Member Reviews
I wanted to find this helpful for myself and my teen, but found the text too long and tedious to get through. We're just night owls around here, I guess...and will remain so.
Listen, I'm not a teen anymore but i read this book though and t was so helpful. There are practices that anyone can use to calm your mind and body for a good night's sleep.
Thank you new Harbinger Publications for access to this ARC!
This book really affirms a lot of issues I was finding in my sleep schedule, as well as helped me address new ones. I'm currently on day 12/14 of using the DOZE app which this book heavily recommends and it has allowed me to become healthily mindful of all aspects of my current sleeping habits. I often find myself overstressing about sleep and struggling to maintain consistency, but this book has helped me find the motivation to keep going on my journey towards a healthy sleep life, particularly as an active and busy teen. I would highly recommend this to any teen, especially those finding the place and balance of sleep in their life. I especially recommend this as a holistic source of knowledge, not simply pushing a very early riser mindset, which can find itself unrealistic for all teens (which I believe it does a very good job emphasizing). I often find myself struggling through nonfiction, but this suited me perfectly and I didn't find myself losing interest. The only main issue I ran into was some of the repetition, which is usually apparent in self-help books, but it did not hurt my reading much.
I received a free digital copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I thank the author and the publisher for the opportunity.
This is definitely a book that I wish I had when I was a teen. It states things in such an easy to understand and relatable way that it's impossible it won't help improve your sleep quality. However do not think it's a book just for teens! Even reading it now as an adult I was able to look back and reflect on my quality of sleep then and now, understand the things I did wrong much better and becoming versed in a variety of ways that I can improve. The skills provided in this book can not only help you, but also your children, your friends, your friends' children, it really doesn't limit you to anything, we are all human and need to sleep and have teenagers around that require guidance and understanding.
If you are a teenager that is in good terms with literature, this book would definitely provide useful insights into sleep, whether you have issues or not. If you are an educator that has to deal with troubled teens, this will come useful too as sleep influences moods, thought and well being.
The book isn't just plain words and sound advice, but quite interactive in its approach with the tools provided from its own website and other technology suggestions. The worksheets were elaborate and useful, however the suggested mobile application wasn't available in my region so I experimented with another.
I can conclude that this book is competitive in quality with others of its kind on the market and would gladly recommend it to family and friends.
A 4 out of 5 instead of 5 only because the information gathered in the book is not new and for those better versed in knowledge and literature of sleep quality and mechanisms might find it a bit redundant.
GOODNIGHT MIND FOR TEENS by Colleen E. Carney is part of the New Harbinger Instant Help Books imprint. Carey, a professor and researcher, writes here specifically to teens. She notes that their sleep problems are distinct from others' and offers "solutions that use sleep science and consider the unique biology and life demands of young adults." Her tone is generally non-judgmental and soothing throughout; she encourages teens to take an approach of "tracking your sleep, learning about your sleep, coming up with a plan for a change, and checking whether you are satisfied with the results of your plan." Her focus seems to be on individual goal setting – plus, readers are welcome to create an account and view related accessories. The text itself is organized so that each chapter centers around a tip (e.g., establishing a wind down routine or making a plan for getting out of bed in the morning) and that should help teens to break up their approach in a manageable (and hopefully successful!) manner. Carney assists in this by providing a well-organized summary and plan for the week at the end of each chapter. As she says, "this book focuses on creating an environment for change rather than inflexibly dictating standards for sleep behaviors." GOODNIGHT MIND FOR TEENS may be a good starting point for some students, although others may find her advice (references to substance abuse, for example) to be too simplistic. In any case, sleep is an important topic in our health classes and students could benefit from exploring Carney’s efforts to build "Skills to Help You Quiet Noisy Thoughts and Get the Sleep You Need." The book could use more illustrations – maybe a fun class assignment would be to create those more memorable messages?
Good sleep & good sleep hygiene are one habit that I try to practice in my life & I try to encourage them in my children. Since teenagers are going through a uniqueI development cycle in their life, I wanted to learn more about how they could get good sleep. Reading Goodnight Mind For Teens by Colleen E. Carney, PhD was the right book for me. Carney explains the challenges of teen sleep & offers information in a framework that is easy to understand. The book has so many practical ways to evaluate habits & your sleep that were very helpful. Goodnight Mind for Teens is an easy to read, interesting way to learn more about your sleep patterns & how to improve them. It's a great book for teenagers to read. I know that anyone could benefit from reading this great book. Thank you to NetGalley for the complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
A well meaning book but so monotonous.. There is no way I would be able to get my teen to read this book, let alone do the checklists and trackers it includes.
Not often do you see a self-help book on sleep focussed on teens and young adults. And that is exactly what I liked about this book: the attention it gives to teens’ problems. The author keeps in mind the many problems adolescents face and they manage to respect their privacy a lot.
