The Sleep Fix

Diane Macedo

📚 GENRE: Health & Wellness

📃 PAGES: 384

✅ COMPLETED: January 9, 2022

🧐 RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

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Short Summary

As a renowned ABC News anchor/correspondent, Diane Macedo is used to working hectic schedules. After dealing with insomnia for years, she decided to attack it. The Sleep Fix is a manual for getting good sleep consistently based on her interviews with sleep experts and in-depth reporting on sleep biology. Macedo outlines common sleep disorders and how to identify them, the factors that contribute to good sleep, and why trying to sleep is counterintuitive. 

Key Takeaways

1️⃣ Don’t Try — The more you TRY to sleep, the harder it is to actually fall asleep. When you do a bunch of things before bed that are designed to send you into a sleep, and then you don’t fall asleep right away, it fuels your anxiety. The key is to relax and not try so hard. 

2️⃣ Unwind Before Bed — When your mind is over stimulated before bed, your conditioned arousal will be high when you get in bed and try to sleep. At least one hour before bed, limit all activities to things that don’t stimulate your mind.

3️⃣ Hit the Reset Button — If you’re tossing and turning in the middle of the night and can’t sleep, it does no good to stay in bed. Get up, make the bed, and go sit on the couch for 10-15 minutes. Then come back to the bed and try again. 

Favorite Quote

"When we’re sleep deprived, our body automatically prioritizes deep sleep and REM sleep over lighter sleep. We also fall asleep faster than usual and sleep more efficiently."

Book Notes 📑

Introduction

  • Diane is a news anchor with ABC News who has suffered from horrible sleep for most of her life.
  • Ambien, a sleep pill, helped her significantly for awhile, but she began to develop a tolerance and dependency for it.
    • This led her to investigate sleep science further and develop this book, which goes over how to sleep great and WHY the techniques work.
  • Two main systems drive us to wake up and fall asleep every day:
    1. Sleep Drive 
      • Like hunger. The longer we go without sleep, the higher our sleep drive and the sleepier we feel.
    2. Circadian Rhythm 
      • Internal clock that sends wake signals at certain times of the day — regardless of whether or not we’ve slept.
    • If you have issues sleeping, something is interfering with one or both of these systems.
      • If issues are very bad, consider seeing a sleep specialist.

Ch. 1: Identifying the Problem

  • Types of Sleep Disorders:
    • Insomnia — An unexplained difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep, despite adequate opportunity to sleep.
      • When you feel like crap because you couldn’t stop thinking the night before — you’ve experienced insomnia. 
      • To treat this, consider working with a sleep specialist who focuses on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I).
        • Ask for referral from doctor. 
        • Sleepeducation.org
        • Behavioralsleep.org 
    • Circadian Rhythm Disorders — These are timing issues. They occur if we try to sleep when our body naturally wants to be awake.
      • Presents similar to insomnia, but is different.
      • If you can sleep just fine when on a normal sleep schedule, but sleep poorly when on an irregular schedule, it’s a circadian rhythm problem rather than insomnia. 
    • Sleep Apnea — Sleep suffocation
      • You stop breathing for about 10 seconds at a time and unknowingly wake up.
      • Can happen numerous times throughout the night. 
      • Decent chance those suffering from insomnia are suffering from sleep apnea.
      • You’re likely mouth breathing and ‘choking’ on yourself via snoring.
      • CPAP machine is a common solution. It blows air into the lungs continuously all night.
    • Restless Leg Syndrome — Uncomfortable feeling in the legs that can’t seem to be alleviated.
      • Iron deficiency is a cause. Increase in magnesium can help.  
    • Narcolepsy — Randomly falling asleep briefly during the day.
      • Scary because it can cause you to fall asleep during critical tasks, like driving.

