A book filled with good advice and facts all about sleep, that could help you understand yours better or at least give you a better understand of what sleep really means and is.

This is kind of a unique approach that isn't very heard of. The authors recommend not forcing yourself to try to fall asleep. It's also like they recommend distracting yourself from sleep long enough for your instincts to kick back in and force sleep upon you. I had suffered from insomnia in the past and I would have been interested to try this approach. I spent so many sleepless nights tossing and turning, I wonder if I would have tried to do some other action how I would have fared then.

“You Are Getting Sleepy: Lifestyle-Based Solutions for Insomnia” is written by  Paul Glovinsky and Arthur Spielman, experts in Sleep Therapy and co-authors of the book "The Insomnia Answer".

This book offers an individualized approach to getting better sleep, taking into account the particular challenges that stand in your way. In addition, the book also takes the approach that trying to sleep is counter-productive. Instead, it recommends we get to a state where we are sleepy, which will then lead to us falling asleep.

What does this book cover?
"You are Getting Sleepy' is a concise book which is to the point. There are seven chapters overall.

The first chapter gives us an introduction to sleep; explaining the difference between being sleepy and trying to sleep. This is followed by an introduction to insomnia and its complexities. After which, we get to learn about seven treatments to promote sleepiness. The first four are part of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia

Sleep Hygiene Recommendations
Stimulus Control Instructions
Sleep Restriction Therapy
Cognitive Therapy for Insomnia
The next three treatments are indirect - Progressive Relaxation, Autogenic Training and Mindfulness Meditation.

The authors recommend that, once we are done with the first chapter, we directly jump to chapters that are the cause for our insomnia. Each of these chapters deal with specialized causes for our insomnia. These chapters, which are comprehensive in their coverage, are -

Hyper-arousal - being too wired to get to sleep
Fatigue - the difference between being tired and being sleepy
Depression
Anxiety
Being out of sync
Dependency on Medication


What did I like?
"You are Getting Sleepy" is a book that has a razor sharp focus on addressing the sleep problem. So, the content is rich and informative.

The other aspect of the book which stood out for me was its structure. Instead of making the reader trudge through pages of irrelevant content, the specific chapters let the reader get to their problem right off the bat.

What did I not like?
There is nothing in this book that I did not like specifically. But, I would like to read a few more books on this subject to understand where the pseudoscience stops and science starts.

My Recommendation
"You are Getting Sleepy" is the first book on sleep and insomnia that I have read. I found it informative and useful. Personally, the information in this book is not going to solve my sleep issues since I sleep apnea, but readers with anxiety issues, hyper-arousal problems and depression will definitely find it helpful.

I recommend this book for fellow insomniacs.