Book Summary: The Sleep Solution

W. Chris Winter’s The Sleep Solution goes right back to basics with sleep. It discusses why having a routine and staying consistent is so powerful, as well as how to better control and change your sleep patterns to increase your quality of life.

The Sleep Solution Summary Ideas:

Sleep and Your Health

One of the primary benefits being well rested offers us is that it aids our body in removing waste and toxins. A great example of which is our glymphatic system. A system of the body only discovered quite recently which is responsible for removing the build-up of waste products in our brains. These same products have been shown to accumulate in the brains of people suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. The system works up to 60% better while we sleep.

Sleep also increases our ability to resist the common cold as well as helping control blood pressure and reducing the risk of heart failure, strokes and heart attacks.

Sleep and Fatigue

True sleepiness has three common causes: medications, sleep deprivation and sleep dysfunction. The first is simply explained because some drugs are designed to make a person sleepy. The second is a result of getting less sleep than your body normally requires. Getting less than the required amount of sleep for your body causes your body to almost accumulate sleepiness like it would accumulate hunger if you weren’t eating enough. The third, Sleep dysfunction, means you are getting to sleep but at some point that sleep is being interrupted or somehow not functioning as it should.

Not getting enough quality sleep or the quantity that you need can have serious impacts on your day to day. The highest of which is mental function and an overall lethargy or decrease in energy and drive.

The Three Stages Of Sleep

Light Sleep is the first of the three phases. It’s actually divided into two sections called N1 and N2. You spend roughly 50% of your time sleeping in these stages throughout the night and these stages are often easily detected when someone has their sleep monitored.

The second phase is Deep Sleep or N3. Around 25% of your time asleep is spent here, but that time often decreases as we age. Deep sleep tends to occur most in the first half of your time asleep and is responsible for us feeling ‘well rested’ when we wake. When we are younger this is the stage that growth hormone is released and also associated with repair of our bones and muscles.

The third and final phase is REM Sleep, the author refers to it as ‘dream sleep.’ REM, or rapid eye movement, sleep is not well understood by researchers because some curious things happen. Our eyes make rapid movements below our eyelids, our bodies lose some ability to temperature regulate and your brain has activity levels similar to when you’re awake. This phase of sleep also tends to occur for about 25% of our time asleep and more frequently towards the latter half of our time asleep.

The Sleep Solution Book Summary Notes:

A sleep routine is important because sleep affects so much of our day to day.
Sleep can affect *your* health, weight, and mood.
It also helps rid the body of waste, particularly that which accumulated in the brain.
Sleep has a positive effect on the immune system and a restorative effect on muscle and bone.
Sleeplessness is often not caused by a lack of sleep, but instead a lack of effective sleep.
Sleep has three phases: light, deep and REM.
Circadian rhythms play an important part in sleep as they manage our internal clocks. Telling our body when it’s time to sleep.
Jet lag is one of the most prominent ways we damage our circadian rhythms.
Plants, animals and even some simpler life forms like fungi have been shown to have circadian rhythms.
Research has shown that humans internal clocks reset every 24 hours and 11 minutes.
Your internal clock is calibrated by things like the presence of the sun and when you eat your meals.
Sleep hygiene is your ability to control the environment that you sleep in.
For optimal conditions for Sleep, your bedroom should be as close as possible to total darkness. Both the comfort of your bedroom and it’s general vibe also contribute.
Insomnia is often caused by poor quality of sleep rather than not enough.
Sleeping pills are a terrible idea for trying to get more sleep.
A consistent sleep schedule and routine with optimal sleep hygiene is recommended for high quality, restful sleep.

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