . . . Hayes’ polished writing
and fearless revelations make it work beautifully.”
—San Francisco Chronicle
“Sleep Demons is a lovely weave of memory and science, great
characters and compassionate humor. Insomniacs will love it
for the sense of connection and solution; the rest of you (grrr)
for its wisdom and wonderful writing.”
—Anne Lamott, author of Traveling Mercies and Bird by Bird
“Like the most rewarding kind of travel writer, Bill Hayes is
both informative and personal as he takes us through the bor-
derlands of sleep and waking, mysterious yet familiar. I’m grate-
ful for the way this intimate, reflective and factual guidebook
captures the feeling of that terrain.”
—Robert Pinsky, Poet Laureate of the United States, 1997–2000
“Engaging . . . captivating . . . fresh and amusing. . . . A rare
mingling of curiosity and compassion.” —Vancouver Sun
“Sleep Demons succeeds thanks to a crucial element that is of-
ten missing from memoirs: a genuinely likeable and interesting
character.” —Star-Tribune (Minneapolis)
w ith a new preface
the university of chicago press
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
© 2018 by William Hayes
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without writ-
ten permission, except in the case of brief quotations in critical articles and reviews. For more information,
contact the University of Chicago Press, 1427 E. 60th St., Chicago, IL 60637.
Published 2018
Printed in the United States of America
27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 1 2 3 4 5
ISBN-13: 978-0-226-56083-0 (paper)
ISBN-13: 978-0-226-56097-7 (e-book)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226560977.001.0001
AUTHOR’S NOTES
Some names have been changed in the author’s memoir.
Although every attempt has been made to ensure the accuracy of information on sleep disorders herein,
this book does not constitute medical advice.
PUBLICATION ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Sleep Demons was first published by Washington Square Press in 2001. Brief portions of this book were
originally published in different forms in the following publications: Details, DoubleTake, Mother Jones, The
New York Times Magazine, Salon.com, San Francisco Focus, and Speak.
PERMISSIONS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following for permission to reprint previously published material:
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC, and Faber and Faber Limited: Excerpt from “The Man with Night
Sweats” from Collected Poems by Thom Gunn. Copyright © 1994 by Thom Gunn. Reprinted by permission
of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC, and Faber and Faber Ltd.
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC, and Weidenfeld & Nicolson: Excerpt from The White Album by Joan
Didion. Copyright © 1979 by Joan Didion. Reprinted by permission of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC, and
Weidenfeld & Nicolson.
Indiana University Press: Excerpt from Lucretius: The Way Things Are, translated by Rolfe Humphries,
pp. 148–49. Copyright © 1968 by Indiana University Press. Reprinted by permission of Indiana University
Press.
Penguin Putnam, Inc., and Penguin Books Limited: Excerpt from “Two Forms of Insomnia” from Se-
lected Poems by Jorge Luis Borges. Copyright © 1999 by Alan S. Trueblood. Reprinted by permission of
Viking Penguin, a division of Penguin Putnam, Inc., and Penguin Books Ltd.
Philosophical Library, New York: Excerpts from Sleep by Marie Carmichael Stopes. Copyright © 1956
by the Philosophical Library. Reprinted by permission of The Philosophical Library, New York.
The University of Chicago Press: Excerpts from Sleep and Wakefulness by Nathaniel Kleitman. Copy-
right © 1939 and 1963 by The University of Chicago. Reprinted by permission of The University of Chicago
Press.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Hayes, Bill, 1961– author.
Title: Sleep demons : an insomniac’s memoir : with a new preface / Bill Hayes.
Description: Chicago : The University of Chicago Press, 2018. |
Includes bibliographical references and index. | Originally published: New
York : Washington Square Press, 2001.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017048416 | ISBN 9780226560830 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN
9780226560977 (e-book)
Subjects: LCSH: Hayes, Bill, 1961– | Sleep disorders—Patients—Biography. |
Insomniacs—Biography.
Classification: LCC RC548 .H394 2018 | DDC 616.8/498—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017048416
This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper).
For Steve Byrne

Preface, 2017 | ix
viii CONTENTS
PART THREE: NIGHT SWEATS
13. Dream Recall I 209
14. Hypnotics I 232
15. Fevers I 247
16. Fatal Familial Insomnia I 265
17. The Patient I 282
18. Final Sleep I 304
Acknowledgments I 325
References I 327
Index I 343
Preface, 2017
Sleep demons, my first book, had its genesis in a single
line that came into my mind on a sleepless night more than
twenty years ago. I was lying awake next to my partner, Steve,
who was as usual snoozing soundly, when finally I’d just had it.
Utterly exasperated, I thought: I would steal an hour of his sleep
if I could—I’d slip beneath his eyelids and yank it right out of him.
The writer in me knew the line was too good to risk forget-
ting, so I got out of bed and wrote it down on a pad in another
room. Over the next few weeks, I expanded upon it and wrote
a short, lyrical essay on insomnia, a condition I had struggled
with since childhood. I was working full-time for a nonprofit in
San Francisco, and I would write in the early mornings or during
those frequent midnight hours when I couldn’t sleep. The per-
ix