This is a preview of the Shortform book summary of Sleep Smarter by Shawn Stevenson.
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1-Page Summary1-Page Book Summary of Sleep Smarter

In Sleep Smarter, Shawn Stevenson asserts that high-quality sleep is the key to a healthier body, sharper mind, and overall increased quality of life. He provides a wide array of practical suggestions to help us achieve a good night’s sleep, incorporating nutrition, exercise, sleep habits, and aspects of our environment.

Stevenson is an educator, author, and professional nutritionist in...

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Sleep Smarter Summary Why Sleep Is Important

Stevenson writes that sleep is a vital process that allows your mind and body to rest and rejuvenate. Sleep affects almost every aspect of your overall health, including your daily energy levels, long-term cardiovascular health, and mental health. Therefore, rather than looking at sleep as an inconvenience or something you can neglect, you should regard it as an essential task. In this section, we’ll look at some of the ways sleep impacts your body and brain.

The Importance of Sleep for the Body

Stevenson asserts that when you sleep, various processes happen within you that keep your body in its best condition. Sleep is an anabolic state, meaning it aids in your body’s natural growth and repair processes of your muscular, immune, and skeletal systems. Without adequate quality sleep, these repair mechanisms don't work properly. Additionally, sleep keeps your hormone levels balanced and improves your metabolism.

(Shortform note: Stevenson's emphasis on the importance of sleep for bodily repair and maintenance aligns with research showing that both insufficient and excessive sleep [can lead to increased inflammation in the...

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Sleep Smarter Summary Habits for Healthy Sleep

Stevenson writes that to reap the benefits of quality sleep, you need to align your sleeping habits with your circadian rhythm—the internal system designed to regulate your biology and behavior. Your circadian rhythm acts like a 24-hour timer, telling you when to sleep and when to wake up, coordinating with the cycles of day and night.

(Shortform note: Though a "24-hour timer" might sound rigid, research has found that circadian rhythms often change as people get older. Studies have found that as people age, they tend to prefer going to sleep earlier in the evening and rising earlier in the morning. Also, their sleep patterns often become more fragmentary, with shorter periods of uninterrupted sleep.)

Stevenson advises incorporating three habits into your daily routine to better align your sleep cycle with your circadian rhythms: exposing yourself to sunlight in the early morning, reducing your screen time before bed, and timing your sleep to get the most benefits.

Habit #1: Get More Sunlight in the Morning

Stevenson writes that **your circadian rhythms are controlled by a collection of nerves in your hypothalamus, the...

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Sleep Smarter Summary The Best Bedroom Conditions for Sleep

In the last section, we explored how your body’s natural timing system affects your sleep. Now we’ll examine another factor that influences sleep quality: the environment of your bedroom. In this section, we’ll look at two changes you can make to your sleep environment: sleeping temperature and bedroom air quality.

Sleeping Temperature

Stevenson suggests that keeping your bedroom slightly cold can help improve sleep. This is because your body naturally cools down as you prepare for sleep, so if your body temperature is too warm, your body will remain in a state of wakefulness. By making your surroundings cooler, you're thus making it easier for your body to enter a restful state.

The ideal temperature for the room you sleep in is 60 to 68 degrees Fahrenheit (15 to 20 degrees Celsius). If the temperature in your bedroom is too far outside of this range—either too high or too low—you’ll likely have trouble sleeping. In addition to changing the settings on your thermostat, there are products such as cooling mattress pads that can help you keep your body at the ideal sleep temperature.

(Shortform note: Biologists have found that...

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Sleep Smarter Summary Lifestyle Factors That Affect Sleep

In the previous section, we discussed multiple ways you can create an ideal environment for sleep in your bedroom. In this final section, we’ll look at common lifestyle factors that can change the quality of your sleep. First, we’ll explore the foods and beverages that can help and hinder your ability to sleep. Then, we’ll examine the relationship between exercise and sleep.

Foods and Beverages That Impact Sleep

Stevenson discusses how your dietary choices impact your sleep patterns and quality. Certain foods and drinks can either help to promote a restful sleep or disrupt it.

Caffeine

Stevenson names caffeinated beverages as one of the main offenders causing sleep disruption. While consuming caffeine isn’t inherently bad, doing so too close to bedtime—typically, within six hours of it—can interfere with your ability to fall asleep. To fully understand why caffeine is so disruptive, we need to first consider a chemical called adenosine. Your brain naturally produces adenosine when you're awake, and your nervous system regularly measures the amount of adenosine in your body to determine whether you've been awake for too long. The more adenosine your nervous...

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Shortform Exercise: Audit Your Sleep Habits

Stevenson's book presents healthy sleep as a holistic outcome that requires many behaviors and practices throughout the day. Here, you'll get a chance to audit your daily habits and reflect on changes you could make to improve your sleep.


Audit your sleep behaviors when it comes to sunlight and exercise: What are your daily outdoor activities? How much natural sunlight do you get on a given day? Do you exercise regularly? Is it in the morning as Stevenson recommends?

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