Ch. 2: Insomnia 101

  • 10-30% of adults have chronic insomnia. 
  • Insomnia IS a condition. But it’s absolutely treatable.
    • Don’t just say “oh, I’ve never slept well” and not do something about it. 
  • Quote (P. 43): “Insomnia is not about how much you sleep, it’s about how efficiently you sleep.”
    • If you sleep 8 hours, but you were in bed 12 hours, you’re an insomniac. That wasn’t an efficient night of sleep. 
  • Ranges of Insomnia:
    • Initial/Onset Insomnia — difficulty falling asleep.
    • Middle/Maintenance Insomnia — difficulty staying asleep.
    • Late/Terminal Insomnia — waking up too early
    • You can have one or two of these or a combination of all three.
      • I have all three.
    • Chronic Insomnia is when this happens at least 3 times per week. It should be treated if it’s at this point. 
      • It’s at this point for me. 
  • Conditioned Arousal — A big characteristic of insomnia.
    • When you feel super super tired and want to sleep, but feel alert and awake when you actually try to lie down and sleep.
      • I absolutely have this. 
  • A 2015 study showed that 60% of insomnia patients were in remission after a month of treatment.
    • Insomnia is absolutely treatable. It’s a temporary problem. 
  • Insomnia is fueled by worrying about sleep. 
    • Many people with insomnia worry about Sleep Debt and the consequences that come with not sleeping well. 
    • Sleep debt is a myth. The moment you start getting good, regular sleep, your body will react very well and perform as if you never slept poorly. 
  • Sleep pills, like Ambien, can be helpful in the short-term, but they are not a long-term solution. 
    • They can be used as a bridge.
  • Sleep deprivation and insomnia are two different things. 
    • Sleep deprivation is when you FORCE yourself to stay up and purposely don’t sleep.
    • Insomnia is when you TRY to sleep, and give yourself plenty of time to do it, but just can’t really fall asleep and stay asleep very well. 
    • It’s entirely possible to have insomnia and not be sleep deprived. 
  • Insomnia is caused by two factors:
      1. High Arousal
      • Anxiety and worry causes arousal.
      • Cortisol, which is a slow releasing adrenaline, is high.
        • Cortisol is the hormone your body releases to deal with stress.
      • Sleep effort can contribute to this. When you desperately TRY to sleep well, it causes the anxiety and mental activity that lead to high arousal.
        • The harder you try to sleep well, the more elusive it is. 
      1. Low Sleep Drive
      • Body has a low desire to sleep.
    • CBT-I targets both of these.
  • When you experience insomnia, your arousal state is winning out over your sleep drive.
    • Worry and anxiety is causing arousal, which is overcoming your sleep drive.
    • Imagine a Sleep Seasaw

Ch. 3: Overactive Mind

  • To limit mental activity and arousal, we have to find ways to relax and quiet the mind.
  • Conditioned Arousal — occurs because our mind likes to anticipate and prepare.
    • When you eat something that makes you sick, your mind makes that connection and creates a response the next time you encounter the food so you won’t eat it.
    • If your thoughts start going wild when you get into bed, your mind conditions itself to dial up that response when you get into bed.
      • At first, thoughts and worries keep you up and prevent you from sleeping. Then, thoughts and frustration about not being able to sleep cause your arousal to increase further, which makes it even more difficult to sleep. It’s an avalanche. 
    • Anxiety about not being able to sleep can be a nightmare. Even approaching bedtime causes arousal to go up because you’re worried about not being able to sleep.
      • I have this. 
  • You have to make time to wind down before bed and reduce mental arousal!!
    • Author describes her desire to be productive and improve at all times and how taking in so much information 24/7 was hurting her ability to sleep because her mind was too active for bed.
      • This is me. I sometimes get too consumed with improvement and progress. I don’t wind down before bed. 
      • My mind is too stimulated before going to bed.
  • Quote (P. 65): “Humans sleep in cycles, going through sleep stages that get increasingly deeper, followed by REM sleep, in which we do most of our dreaming. After 70-100 minutes, one cycle ends and a new one begins. In between cycles, we usually wake up. Not just insomniacs, but everybody.”
    • It’s OK to wake up in the middle of the night. 
    • Most people fall right back asleep and don’t even know they woke up, but people with insomnia struggle to fall back into it.
  • It’s OK to have thoughts in bed. You don’t have to ‘quiet the mind.’
  • Quote (P. 68): “My first breakthrough came when I realized I didn’t need to distract myself or silence my thoughts and feelings. Instead, I needed to embrace and process them in a productive way.”
  • Sleep Fix: Constructive Worry
    • The author’s No. 1 way of beating insomnia.
    • Involves writing your worries on the left side of a piece of paper and a solution to each one on the right side.
  • Important not to go overboard with DOING things to help you sleep before bed. 
    • It’s counterintuitive. The more your TRY to do things to sleep better, the more your brain is worried about not sleeping well. So don’t go overboard with sleep preparation. 
  • Quote (P. 74): “One of the keys to falling asleep is to stop worrying about being awake. The less we fear being awake, the less pressure we put on ourselves to fall asleep, the less aroused we become, and the more likely sleep is to show up.”
  • Downtime and relaxation every day is critical. There’s value in downtime.
    • One of my issues is that I’m always trying to be productive so I’m always concerned with wasting time, which is why I frown on enjoyable things that don’t make me better in some way.
    • This is bad for sleep. There’s a lot of value in relaxing and enjoying something for an hour before bed or during the day. 
    • Jason Karp, CEO of HumanCorp, had the SAME exact issue, and his story is described in this book.

