Disclaimer: I was given a copy of this book to review and promote
Last July I was placed on medicine to help me sleep. After a month of insomnia my body just couldn't keep up any more. Things I never realized could shut down from lack of sleep started to shut down. And it dawned on me just how important those precious hours of sleep really are.
Not only is it important to get more sleep you need to get better sleep.
The Sleep Revolution By Arianna Huffington explains all of this. Better then I can :). She tells you why and how!! With tips and tricks she will have you sleep better than ever before.
THE SLEEP REVOLUTION: Transforming Your Life, One Night at a Time
Arianna illustrates how the combination of the myth that burning out is the necessary price for accomplishment and success, along with the distractions of a 24/7 wired world, has imperiled our sleep as neverbefore, resulting in a global sleep deprivation crisis. She goes on to show the crucial role thatsleep plays in our every waking moment—and how we can harness its power to improve every aspect of our lives. THE SLEEP REVOLUTION is a sweeping, scientifically rigorous, and deeply personal look at sleep, from its history through the centuries to the mystery and meaning of dreams to today’s emerging golden age of sleep science. Every week, new research reveals how vital sleep is to our health, happiness, job performance, and relationships.
If you type the words “Why am I” into Google, the first suggestion, based on popular searches, is “Why am I so tired?” These five words sum up what Arianna calls “the existential cry of the modern age.” Even though we know more about sleep than at any other time in history, and how important it is to our physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being, actually getting enough sleep is harder than ever. According to a recent Gallup poll, 40 percent of all American adults are perpetually sleep-deprived, clocking in less than the recommended seven hours. In THE SLEEP REVOLUTION, Arianna examines the mystery of sleep, and how we can tap into it to regain control of our out-of-kilter lives, recharge our bodies and minds, and reconnect with ourselves.
She shows how our cultural dismissal of sleep as time wasted undermines our health and decision making and can sabotage our relationships, careers, and even our sex lives. She approaches sleep from every angle, including its critical role in sports, and its often overlooked role in productivity and creativity. She takes on the manipulative and dangeroussleeping pill industry, and talks about the ways in which our addiction to our devices disrupts our sleep. She also presents scientific recommendations and expert tips on how we can all achieve better, more restorative sleep. By highlighting the many areas where the benefits ofsleep are being rediscovered—from professional sports and college campuses to the hotel industry and workplaces around the world—Arianna points the way forward to the amazing innovations, reforms, and even new technologies that are ushering in The Sleep Revolution.
The Huffington Post is also launching the #SleepRevolution College Tour at 50 campuses, including Stanford, Georgetown, UCLA, Ohio State, and the University of Georgia. The goal is to spark a national conversation, based on the latest science, about the importance of sleepand the dangers of sleep deprivation, which is at the heart of so many stress-related mental health issues in college. To help students embrace sleep as a performance enhancer rather than something to be avoided, HuffPost has partnered with major brands, including Sleep Number, Jawbone, JetBlue, Marriott, Spotify, Lands’ End, Sleep Shepherd and Headspace, to host “sleep fairs” to give students tangible tools and products to make changes in their lives and to learn better sleep habits. Arianna and leading sleep experts will be speaking at campuses around the country, and there will be major social media campaigns, as well as sleep-themed blog posts and videos on The Huffington Post from students and professors.
And my favorite part of the book is the paragraph:
"Play the long game. Change is never a straight line, and trying to get more sleep has been no exception. Stuff comes up at work that I want to tackle. I'm with my family and friends, and I don't want to leave the party. Some nights I just don't sleep well - but I remind myself that this is a long game, and little incremental changes add up"
I loved this!! There is some nights when my night just went to heck and I got a horrible 4 hours of interrupted sleep. I wanted to give up, but I had to remind myself that I could try again that night. That no two nights are the same. That making small changes in the end will add up, I have to play for the long game.
The author of this book gets it! You have no clue how many people told me just count sheep, drink warm milk *YUCK, get a warm bath or my favorite was quit whining and go to bed. They had no clue what sort of night time battle I was in! The tears that were shed and the fact I couldn't sleep because I was worked up, but I was worked up because I couldn't sleep!!
My long term goal is to get off my sleeping meds and I really and truthfully think by reading this book I am one (or several) steps closer to being there :)