The Dark Side of Sleeping Pills: Mortality & Cancer Risks, Which Pills to Avoid & Better Alternatives, and Brighten Your Life: How Bright Light Therapy Helps with Low Mood, Sleep Problems & Jet Lag

In these compelling books, physician and researcher Daniel F. Kripke, M.D. examines two topics of vital interest in today’s era of pharmaceutically-centered health care: first, the dangers of sleeping pills, and second, bright light treatments, an inexpensive and effective way for many to reduce the distress of depression and sleep disorders.

“The Dark Side of Sleeping Pills” explains mortality and cancer risks of sleeping pills, and which of today's popular pills should not be used. It also explores better alternatives. “Brighten Your Life” describes bright light therapy and explains how light can be used to help low mood, sleep problems, shift work and jet lag, and why we need bright light.

Both books are written in a straightforward, informative style. But for those who want all the detail, the text is extensively supplemented with linked notes to the key studies, some of which were authored or co-authored by Dr. Kripke.

A licensed physician certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and an emeritus professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego, in 1973 Dr. Kripke established one of the first sleep clinics in the United States. Early in his career, he published the first controlled clinical trial of bright light treatment. He has been treating patients with sleep disorders and doing research on sleep and the use of light treatment ever since.

Dr. Kripke, who now does some research with San Diego’s Scripps Clinic Viterbi Family Sleep Center, was elected a Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, has written hundreds of medical articles and has lectured in 18 countries.