Ch. 4: Sleep Confidence and Misperception

  • Sleep confidence is the confidence of knowing we’re going to fall asleep when we go to bed.
    • Plays a big role in our sleep.
    • Those who sleep well have it and don’t even think about it.
  • Many people with insomnia underestimate how well they are actually sleeping. They are bad at judging their sleep. 
  • Podcasts and audiobooks can be a great way to distract your mind from THINKING about falling asleep.
    • Again, the more you think and try to fall asleep, the more pressure you put on yourself, and the higher your arousal gets. 
    • Podcasts and audiobooks can naturally prevent you from thinking about sleep.
    • The key is to make sure your mind isn’t stimulated by trying to understand or learn the content in the podcast of audiobook.

Ch. 5: Not Sleepy Enough

  • Sleep drive is like hunger — the longer we’re awake, the more adenosine builds in our brain, which makes us sleepy. 
    • When we sleep, the adenosine dissipates and the process starts over.
    • Caffeine blocks adenosine from reaching the brain receptors, which is why coffee helps us stay awake.
    • Exercise increases adenosine and makes us more sleepy. 
  • Sleep is similar to breathing — you can hold your breath to a point, but eventually your body will breath for you.
    • Same with sleep. If your sleep drive (adenosine) is high enough, the body will take over and force you to sleep, whether you like it or not.
      • I have experience with this. Whenever I have a truly awful night of sleep, I tend to sleep great the following night. 
  • Think of sleep drive as a tank of gas — when the tank is full, you’re ready to sleep. If it’s empty, you likely won’t be able to sleep even if you tried your hardest. 
    • This is why trying to ‘force’ yourself to take a nap when the tank isn’t full isn’t always the right call. 
  • Sleep Restriction and Sleep Compression are CBT-I treatments that help ‘retrain’ your sleep. 
    • Sleep restriction is the most widely known CBT-I technique.
    • They each involve actually cutting the amount of time in bed  (either stay up later or get up earlier, or both) with the idea that your sleep drive will increase and you will feel more sleepy than usual. 
    • By being more sleepy, you will fall asleep and stay asleep better. Doing this enough will retrain your brain to fall asleep better. 
  • Quote (P. 97): “The premise is simple. Restrict the amount of time you spend in bed until you start to fall asleep quickly and stay asleep. Then slowly increase your amount of time in bed until you’re getting a sufficient amount of sleep but still sleeping efficiently.”
  • It’s counterintuitive, but it’s almost a good thing to stay up later and go to bed when you feel sleepy and sleep drive is high, rather than forcing yourself to bed early when you are stimulated and sleep drive is low.
  • Circadian Rhythm — biological clock that — with sleep drive — controls our sleep/wake cycle.
    • Sleep drive (adenosine) steadily increases when we’re awake and decreases when we’re asleep.
    • Circadian Rhythm dips and rises throughout the day, making us feel more or less awake at certain times — regardless of whether or not we’ve slept.
      • Usually picks up in the morning, dips in the early afternoon, gets a second wind in the late afternoon, and dives again at night. 
    • Circadian rhythm is dictated by when we eat, sleep, period of activity, and when it’s light/dark outside.
      • Jet lag is an example of when your circadian rhythm is off. 
      • This is why it’s so hard to sleep when you have a night shift and your sleeping hours are during the day. 

Ch. 6: Chronotypes

  • Chronotype — a biological feature in each person that determines whether you’re naturally inclined to fall asleep early and get up early or to fall asleep late and wake up late. 
  • Three Chronotypes
    1. Early Bird
    2. Hummingbird/Intermediate 
    3. Night Owl
    • Over 50% of people are No.2 

Ch. 7: Scheduling

  • Try to have a consistent bedtime and wake up time.
    • This helps your circadian rhythm. 
  • Try to match your chronotype. 
    • If you’re an early bird, match that with your sleep schedule.
    • If you’re a night owl, match that with your sleep schedule. 

