Biography

Dr. James B. Maas is Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Fellow, Professor and past chairman of the Department of Psychology at Cornell University. He received his B.A. from Williams College and his M.A. and Ph.D. from 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.

Dr. Maas, one of the nation's most sought after corporate speakers, is a keynote presenter for several major organizations worldwide, including the Young Presidents Organization (YPO), the World Presidents Organization (WPO), the World Business Council (WBC), Holiday Inns- Bass Hotels and Resorts, Marriott, IBM, Apple Computer, Eastman Kodak, Pepsi-Cola, Caterpillar Tractor, Starwood Hotels, Mutual Life, Pizza Hut International, S.C. Johnson Wax, MCI/United Artists, the Urban Land Institute, Seagrams, Simmons, BBC-TV and the American Society of Association Executives. His presentations consistently receive standing ovations and the highest accolades.

Dr. Maas is also a noted filmmaker who has produced nine national television specials for PBS in this country, for the BBC in England, the CBC in Canada, and for Dutch, Danish and Swedish National Television. His films have won 42 major film festivals. Dr. Maas has held a Fulbright Senior Professorship to Sweden, has been a visiting professor at Stanford University and past-president of the American Psychological Association's Division on Teaching. He received the Clark Award for Distinguished Teaching at Cornell, and is the recipient of the American Psychological Association's Distinguished Teaching Award.

Dr. Maas is the author of the New York Times Best Seller, Power Sleep: The Revolutionary Program That Prepares Your Mind for Peak Performance, published by Random House and HarperCollins, and translated into 10 languages. His most recent book, Remmy and the Brain Train, is an award-winning children's bedtime story about the need for sleep. Dr. Maas makes frequent television appearances on such programs as NBC's TODAY Show, Prime Time Live, Good Morning America, Regis and Kelly, The View, ABC's 20/20, and Oprah.

Speech Abstract

To be a peak performer you need to be fully alert, dynamic, energetic, in a good mood, and cognitively sharp. You must be able to concentrate, remember, make critical and creative decisions, communicate persuasively, and be productive all day long. None of this is possible without quality sleep. Furthermore, healthy sleep has been proven to be the single most important determinant in predicting longevity. It is more influential than diet, exercise or heredity-but our modern culture has become a study in sleep deprivation. We must learn to value sleep, yet most of us know very little about the incredibly varied activity that occurs during the course of each night, and how it affects health, happiness and performance. This presentation, extremely popular with corporate, association and general audiences, explores the nature of sleep, focusing on such questions as:

• Why are 100 million Americans sleep deprived?
• What are the consequences for thinking, performance and lifespan?
• What are the different stages of nocturnal sleep and how important are they to daytime functioning?
• How much sleep do you need to function well?
• Can you decrease your need for sleep and remain efficient?
• How can you reduce travel fatigue?
• Do you need less sleep as you get older?
• Is napping healthy?
• What causes insomnia?
• What are the four golden rules and ten sleep strategies that will assure you a great night's sleep?

The information provided in this presentation will increase your daytime alertness, psychological mood, productivity, creativity and quality of life.

Contact Dr. Maas for speaking engagements: jbm1@cornell.edu