How to Sleep Smarter: a TCCU Book Review

Do you know that sleep is critical to managing chronic pain? Does your sleep routine need improvement? If so, read Sleep Smarter – 21 Essential Strategies to Sleep Your Way to a Better Body, Better Health, and Bigger Success by Shawn Stevenson. Kendy Anderson, our Education Director, presents her latest TCCU Book Review: Sleep Smarter.

How to Improve Sleep Habits

This book is packed with ways to improve your sleep and the science to back it up from the forward to the final page.

Beginning with his own personal story, the author shares with readers how poor lifestyle choices nearly wrecked his own health. At 15 years old, he broke a hip running track, which led to a medical diagnosis of degenerative bone and disc disease. He set out in his 20’s to turn that around.

Then, tapping into the power of nutrition, exercise, and quality sleep Stevenson truly succeeded in a 180-degree turnaround. Sleep, he says, is the “secret sauce.” Practicing what he preaches, that your sleep quality and the quality of your life go hand in hand, throughout the book, the author details 21 ways to improve the quality of your sleep.

Enjoy Many Benefits of Good Sleep

To illustrate, Sara Gottfried, MD, explains in the book’s forward section, when readers follow the tips in the book and improve their quality of sleep, they are likely to experience:

• Better skin health and a more youthful appearance
• Emotional regeneration and better relationships
• Decreased risk of stroke and cardiovascular disease
• Fewer accidents
• Lower levels of inflammation
• Enhanced function of the immune system and lower risk of cancer and infection
• Hormonal balance
• A faster rate of weight loss
• Decreased pain
• Stronger bones
• Lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease and cognitive decline; better memory
• Longevity

Kendy Anderson, TCCU Director, gives Sleep Smarter a big thumbs up!

Several Strategies To Sleep Smarter

Stevenson reviews some tried and true good sleep tips to try, but he also dives into some strategies you may not have thought about, like room temperature and gaining a knowledge base about sleep. Also, totally relevant for our screen-obsessed culture; he addresses how digital screens affect our sleep.

Each chapter introduces a specific sleep strategy and research to back it up, along with power tips to increase your success. The book’s final section includes a 14-day sleep makeover where the sleep strategies are incrementally built into your schedule.

Moreover, throughout the book, the author encourages his readers to be consistent. For example, he quotes Samuel Johnson, “the chains of habit are too small to be felt until they are too strong to be broken.”

Also, here is the publisher’s overview of the book:

In Sleep Smarter, Stevenson shares easy tips and tricks to discover the best sleep and best health of your life. With his 14-Day Sleep Makeover, you’ll learn how to create the ideal sleep sanctuary, how to hack sunlight to regulate your circadian rhythms, which clinically proven sleep nutrients and supplements you need, and stress-reduction exercises and fitness tips to keep you mentally and physically sharp.

Sleep Smarter is the ultimate guide to sleeping better, feeling refreshed, and achieving a healthier, happier life.

What’s The Bottom Line?

The bottom line: Want better sleep? This book definitely gives you all the tools you need to improve your sleep and dial down chronic pain. I give it a big thumbs up!

To secure your own copy of Sleep Smarter, Click here and order it from Amazon.com.

Thank you for reading Kendy’s TCCU Book Review: Sleep Smarter. Want more tips to help reduce chronic pain? Read 10 Ways to Reduce Fear and Anxiety in 2020

Want more on the topic of sleep? Read Becky’s 8 tips for sleeping with chronic pain.