How to Sleep: The New Science-Based Solutions for Sleeping Through the Night

“Easy to read and comprehensive. This book offers real practical guidance.”
—Matthew Walker, PhD, bestselling author of Why We Sleep

A MindBodyGreen Health & Well-Being Book for Your 2021 Reading List

Anyone having trouble sleeping has heard all the old “sleep hygiene” rules: Don’t drink caffeine after 2:00 p.m., use the bedroom only for sleeping, put down your screens an hour before going to bed. But as the millions suffering from poor sleep can attest, just following these overly simplistic, one-size-fits-all directives doesn’t work. How to Sleep is here to rewrite the rules and help you get to sleep—and stay asleep—each and every night.

Dr. Rafael Pelayo, an expert sleep clinician and professor at the world-renowned Sleep Medicine Clinic at Stanford University, offers a medically comprehensive and holistic approach to the myriad issues that might be affecting your sleep. He begins by grounding us in the biology of sleep including the extremely reassuring fact that no one actually sleeps through the night—we naturally wake up every ninety minutes. Dr. Pelayo then tackles the major sleep issues one by one, such as snoring and its causes; the difference between transient and chronic insomnia, and how to treat each; strategies to combat jet lag; how lifestyle choices affect your sleep, including exercise (even ten minutes helps), meditation (try it right before bed), and food and drink (alcohol is a double-edged sword—it may help you fall asleep faster, but it often interferes with staying asleep).

There’s advice for the bedroom—on white noise machines, ambient temperature, what to look for in a pillow—and answers to our most pressing questions, from when to see a sleep medicine specialist to how aging affects our sleep. All in all, it’s a sure prescription to help you sleep better, wake up refreshed, and live a healthier life.

Rafael Pelayo, MD, is a clinical professor at Stanford University School of Medicine in the division of Sleep Medicine. Since 1993 he has been a part of the Stanford Sleep Medicine Clinic, the best-known sleep clinic in the world, and he divides his time between working with patients and teaching at the university. He has served on advisory boards and in leadership positions for the National Center on Sleep Disorders Research at the NIH, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, the National Sleep Foundation, and the California Sleep Society. He has lectured nationally and internationally and has appeared frequently in national media, including NPR, The Ronn Owens Report, Frontline, the New York Times, the Washington Post, CNN.com, San Francisco Chronicle, LA Times, Health.com, and Self.com. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife, who is also a sleep medicine physician (their children grew up sleeping well!).