We Tried: The Sleep Book: How to Sleep Well Every Night by Guy Meadows
27 January 2023
For the past week, we’ve been reading Guy Meadows’: The Sleep Book, How to Sleep Well Every Night; read on to see how it went.
Our passion at Vispring has always been creating the perfect surface for a great night’s sleep; with our lives evolving beyond our imagination over the past few years, we, like many, are too familiar with waking up “on the wrong side of the bed.” No matter how comfortable your sleep is or how you decide to fill your days, your morning routine or lack thereof has a dramatic impact on setting the tone for the rest of the day – whether that’s running around your home getting ready or having a slow, relaxing morning.
A great night’s sleep has endless benefits, some of which we have listed here, but we rarely discuss what happens after your great night’s sleep and how some of that feels ruined by a stressful morning spent rushing to leave your house. Naturally, our cortisol levels (hormones responsible for stress) begin to rise the moment we wake up, so structuring some activities that bring you calm and joy when you first wake up can be a great way of starting a productive and stress-free day.
Chronic insomnia affects 15% of the UK population, and most insomniacs invest huge amounts of time, energy, energy, emotion, and money to fix the problem. But Dr. Guy Meadows has discovered that the secret to good sleep lies not in what you do but in what you learn not to do.
Dr. Meadows states, “sleep is the most powerful performance enhancer known to mankind.” He explains that a better night’s sleep impacts each and every biological process in a positive way. Sleep loss can become a serious problem, especially if it occurs for many nights in a row.
“If you’ve been awake for more than 17 hours, it has the equivalent impact on your ability to focus as having a blood alcohol level of 5%, which is the legal limit (in the UK). It would be crazy to drink before work but being sleep deprived has the same cognitive impact on our ability to focus.”
By actively making sleep a higher priority in your life, Dr. Meadows assures you that you will feel more focused and attentive during the day. Plus, your mood will improve, and you’ll, over time, have a better memory.
In ‘The Sleep Book,’ Dr. Meadows suggests living a lifestyle that helps facilitate better sleep.
And the first step in this, unfortunately for many of us, involves managing your caffeine intake. During that 3:00 slump at the office, it feels like the coffee machine is calling your name. But, try not to drink caffeine after the early afternoon because it can impact your sleep that night, even many hours later on.
Instead of that coffee or tea, take a few minutes to meditate, go for a brisk walk, or have a large glass of water to help reenergize and refocus your mind.
The second tip, increase your exposure to natural light.
While during winter, this may seem like an impossible task, natural light is critical to the maintenance of our natural sleep rhythms, and safely exposing yourself to the sun on a regular basis will help to regulate your circadian rhythm. For more information about resetting your circadian rhythm, click here.
Thirdly, make the decision to put your phone down in the evening. Equally as important, ensure you switch your phone to silent mode at bedtime, so the noise doesn’t disturb your sleep. Our smartphones and technology have developed to be such a large part of our lives; while this has many great benefits to our lives, it also negatively impacts our quality of sleep and mental health. Phones trigger brain stimulation, making it much harder to get asleep and stay asleep. The problem lies as many people are addicted to their phones. Dr. Meadows said, “our own behavioral actions are pushing us further and further away (from sleep).” In short, monitoring and reducing your technology usage is one of the easiest things you can do to steer you away from having a bad night.
Last but by no means least, set reasonable and achievable sleep goals for yourself, and don’t fight your physiology. According to Dr. Meadows, ‘sleeping through the night is not something we should be striving for’ Sleep is surprisingly active; while everyone is slightly different, we all go through sleep-wake cycles during the night. Humans have evolved to stir every few hours to protect themselves from predators, to use the bathroom, and to ensure our surroundings are safe. As Guy Meadows explains, “we sleep in cycles, and they are 90-20 minutes; we evolved like this to check for danger. But many of us become aware of that moment and wake up.” Going to sleep with the ultimate goal of sleeping like a rock denies your physiology and can lead to sleep performance anxiety, making it even harder to get to or fall back to sleep.