Ch. 8: Light/Dark Contrast

  • The most powerful circadian rhythm cues — light and dark.
    • Dark — our brain releases melatonin to encourage sleep.
    • Light — our brain suppresses melatonin and increases cortisol. 
    • This is why it’s important to limit light exposure at night. 
  • The more sun and/or light you get during the day, especially early, the more likely you will be able to sleep at night.
    • This is because circadian cues are all about contrast. 
    • So you want lots of sun and light during the day and then almost none at night. 
  • Quote (P. 129): “For those who want help falling asleep and waking up earlier, the best time for daily light exposure is from the moment you wake up through the first half of your day.”
  • Avoid blue light at night. 
  • Research Study — 25 lux of evening light caused a 50% drop in melatonin. 
    • Lesson — avoid light at night! 

Ch. 9: The Right Way to Take Melatonin

  • Melatonin is helpful to create sleepiness, but it’s effects are subtle. 
    • Melatonin won’t make you fall asleep by any means.
  • The side effects of melatonin aren’t widely known, and it probably isn’t recommended when taking medication as it can interact with other drugs. 
  • Melatonin is like the guy who fires the gun to start a track race. He fires the shot, but he doesn’t run the race. 

Ch. 10: Body Temperature

  • Higher body temperature = Feeling energized.
  • Lower body temperature = Feeling sleepier. 
  • Elevated core body temperature in bed is common for people with insomnia. 
  • Eating a large meal raises core body temperature. Body is digesting.
  • Seniors usually have low core body temperature due to slowing metabolism, circulatory issues, and changes in skin tissue.
    • Grandma Irma!
  • Taking a warm shower or bath has been shown to “significantly shorten” the amount of time it takes to fall asleep.
    • This is because a warm shower cools our core body temperature.
      • Warming the skin with a hot shower prompts the body to send blood away from the core to the skin, which in turn cools the core.
      • Cooling the skin with a cold shower triggers a warming response in the core as the body pulls blood away from the skin to the core to preserve heat. 
    • I’ve read elsewhere that this really does work. I’ve also had success with it before. 
  • Exercise raises core body temperature, so don’t do it too close to bed time. 

Ch. 11: Meal Timing

  • Never eat a meal in the middle of the night.
    • This increases insulin and signals to your circadian rhythm that it’s time to be awake. 
  • If possible, try to go 8-12 hours without eating overnight.
    • This prevents the body’s core temperature from heating up to digest calories. 

Ch. 12: When to Work Out

  • Working out raises body temperature initially, but is followed by a melatonin release and body temperature cooldown later. 
    • Don’t workout inside of 2 hours before bedtime. 

Ch. 13: Sleep Debt Strategies

  • Sleep debt is a hotly debated topic in the sleep world.
    • Recent studies have shown that the body can bounce back quickly from several consecutive nights of bad sleep.
    • You aren’t doomed if you don’t sleep well for a few days.
    • This is true in my experience.
  • If you, for example, slept 6 hours per day for a week when you need 8, you don’t need to now sleep 14 hours to get back to baseline.
    • Per Dr. Michael Grandner of the University of Arizona College of Medicine 
  • This was said earlier, but try not to go to bed unless you feel sleepy.
    • Seems weird, but you’re almost better off staying up later until you do feel sleepy. Then go to bed. 
    • And try not to take naps because it messes with your sleep cycle. 
  • The National Sleep Foundation recommends 20-minute power naps.
  • Quote (P. 169): “When we’re sleep deprived, our body automatically prioritizes deep sleep and REM sleep over lighter sleep. We also fall asleep faster than usual and sleep more efficiently.”
    • Again, this has been true in my experience. When you have a terrible night or two of sleep, the body almost ‘forces’ you to sleep.
    • You can use this to your advantage. For example, if I stayed up really late on Saturday nights and woke up early on Sunday mornings, my body would be ‘due’ for a good night of sleep on Sunday night. Then you wake up Monday feeling good rather than sleeping terrible on Sunday night like usual.
      • This is called building up sleep drive. 

Ch. 14: The Graveyard Shift

  • Overnight workers are faced with the most challenges because their work schedule and circadian rhythm are so far off. 

