Book Summary: Sleep Smarter - Shawn Stevenson

Sleep Smarter Book Summary

Sleep smarter focuses on practical tips from scientific studies to help you get a better nights sleep.

The importance of sleep is often overlooked or under appreciated.
Often it’s the first thing we give up when things get busy or when we become overwhelmed.
When we are sleep deprived we become slower in our day to day actions as well as less creative. All of this leads to us accomplishing much less due to the lack of sleep.
A medical journal study found that surgeons who had been awake for longer than 24 hours took 14% longer to complete tasks and made 20% more errors.
One of the reasons for this drop is thought to be the affect sleep deprivation has on the brains glucose content. The brain needs fuel to operate properly and without an extended rest to help replenish supplies the areas responsible for problem solving and higher level thinking begin to show signs of impairment, between 12-14%.
Not getting enough sleep can also contribute to the body becoming more resistant to insulin, something typically appearing in type 2 diabetes.
Without sleep you can see it becomes near impossible to operate at an optimal level or even continue the same level of output over time.
Sleep is also an anabolic state allowing our bodies to repair and rebuild from the activities of the day.

Can have a massive impact on the quality of our rest.
Melatonin is a hormone produced by our body that helps to regulate our circadian rhythm, which in turn tells us when it’s time to go to bed.
Production of this hormone is heavily influenced by our exposure to light. Usually as the sun fades in the evening our bodies produce more so that we become sleepy and go to bed.
If you are exposed to light early in the mornings this can also help your body to produce more melatonin in the evenings.
Bright morning sunshine prompts our bodies that it’s time for everything to wake up.
Limiting our exposure to light, especially the blue light emitted from electronic devices, around 60 mins before bed can help make sure we’re primed and ready for bed.
If you can’t keep off your device before bed make sure to look into apps or settings that turn down the brightness or change the spectrum of light emitted. You can even buy a pair blue light blocking glasses if you need.
Pay attention to your sleeping environment as well, a completely dark room will be much more conducive to a good nights sleep. Items such as black out curtains or even high quality eye masks can both assist with keeping the light in your room to a minimum.

One of the easiest ways to make sure we get the rest we need as well maintaining high quality rest is to go to bed at the right time.
Keeping to a rough schedule will help your body get into the routine of knowing when it’s time to go to sleep and can even help you get to sleep faster as well. Aim for within 30mins of the same time every night.
Don’t try to play catch up on the weekends, instead stick to a consistent sleep schedule whether your working or not.
Our bodies were programmed for maximum work during daylight hours. As a species our move to towards staying up late is only as old as the invention of the lightbulb. We do our best work and are primed naturally for it during daylight hours. Take advantage of it.
The window for peak hormone production at night occurs roughly between 10pm and 2am. These are hours you do not want to miss out on from a physiological point of view. Sleeping outside these times will be less restorative for the body unfortunately.

Set a hard time limit for yourself with caffeine. After a certain time each day do not take in any more.
Caffeine has a half life of approximately 8 hours and because of this will definitely interfere with sleep if taken after 4pm.
Alcohol can stop us from entering the later stages of sleep as well. Having a glass of water for each alcoholic drink can help to combat some of the side effects from a rough night, but still may not be enough to prevent alcohol interfering with your REM sleep stages.
Exercise can have sleep enhancing effects.
Work outs trigger the body at night to release hormones associated with repair, such as testosterone and HGH (human growth hormone) both of which are essential for rebuilding damaged muscle but also help your body have a more restorative sleep.
Some supplements can be useful sleep aids as well, such as magnesium or melatonin.
Mediation can be a beneficial way to relax and unwind before bed as well. Learning mindfulness and how to quiet your brain can be extremely valuable in the quest for better sleep.

Your room and environment have a large impact on the quantity and quality of your sleep.
Your room should give you a sense of calm and relaxation. Take some time to add whatever helps you with that. Is it some greenery? Dark curtains? A fluffy bed spread?
Plants are an excellent addition to bedrooms as they provide natural air filtration as well as having calming and happiness boosting effects on people.
Keep work out of your bedroom as much as possible. Work calls, texts and emails all impact our levels of cortisol, a stress hormone, and can negatively impact our sleep.

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