Merijn van de Laar's "How to Sleep Like a Caveman" has changed my sleep over the past two weeks, which, as a chronic insomniac, is pretty revolutionary!

I have read numerous books on sleep, but this one was the first to help me really understand what my role would have been and why, chemically, my sleep is different from other people's.

I love anthropology and history, so this was a perfect read for me.

It also gave me ideas to implement immediately, and I really look forward to trying different things to optimize my sleep since it is truly the foundation of EVERYTHING we do. Highly recommend - and I will edit this review as I try more specific things and optimize my schedule and sleep environment even more.

This book details how sleep has been a crucial part of being human since the beginning of time. It provides research on why sleep is so critical, and how the role of sleep has changed over time in society. Tips are listed at the end of the book on how to get a good night’s sleep.

Very engaging and interesting read. Very well developed and ambitious. Will be recommending to library collection and patrons.

This is a great read if you are curious to learn more about the science of sleep, and archeological research into hunter-gatherer cultures. How to Sleep Like a Caveman provides evidence for why we sleep the ways we do (or don't). In particular I found it interesting to examine why it is people jerk awake at night. The reason is intriguing and logical. Recommended. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. Pub Date May 20th.

#HowToSleepLikeACaveman

A fascinating look at how humans evolved to sleep — and what some of our modern habits don’t work with our ancient biology. The author offers both deep science and practical advice, drawing on many different disciplines. Invaluable.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for ARC.

2.5 rounded to 3 ⭐️
Kind of basic and repetitive. I was hoping for more anthropological stuff, and less "tips and tricks." More depth, I suppose. It felt surface level.

An interesting look at the evolutionary biology behind how we developed our sleep patterns/habits, and a lot on the cutting edge studies of how we sleep now. I was more interested in the evolution and history side of sleep (boo to the new historians taking away the medieval two-sleep theory! I kid. Mostly.) The modern sleep studies are quite in depth and will probably be of interest to people looking to deal with sleep issues.