Ch. 15: Booze and Snooze

  • Per the Sleep Foundation, 20% of Americans use alcohol to help them fall asleep. 
  • Booze does help you fall asleep, but it’s a terrible sleep aid overall.
    • Alcohol is a muscle relaxer. 
    • It boosts adenosine and relaxes muscles initially. The effects are only temporary though because alcohol withdrawal messes up our core body temperature and cortisol/melatonin levels as we sober up. 
    • It also dehydrates you. 
  • Cut yourself off when drinking before bed.
    • 1 drink = 1 hour before bed
    • 2+ drinks = 2+ hours before bed
  • Eating before drinking helps because a full stomach slows the absorption of alcohol into the bloodstream.
    • A full stomach prevents the alcohol from racing straight to the intestine, where it gets absorbed very fast. 
    • When there’s food in the stomach, alcohol stays in the stomach longer and it takes much longer for absorption to take place, which gives your liver longer to process it.
    • There’s also much more of the enzyme that detoxifies alcohol present in the liver when you are full rather than not full.
      • So food indirectly helps the liver process and eliminate alcohol in that way as well.
  • Drinking water in between drinks also helps reduce the effects of alcohol by keeping you hydrated and peeing it out.
  • DO NOT TAKE SLEEPING PILLS WITH ALCOHOL  

Ch. 16: The Truth About Screens

  • Blue light emitted from phones, tablets, and TVs is often scrutinized for its negative effects, but it’s more about WHAT you are doing on those screens that matters.
    • Research has helped expose this myth. 
    • If what you are doing on your screen is mentally stimulating, it can keep you up. 
  • TV is fine at night. You need to unwind before bed. TV can help do that. 
    • This is something I used to do and need to get back to. 
    • Make one hour of TV before bed part of your daily routine to help produce sleepiness. 

Ch. 17: Caffeine All Wrong

  • Caffeine’s main function is to block adenosine from reaching brain receptors. 
    • Remember, adenosine is the chemical in our brain that makes us feel sleepy. 
  • Coffee in the morning is pointless.
    • Our adenosine levels are depleted after a night of rest so there’s nothing to block.
    • Cortisol levels naturally increase about an hour after waking up, so coffee doesn’t really help in the morning there either. 
  • Sleep Inertia — A period of grogginess that comes as the brain transitions from a sleep state to a wakeful state.
    • You experience this when you actually fall into a good sleep and wake up on the morning.
      • So it’s a good thing! 
    • This is the feeling people who drink coffee are trying to get rid of by drinking caffeine in the morning. 
  • Caffeine stays in your system for a long time.
    • 3-7 hours just to get rid of half of it. 
  • Per the National Sleep Foundation — people develop a strong tolerance to a daily dose of caffeine somewhere between 7-12 days.
    • Important to do a ‘caffeine reset’ once in awhile so your body doesn’t become too tolerant of it.

Ch. 18: To Eat or Not to Eat

  • It’s OK to eat close to bed time, just try to maybe not eat inside of an hour before bed.

Ch. 19: Sleep Nutrition

  • Quote (P. 230): “Magnesium is so critical for sleep that it’s often referred to as the ‘sleep mineral.’”
    • Helps maintain healthy levels of the neurotransmitter GABA, which is “responsible for slowing your thinking and helping you fall asleep.”
      • National Sleep Foundation
    • It also reduces cortisol, stress, and anxiety.
    • Magnesium found in vegetables, beans, nuts, whole grains, and more.
  • Testing for magnesium deficiency is tough because less than 1% of the body’s magnesium is stored in the blood.
    • A blood test could show normal magnesium levels even in someone who has a deficiency.  
  • Tryptophan + Carbs = Seratonin
    • Tryptophan — Amino Acid found in turkey that helps you sleep.
      • When digested, has to make it to the brain to be converted to seratonin to get the full sleep effects.
      • Problem is that it has to fight through a bunch of other amino acids to get to the brain.
    • Carbs help get tryptophan to the brain. 
      • Carbs cause your body to release insulin, which removes all amino acids — except tryptophan — from the blood. That means tryptophan has no competition and can enter the brain easily, boosting serotonin levels.
        • Per National Sleep Foundation
  • Saturated Fat = Solid at Room Temp.
    • Meat and Dairy
  • Unsaturated Fat = Liquid at Room Temp.
    • Vegetables, nuts, fish

Ch. 20: Relaxation Tools

  • Relaxation tools — such as meditating or breathing exercises — can help us relax and fall asleep, but they will not MAKE us fall asleep.
    • Sleep drive puts us asleep.
    • It’s important to know this because if we approach meditation or breath work with the mindset that they will put us to sleep, it’s only going to make us more anxious when we are still awake after performing the exercise.
    • If you TRY to meditate well, it’s only going to make the brain more active. 
  • Quote (P. 249): “Whether it’s meditation or deep breathing, it doesn’t matter what it is — the harder you try to sleep, the less likely you’re going to sleep.”
    • Dr. Jason Ong 
    • We have to stop putting so much pressure on ourselves to fall asleep. That’s the key. 
    • View relaxation tools or TV watching as something to enjoy doing, rather than as a way to fall asleep. 
  • A huge part of meditation is becoming aware of when you are caught up in your mind and you aren’t present. 
    • Every time you notice this and bring your attention back to the present, it’s a win. It’s a bicep curl for the brain.
      • Every time you do this, you are training your focus and attention. 
    • It’s not necessarily all about having a ‘silent’ mind, although that is also a goal.

