I read this book in 2019 after a growing fascination with the concept of sleep. I was always one of those people who went to bed reasonably early but also got up early in the morning. This typically changed at the weekends, when I would stay up late socialising and sleep in as best I could. This has all changed in the past number of years and I tend to go to bed around the same time on the weekends as I do during the week – maybe I’m just getting old 🙂 I definitely notice a huge difference in my mood and my ability to concentrate, be productive when I haven’t had enough sleep. I call it a sleep hangover, where it can last for days into the week and impact on my working week.
I enjoyed this book and took a lot from it, though I have seen other posts (will link here if I can find them)
Below I have summarised the key points I took from this book.
- Owls v larks, stick to a regular sleep schedule, circadian rhythm, schedule a nap in the middle of the day
- Avoid caffeine completely
- Avoid too much alcohol
- Alcohol is a sedative and is NOT conducive to good sleep
- Bedroom needs to be cooler than other rooms – reduce your core body temperature in order to sleep
- Have a regular sleep routine, eg reading a book (not on a screen!), listening to music, taking a bath
- Avoid blue LED lights before bed (iPhone, tablet, mobile, TV…)
- Don’t snooze, get up straight away. If you need help, use Mel Robbins’ 5 second rule
- Charge and keep electronics outside of the bedroom
- People who are sleep deprived don’t know they are sleep deprived
- Lack of sleep is a potential contributor to such diseases as Alzheimer’s and cancer
- Sleeping helps aid memory structures. Going to bed on time helps you to remember what you learned that day
- The purpose of dreaming is to analyse/ process (?) the emotions you had that day
