Book Review: Dr Neil Stanley’s ‘How to Sleep Well’

There is evidence indicating that people working night shifts have higher incidences of heart attacks, depression, gastrointestinal problems and breast cancer in women. There is even data showing shift work shortens one’s life span. What Dr Stanley worries is people seem to be constructing a society that is increasing the need for people to work shifts, for example, in the service industries in call centers and supermarkets.

There is a self-perpetuating problem at work. The more people required to work shift, the more 24/7 facilities are needed. This, in turn, leads to more people to work shift! Dr Stanley is doubtful about the supposed benefits of 24/7 really worth the consequences.

Worry and stress are important causes of poor sleep. Dr Stanley asks poor sleepers to stop trying to sleep.  This is because “the harder you try to fall asleep, the less likely you are to do so.”

For many families with children, the sleep period could be a time of distress, conflict and wakefulness.

Dr Stanley finds that much of our sleep disturbance is caused by our bed partner.  He reveals that humans are actually the only animals that choose to sleep together for intimacy.

Alcohol, according to Dr Stanley, “works on the same receptors as sleeping tablets” and thus, can help sleep. However, if you drink an excessive amount – which varies from person to person, problems, such as headache due to dehydration and bathroom visit, may come later in the night.

In the UK, melatonin is only available on prescription, and as a short-term treatment for insomnia. But melatonin supplements are widely promoted as sleep aids. Dr Stanley, however, indicates that there’s little evidence showing melatonin can improve sleep patterns and its long-term safety is uncertain.  Instead, he finds any food containing protein can provide our body the building blocks for production of melatonin. So, it’s no need to eat anything specific to help sleep.

Most people believe that early birds are healthier than night owls. However, Dr Stanley states that our circadian rhythm, or our body’s internal clock, is, to a large extent, determined genetically. As a result, we are unlikely to be trained a lark or an owl. So just be yourself and do what you feel the best.

If we have a poor night’s sleep, the next night we probably would sleep like a log as our body tries to make up the missed sleep. However, it won’t be the case, according to Dr Stanley, if we have two or more disturbed nights in a row.  We cannot make up all that we have lost, even by having long sleep periods at the weekend, which, Dr Stanley says, can be beneficial only if one is sleep-deprived during the week and it is never a replacement for good sleep every night.

Studies show that blue light emitted by screens would suppress the release of melatonin and therefore, making us more difficult to get into sleep. However, Dr Stanley points out that even with blue light stripped out, as shown in recent research, there is still suppression of melatonin production. And other studies find other wavelengths of light as well as brightness are also implicated modulating our sleep/wake cycle.  As a result, he thinks we should avoid using all kinds of technology, including TV, for at least 45 minutes before we sleep.  This is because of a simple fact that we should prepare our mind for sleep.

Counting sheep doesn’t help you get to sleep, according to Dr Stanley, as he quotes the research finding of Oxford University, which claims that this act would only arouse our brain. Instead, visualising a tranquil, static scene would be far better.