‘You’ll have more empathy, you’ll have more fun’: the man who wants to transform our relationship with sleep From snoring to shift work, Russell Foster explains the myths and misconceptions that get in the way of a well-rested society
Top 10 books about awakenings These moments of precious fresh awareness can be found in authors from Oliver Sacks to Ottessa Moshfegh and Franz Kafka
Allergic by Theresa MacPhail review – in canaries the coal mine Is environmental change behind the mysterious rise in allergies, from asthma to anaphylaxis?
Matrescence by Lucy Jones review – smashing motherhood myths A thrilling examination of what it means to become a mother challenges assumptions in bravura fashion
What we’re reading: writers and readers on the books they enjoyed in May Authors, critics and Guardian readers discuss the titles they have read over the last month. Join the conversation in the comments
Psychonauts by Mike Jay review – the drug-takers who changed history Humphry Davy on laughing gas, Sigmund Freud on cocaine … how self-experimentation shaped science and art
‘For a second, I don’t know who I am’: Ruby Wax on her stay in a mental health clinic In this extract from her new book, the comedian and writer gives a Zoom talk about depression from her hospital room
The big idea: can writing make you healthier? Research supports the benefits of ‘expressive writing’ – but what makes it so cathartic?
Susie Orbach: ‘Body uniformity is out of control – there’s no right way to have labia!’ The psychotherapist on body hatred, what’s changed since she wrote Fat Is a Feminist Issue – and the smell of her clients
Top 10 medical memoirs … by patients Medical practitioners are not the only experts in the field of disease and injury, as these personal stories of trauma and recovery show