Our passion at Vispring has always been creating the perfect surface for a great night’s sleep; with our lives evolving beyond our imagination over the past few years, we, like many, are too familiar with waking up “on the wrong side of the bed.” No matter how comfortable your sleep is or how you decide to fill your days, your morning routine or lack thereof has a dramatic impact on setting the tone for the rest of the day – whether that’s running around your home getting ready or having a slow, relaxing morning.
A great night’s sleep has endless benefits, some of which we have listed here, but we rarely discuss what happens after your great night’s sleep and how some of that feels ruined by a stressful morning spent rushing to leave your house. Naturally, our cortisol levels (hormones responsible for stress) begin to rise the moment we wake up, so structuring some activities that bring you calm and joy when you first wake up can be a great way of starting a productive and stress-free day.
Chronic insomnia affects 15% of the UK population, and most insomniacs invest huge amounts of time, energy, energy, emotion, and money to fix the problem. But Dr. Guy Meadows has discovered that the secret to good sleep lies not in what you do but in what you learn not to do.
Tips we Learned from Guy Meadows
Make Sleep a Priority
Dr. Meadows states, “sleep is the most powerful performance enhancer known to mankind.” He explains that a better night’s sleep impacts each and every biological process in a positive way. Sleep loss can become a serious problem, especially if it occurs for many nights in a row.
“If you’ve been awake for more than 17 hours, it has the equivalent impact on your ability to focus as having a blood alcohol level of 5%, which is the legal limit (in the UK). It would be crazy to drink before work but being sleep deprived has the same cognitive impact on our ability to focus.”
By actively making sleep a higher priority in your life, Dr. Meadows assures you that you will feel more focused and attentive during the day. Plus, your mood will improve, and you’ll, over time, have a better memory.
Implement lifestyle changes that facilitate better sleep
In ‘The Sleep Book,’ Dr. Meadows suggests living a lifestyle that helps facilitate better sleep.
And the first step in this, unfortunately for many of us, involves managing your caffeine intake. During that 3:00 slump at the office, it feels like the coffee machine is calling your name. But, try not to drink caffeine after the early afternoon because it can impact your sleep that night, even many hours later on.
Instead of that coffee or tea, take a few minutes to meditate, go for a brisk walk, or have a large glass of water to help reenergize and refocus your mind.
The second tip, increase your exposure to natural light.
While during winter, this may seem like an impossible task, natural light is critical to the maintenance of our natural sleep rhythms, and safely exposing yourself to the sun on a regular basis will help to regulate your circadian rhythm. For more information about resetting your circadian rhythm, click here.
Reduce your technology usage around bedtime
Thirdly, make the decision to put your phone down in the evening. Equally as important, ensure you switch your phone to silent mode at bedtime, so the noise doesn’t disturb your sleep. Our smartphones and technology have developed to be such a large part of our lives; while this has many great benefits to our lives, it also negatively impacts our quality of sleep and mental health. Phones trigger brain stimulation, making it much harder to get asleep and stay asleep. The problem lies as many people are addicted to their phones. Dr. Meadows said, “our own behavioral actions are pushing us further and further away (from sleep).” In short, monitoring and reducing your technology usage is one of the easiest things you can do to steer you away from having a bad night.
Set yourself reasonable goals
Last but by no means least, set reasonable and achievable sleep goals for yourself, and don’t fight your physiology. According to Dr. Meadows, ‘sleeping through the night is not something we should be striving for’ Sleep is surprisingly active; while everyone is slightly different, we all go through sleep-wake cycles during the night. Humans have evolved to stir every few hours to protect themselves from predators, to use the bathroom, and to ensure our surroundings are safe. As Guy Meadows explains, “we sleep in cycles, and they are 90-20 minutes; we evolved like this to check for danger. But many of us become aware of that moment and wake up.” Going to sleep with the ultimate goal of sleeping like a rock denies your physiology and can lead to sleep performance anxiety, making it even harder to get to or fall back to sleep.