National sleep expert James Maas to deliver fifth annual CHB lecture April 18

National sleep expert James Maas to deliver fifth annual CHB lecture April 18April 04, 2007Sara Millersemortim@syr.edu

James B. Maas, professor in the Department of Psychology at Cornell University and a national expert on sleep, will deliver the fifth annual Center for Health and Behavior (CHB) Lecture Wednesday, April 18, at 7 p.m. in Syracuse University’s Maxwell Auditorium. Maas’ lecture, “Wake Up! Power Sleep and Peak Performance for the Rest of Your Life: Everything You Should Know About Sleep But Are Too Tired to Ask,” is free and open to the public. Parking is available in the SU pay lots.

Maas is the Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Fellow, professor and past chair of the Department of Psychology at Cornell. He teaches introductory psychology to 1,700 students each year in the nation’s largest single lecture class and conducts research on the relationship between sleep and performance.

Maas is the author of The New York Times best-seller “Power Sleep: The Revolutionary Program That Prepares Your Mind for Peak Performance” (HarperCollins, 1999), which was translated into 10 languages. His most recent book, “Remmy and the Brain Train” (Focus, 2003), is an award-winning children’s bedtime story about the need for sleep. Maas makes frequent television appearances on such programs as “The Today Show,” “Prime Time Live,” “Good Morning America,” “Regis and Kelly,” “The View,” “20/20” and “Oprah.”

According to Michael Carey, professor of psychology and director of the CHB, Maas will provide attendees with a state-of-the-science perspective on sleep, as well as useful suggestions for sleeping well and feeling better. “Nearly everyone recognizes that not smoking, eating a nutritious diet and getting regular physical activity are central to good health, but the vital role played by sleep for health is under-appreciated,” says Carey. “Every age group has unique needs for sleep and challenges associated with getting enough sleep. For example, adolescents and college students are notoriously sleep deprived and may not realize how sleep sets limits on what they can accomplish and how good they can feel. Older adults must adjust to changing sleep patterns and cope with new challenges to get enough rest.”

Maas is also a noted filmmaker who has produced nine national television specials for PBS in the United States, for the BBC in England, the CBC in Canada, and for Dutch, Danish and Swedish national television. His films have won awards at 42 film festivals. He has held a Fulbright Senior Professorship to Sweden, has been a visiting professor at Stanford University, and is past president of the American Psychological Association’s Division on Teaching. He received a bachelor’s degree from Williams College and a master’s degree and Ph.D. from Cornell.

The CHB is a unit of The College of Arts and Sciences that supports faculty who investigate health promotion and disease prevention interventions, as well as the influence of cognitive, emotional and behavioral processes on health and disease. Center faculty members have received external support to develop and evaluate programs designed to promote health, to prevent disease, and to cope with illness. Current center projects are evaluating programs to reduce harmful alcohol use and smoking and to prevent HIV/AIDS, as well as investigating behavioral contributors to heart disease, asthma, arthritis and the effects of aging on cognitive processes.

Each year, the CHB brings a leading behavioral scientist to campus to speak about a topic of public health importance. Lecturers are selected because they are outstanding scientists and engaging speakers, and the lecture is intended for audiences ranging from high school and college students to faculty to the larger community.

For more information on the lecture or the CHB, contact Carey at mpcarey@syr.edu or (315) 443-2755.