However, I would only recommend this book to older teens, people who like to read or those who would do anything to sleep better. It doesn’t have any images and can be repetitive at times. To me, this isn’t a problem, but I can imagine others will struggle with this. Another issue I found is that the further in the book, the more it felt like a scolding instead of an informative book.
Aside from that, Goodnight Mind for Teens feels very personal and interactive. There are tests and checklists which you can fill in that help you along your sleep journey. This makes it more than just another book to read. The writing style is rather accessible however, the terminology to explain certain phenomena could make it more difficult for younger or less experienced readers. Then there's the accompanying app, which is a great tool to help unmotivated teens to track their sleep schedule and improve it. However, for those with only light sleeping problems, I would say that the app is more than enough to manage their problems.
Overall, I believe this to be a decent book. It informs the reader well and it has tools that make it easier to use. I would recommend this to people with sleeping problems who genuinely like to read.
This might be a little wordy for the teens I know, but it does have some good ideas, if they can get through to them.
There is a book by this author called "Goodnight Mind" and this one is evidently the teen version of it. I haven't read the first one, but this is a useful book which asks, "Do you have trouble getting to sleep at night?" I don't and I'm not a teen (I don't even play one on TV!), but I am the parent of two teens who seem, during this unprecedented home isolation, to be turning into, what was it Dracula called them in Bram Stoker's novel? "Children of the night. What music they make"! So I do understand this issue with sleeping problems even though I personally have very few nights where I have trouble sleeping.
This short book offers explanations for behavior, and suggestions, hints, and tips for working on getting one's head down and actually sleeping. It includes URLs for downloadable checklists to help focus on what exactly the problem is in each individual. The author is Dr. Colleen E. Carney, an Associate Professor and also the Director of the Sleep and Depression Laboratory at Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada. She packs the book full of ideas, techniques, and suggestions to identify what your problem is, because there is no solving it until you understand it, and then she goes after the problem on several levels with multiple techniques, and without getting all academic about it. I commend this as a worthy read.
This book covers all types of sleep problems for teens, The book offers specific and concrete directions and solutions for teens who are having sleep issues. Very clear cut and easy to understand summaries for each chapter and create a plan for each week and/or issue with sleeping.
Opinions: Subjectively, I was not impressed with Goodnight for Teens! One of the most prominent messages of the book was to decompress before sleep; don't play games, watch tv, exercise, or try to learn! Therefore, this book is meant to be read during the day, not while you're settling down. Yet for some reason, it is dull and repetitive as if its goal was to tire you, not educate you! I was unable to stay engaged. Also, the layout of the text is inconsistent and off-putting. I feel like Carney was cramming as much information in as possible to increase the word count. Suggesting yoga positions and directing readers to YouTube is not more productive that listing data, numbers, and facts without explaining them to readers. That said, Goodnight for Teens wasn't as teen-friendly as needed. On the other hand, Goodnight for Teens did give insight on fatigue and possible ways to solve it! It (vaguely) discussed different causes, such as substance abuse, mental illness, genetic traits, and more! Even if I didn't enjoy Goodnight for Teens, I must admit that it is inclusive and has potential to solve exhaustion for many if you're willing to take the extra step!
My Favourite Thing: Like I mentioned above, I appreciate the inclusivity of Goodnight for Teens. Although it's not specifically aimed at teenagers as advertised, it reaches out to all readers with any fatigue cause, symptoms, and level of severity. I experience periods of off-and-on insomnia, but Goodnight for Teens was just as insightful for me as for a reader with chronic sleep dyspraxia.
My Least Favourite Thing: Also like I mentioned above, Goodnight for Teens over-explains some details and is far too vague on others, leaving readers to connect the dots themselves. There was enough information to do this, but when you're exhausted and trying to read a guide to sleeping better, puzzling all of the pieces is not the most practical activity. Because of this inconsistent and unfavourable writing style, I would read other teen sleeping guides before Goodnight for Teens.
Total Rating: PG-12
Language: PG-12
Adult Content: PG-12
Violence: PG-13 (drugs, alcohol, and health conditions discussed)
Recommended For and Similar Reads: Goodnight for Teens is an inclusive, studious guide for those struggling with sleep deprivation conditions. Although advertised for teenagers, I believe readers of any age will benefit from this book the same. Similar reads are Snooze or Lose!, The Care and Keeping of You, Sleep Information for Teens, and 4 Week Insomnia Workbook!
There are statements in this post which are my opinions. If you don't like them, ignore me!
full of allot information which felt to heavy at times some summary would bean bean nice or pictures like other reviewer teenagers has short attention spam but it might adults in their lives give more information to help them understand and ease everyone minds