'Curious, compassionate and utterly practical. This book doesn't just help you understand sleep; it helps you understand yourself' Damian Hughes, co-presenter of High Performance
***THE INTERNATIONAL SENSATION BEING PUBLISHED IN 18 LANGUAGES***
A clear-eyed and passionate antidote to both individual sleep anxiety and our current obsessive, perfectionist culture, Think Less, Sleep More unpacks the science and fundamentals of sleep - including misunderstood concepts such as sleep drive and sleep debt - and arms you with simple tools for how you can improve something you spend a third of your life doing.
You'll Why your evening routine matters far less than your morning routine How to trust your body's natural sleep drive and rhythms Why 'bad nights' don't ruin your health How to re-set your relationship with sleep and free yourself from sleep anxiety
This book was so good that I only read the opening third of it. While that would sound counterintuitive in a novel, it's a testament to its quality as a self-help book that it sorted out my sleep issues more or less by the end of the opening chapter.
It's even arguable that the author sorted out my sleep issues before I picked up the book. I saw her on a documentary about sleep by Denise van Outen, and what she said on that about my particular issue, which is that I wake up in the middle of the night most nights and then struggle to get back to sleep, immediately made me less concerned about the issue. Being less concerned about the issue has, in turn, led to me finding it much easier to get back to sleep when I wake up in the middle of the night.
Intrigued by the immediate effect, I Googled the author and found this book. Some of what I've learned from it and the documentary has been significant to the point of life-changing (or at least, sleep-changing). To have a sleep specialist make statements such as "thirty minutes of good sleep are better than four hours of bad sleep" is truly liberating. I received some liberation of a sort several years ago when I first discovered that it was considered the norm in the Middle Ages to sleep in two shifts with an hour of wakefulness in the middle. Even more liberating was to learn two things from the author about the nature of the second sleep: first, it is normal for it to comprise a lighter form of sleep than the first sleep; and second, that studies have shown that during periods of lighter sleep people often believe that they are awake. Perhaps more to the point, different types of sleep have different functions, and those functions are fulfilled as well by sleeping deeply for three hours and then lightly for another three, possibly so lightly that one believes oneself to be awake for a lot of it, as they are by the classic 'eight hours of unbroken sleep' (which turns out to be a myth).
There is an unintended consequence of this book. For the last decade or so I've done a significant amount of my reading when I wake up in the middle of the night - one of the major benefits of having a backlit Kindle. Since I watched the documentary, my nighttime reading has become drastically reduced because I'm finding it so easy to fall back asleep. A book so good that I didn't finish it and that it's reduced the amount I read. Go figure.
accessible and reassuring, writing style did grate (kinda sounds like ChatGPT in parts?? so many sentences with ‘it’s not…., it’s ….’. But content pretty helpful
I found this a refreshingly down to earth and practical book. The author is a very well known professional in the field of sleep, but she expresses herself in a way that we can all understand and relate to. Which of us hasn’t had an awful night or a spate of them? However Stephanie reassuringly reminds us , that left to get on with it, our bodies will sort out our sleep, without the need for drugs or exaggerated pre-sleep rituals. Only a very few people will need further treatment. This is a must read for anyone who is interested in their sleep or who has ever been worried about the lack of it.
Overall, this book was great! The content was helpful and very interesting. I would argue that throughout the book it sounded like ChatGPT in parts, which was very strange. If you are interested in your sleep, I would definitely read it! There is a large list of Do's and Dont's which I personally enjoyed, but I did find a little lengthy. I think this book has a lot of filler, which I found interesting.
Liked this one! I found the Dos and Don’ts lists especially useful, and the knowledgeable yet casual tone notably accessible. The structure of the book was also great, as I could focus more on the sections that felt relevant to me. Glad to have won a paperback ARC of this title in a Goodreads Giveaway. Will be keeping this so I can continue to reference it in the future!
Book is good. Could be more concise, but I get that the author is trying to repeatedly hammer the important points, so I'm not that against it. Dispels popular sleep hacks and explains the foundation for good sleep. Hopefully will help me sleep👍 would give It 4.5 if that was an option.
A fab book, packed full of evidence-based insights and practical guidance. All delivered with a huge amount of compassion and warmth. I’ve learned so much about sleep, and it has eased a niggle that had potential to grow into one of those pesky sleep gremlins that Steph mentions in the book.
Sound advice that is already changing the way I go about sleep. However..., all this advice could fit 50 pages of text easily. The book is full of repetitions and filler content. Feels like the author asked ChatGPT to stretch the manuscript to make it 290 pages long.
Had some helpful advice but was quite repetitive. I felt like 80% of each chapter just repeated what the previous chapter stated. However, it was really informative and interesting to learn the different types of sleep cycles.
I enjoyed learning more about sleep and how your body and mind works with it and definitely picked up a few insights that i would like to start trying to see if it makes any difference.
The title immediately grabbed my attention because my sleep has not been the same since having a baby 🥲 I used to sleep through anything — now the tiniest sound wakes me up.
This book was eye-opening, practical, and full of tools I’ll genuinely be applying to my life. It completely shifted how I think about sleep.
Some key takeaways for me: 🌅 Wake up at the same time every day 🌿 Get outside and move your body 🛏️ Sleep is subjective — it’s not a perfect science
Such a helpful and reassuring read.
Perfect for: 😴 Tired moms 🧠 Overthinkers at bedtime 🌙 Anyone struggling with inconsistent sleep
📅 Releasing July 7
Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review 🤍✨