JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
James Maas, a psychologist and sleep researcher, died last week at the age of 86.
AILSA CHANG, HOST:
He spent decades teaching at Cornell University studying the link between sleep and human health.
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JAMES MAAS: We have to value sleep because sleep is the best predictor of general health and longevity, as well as being essential for learning, for problem solving.
SUMMERS: That's Maas speaking with NPR back in 2003.
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MAAS: If you want to be a good athlete, if you want to be a good golfer, if you want to be a good pianist and you need hand-eye coordination, hand-foot coordination, all those connections are formed very late in the night in stage 2 sleep and in REM sleep.
CHANG: So that's my problem. Maas often spoke about how Americans do not get enough sleep, and his research linked sleep deprivation to a range of health issues like Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and stress.
SUMMERS: He told NPR that even a little drowsiness can be dangerous.
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MAAS: They don't notice it when they're at work if the adrenaline is rushing. But the minute they go back to the office to sit down or they, God forbid, get behind the wheel of a car, you can have a sleep seizure in a second, going from having your eyes wide open to your thinking brain totally turned off within 80 feet of driving. And that's why we have a tremendous number of car accidents due to drowsy driving.
CHANG: Maas cowrote the 1998 bestseller "Power Sleep: The Revolutionary Program That Prepares Your Mind For Peak Performance."
SUMMERS: It helped popularize the term power nap, and Maas jokingly said it helped people sleep better.
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MAAS: And as my students know here, the world's greatest cure for insomnia these days is to read "Power Sleep." Any two pages you've told me will put you right out.
CHANG: That's a clip from a lecture that Maas gave at Cornell University, where he taught for almost 50 years.
SUMMERS: He lectured to more than 65,000 students while there, touting the benefits of good health.
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MAAS: If you learn nothing else, I want you to know, obviously, that sleep is a necessity. It's not a luxury. It is the quantity and quality of your sleep that in large measure is going to determine your success in your waking life.
CHANG: That was Professor James Maas. He died last week at the age of 86. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
