When I’m really struggling to count the sheep, I turn to a sleep book. As much as I hate to admit it, sometimes even the best podcasts, pillow sprays and weighted blankets aren’t enough to get me to sleep. They certainly do the trick most of the time, don’t get me wrong, but a sleep book (somewhere between a self-help book and a mindful/meditation activity) will have you dozing off in seconds – trust me.
I have anxiety, which means I often rely heavily on products which can take my mind off things, even if just momentarily. It tends to get worse at night time, so when I find myself struggling to sleep, unable to shake intrusive thoughts, I turn to books that I know are going to relax me and provide genuine tips and tricks on how to wind down.
According to research, 36% of UK adults struggle to get to sleep on a weekly basis and nearly half of the UK have trouble falling asleep on a monthly basis. The same study found that women tend to have more trouble falling asleep than men, too. That’s a lot of people who are awake when they needn’t be.
Mentalhealth.org.uk reported that more than a third of adults in the UK said that sleeping poorly made them feel more anxious, while more than four in 10 said it had made them feel more irritable and angry. Turns out burning the midnight oil really can affect us.
What are the best books about sleep? What to read if you can’t sleep?
Dr. Guy Meadows’s The Sleep Book: How To Sleep Well Every Night book is up there with the best. Using a blend of mindfulness and new ACT therapy techniques, the author shares his unique five-week plan to help resolve your sleep problem, whether it’s a few restless nights or a lifetime of insomnia.
Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker explores twenty years of cutting-edge sleep science, delving into what really happens during REM sleep and why our sleep patterns change as we grow older. Sometimes understanding the science behind sleep can help us to actually utilise it.
Elsewhere, This Book Will Send You To Sleep by K. McCoy makes no claims to be fun or interesting but promises that you will instead find absolutely nothing within it stimulating. It’s a book that will afford you copious amounts of pointless knowledge, therefore boring your brain into sleep. Clever.
For more from GLAMOUR UK’s Associate Commerce Writer Georgia Trodd, follow her on Instagram @georgiatrodd.