Make Sleep Your Superpower: A Guide to Greater Health, Happiness & Productivity

"When it comes to writing that clearly applies science to our everyday lives, Britt is among the greats. The way he writes about sleep here is so thoughtful, interesting, actionable, and potentially life-changing." —Amy Shearn, award-winning author of Unseen City and other novels

Sleep is the most underrated activity that affects physical well-being, energy level, mood, memory and thinking skills. Good sleep puts you in charge of your emotions, your actions and reactions, your productivity, your entire day.

Improving your sleep will make you better at everything you do, whether you’re a college student, an entrepreneur, an athlete, an artist, a parent, a teacher, a 9–5 worker or a 5–9 workaholic, a Millennial or a Boomer.

Better sleep can be your superpower.

However, much of what you hear about sleep is wrong or misguided. Pharmaceutical companies and others who make money off the myths want you to think we’re all sleep-deprived zombies, that snoring is always a bad sign, that older people can’t sleep well, and that drugs or expensive devices are the best and only solutions.

In plain language, health journalist Robert Roy Britt debunks these and other common sleep myths and misconceptions in a breakthrough book that reveals the important lifestyle factors behind a good night’s sleep, and how anyone can develop a simple and effective strategy to improve sleep quality and feel better every day. You will come to realize that just like your job, your relationships and other important things in life, good sleep deserves a little intention and effort.

You’ll learn practical, doable, science-based strategies for falling asleep faster, sleeping more soundly, and sleeping efficiently, especially in the most restorative and rejuvenating stages of sleep—without wasting time staring at the ceiling.

The book explains the importance of sleep and the remarkable clean-up and repair work done to your brain and body, and how to get efficient and effective sleep. It introduces a novel questionnaire to determine your Sleep Score, a benchmark from which you can measure improvement.

Britt reveals the many ways sleep can be degraded by outside forces and, often, the stupid things we do. You’ll meet your kryptonite—the behaviors and conditions that thwart good sleep and prevent you from living your best life. He then lays out 20 specific science-backed sleep tactics, concluding with sleep experts revealing how well or poorly they sleep, and what tactics they employ.

Finally, you'll learn exactly how to launch a sleep strategy and stick to it, including introduction of the 3x3 Sleep Challenge to jumpstart your measurable progress toward better nights and better days.

This book will help you create a virtuous cycle of healthy behaviors leading to greater health, happiness and productivity.