Ch. 21: Rethinking the Bedtime Routine

  • Having a consistent bedtime routine is key to helping you unwind and get the mind ready to sleep. 
  • The brain is a pattern recognition machine and is easily conditioned.
    • This is why having a bedtime routine is key. Your mind starts to get into a rhythm, and the routine primes it for sleep.
    • The problem for people with insomnia is that they fill their bedtime routines with things that, in their mind, SHOULD help them sleep, rather than just doing the activities for the enjoyment. 
      • Again, any effort to TRY to ‘make sleep happen’ will likely backfire. 
      • So don’t go overboard and stress about having a perfect bedtime routine. The best routine is one that is consistent and doesn’t force things. 
  • Sleep experts agree that everybody can benefit from a period of winding down before bed.
    • I need to make this part of my day. 

Ch. 22: Let There Be Dark

  • Make your room as dark as possible.
    • Hold your hands in front of your face. If you can see them, there’s too much light in the room.

Ch. 23: Room/Bed Temperature

  • The cooler the room, the better for efficient sleep.
    • National Sleep Foundation recommends around 65 degrees.
  • Make your bedroom slightly cooler than the rest of your house. 
    • Warm to cool is the key. 
  • The purpose of a cool bedroom isn’t to make you cold — it’s to help you feel comfortable under the covers and give your lungs cool air to breathe, which cools the core. 
  • Warming the hands and feet can trigger a cooling response in the body. Discussed earlier as well.
    • This tricks the body into thinking you are in a warm climate.
    • Warm blood is diverted from the core to the skin and extremities, where it loses some of the heat to the air. 
    • Warm showers are a way to do this. 
  • Consider a ‘gel pad’ for the mattress to keep you cool, especially in the summer. 
  • Consider an electronic heating and cooling system to keep your bed at the temperature you want. 

Ch. 24: Noise

  • Use fans, soundscapes, white noise, or nature sounds to help fall asleep, if desired.

Ch. 25: Snoring/Sleep Apnea Solutions

  • Sleep experts agree that the side position is the best position for sleep. 
    • The back position is the worst for snoring because it opens the jaw and forced your tongue down your throat. 
  • Snoring is ultimately caused by mouth breathing. You’re choking on yourself. 
    • If nose is plugged up, consider nasal strips. 

Ch. 26: Mattress and Pillow

  • For side sleepers, consider ‘hugging’ a pillow while sleeping.
  • Cool Mattress = Look for Low Insulation Factor

Ch. 27: Sharing

  • For couples, get two twin XL mattresses and put them on one king frame.
    • Get two comforters and sets of bedding as well. 
    • These moves allow you to have your own individualized sleep space (mattress, comforter, bedding) while still sleeping together. 

Epilogue

  • There are a few key things to keep in mind as you try to get better sleep:
    1. Attitude is Everything
      • The No. 1 takeaway from this book is that fixing insomnia comes down to not TRYING so hard to sleep. Sleep is something that happens to us, not something we do. 
      • It’s counterintuitive, but you have to try to let go of things in your life and not place pressure on yourself to sleep. 
      • Loving yourself is so huge here. Allows you to not care what people think and be OK with whatever is ahead for you tomorrow. This leads to piece of mind and better sleep. 
    2. Set the Table 
      • Your job is to set the table for sleep by creating a sleep-friendly environment and habits, but your job is done after that. Don’t try to force sleep. 
      • The more relaxed you are, the more likely sleep is to show up. 
    3. Find the Difference Maker 
      • Find what works for you and stick with it. 
    4. Done is Better Than Perfect
      • You don’t have to be perfect with any of these sleep tips. Do the best you can.
    5. The Snowball Rolls Both Ways
      • Good sleep leads to more good sleep. You can get on a good roll. 
    6. Feeling > Hours
      • It’s not about how many hours of sleep you get — it’s about how you feel. 
      • If you get 6 hours of sleep and feel good, that’s enough for you. 
      • You don’t ‘have’ to get 8 hours. It’s more about the quality of your sleep.