My thanks to NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for an advance copy of this book that gives reasons why, many of us have problems going to sleep, staying asleep and benefiting from sleep, along with practical suggestions on how we can stop tossing and turning, and find some rest.

My father was a guy who loved to buy things for people, and I still have many of the gifts he gave me over the years, and treasure many of them. The gifts I inherited from him genetically, well that's a different story. I was blessed with his bad eyes, bad hairline, portly physique, moodiness, and inability to sleep. My father was for a long time a man who worked at night. Mainly to avoid the commute, and the extra pay he received doing it. We were used to his sleeping by day, rising for dinner, sleeping some more, and leaving around 9 pm. Days off were confusing to him, and to us. He couldn't sleep nights, and would read, listed to music on headphones, or watch tv, drafting his eldest, me, to watch with him, shows that I probably shouldn't have seen. I know his sleep was off for years. Mine was similar, I have a hard time getting to sleep, staying asleep, and waking up rested. This has been something I have dealt with for years, taking melatonin, and other pills, chamomile tea at bedtime, and other tricks. I think both my father and I would have benefited from this book years ago, and now I am looking forward to seeing if I can get through the night. Sleep Groove: Why Your Body's Clock Is So Messed Up and What To Do About It by Dr. Olivia Walch is a look at sleep and the human body from a mathematical and practical view, with lots of information, science facts and science frauds, humor and useful tips to find one's grove to rest.

The book begins with how many view sleep. Many feel that sleep is something they don't really need a lot of when things are busy, and one can always make it up later. I'll sleep later on the weekend, says a person doing all-nighters a few times during the week. Many view sleep as something one can just muscle through, you'll be fine, who needs sleep. Well everyone kind of does. Walch presents studies featuring people who didn't sleep, radio disc jockeys and a student who used his not sleeping as part of a science fair experiment. While many are ok, and a few can last long periods of time, many of us are not. Walch looks at students and shift workers, those who have to work the night shifts, or shifts that the body is really not accustomed to going through, like my father used to do. Walch looks at power naps, and how they might help, but try telling that to one's boss. Walch looks at circadian science, and breaks it down in ways we can understand, along with ways to work with our body to find rest, and not against it in the many ways we do. Walch offers ideas in a public medicine sense, as sleep is getting to be a bit of a health crisis, one that no one wants to admit too, especially business leaders. There are plenty of graphs, studies, and humor to back up, and show the work that could help us all.

What I found most interesting is that we are still at the beginning of understanding this science. Walch points out various studies that well, seemed a little nuts in some ways. I didn't really even know that sleep is something that is hard to quantify. Every person is different, and to properly measure sleep for people is harder than it looks. The sleep one needs is not based on quantity, but quality, and even that can have obstacles. Walch is a very good writer, funny, informative, interested, and interesting. There are lot of practical solutions, that make sense, and have science to back them up. Though some might not like going through life with their rooms looking like a scene from Godfather II, as Walch is big on low light in a lot of places, and that was one of the big complaints that the movie was so dark.

An informative and different book, that looks at sleep from a different point of view. One that might help some people get a good night's rest, from its suggestions, not it's writing quality. I liked the style quite a bit, and look forward to more by Dr. Walch.

Sleep Groove by Olivia Walch is a masterpiece of information on the importance of sleep. Also informative on the types of sleep, why you might have trouble sleeping and how to make the changes to improve your sleep patterns and quality of sleep.

This was a very interesting and educational read! The author is entertaining and explains everything really well. This book touches on topics such as lighting, sleep myths, insomnia, etc. If you're looking for a guide on how to sleep better, this book's the one!

Olivia Walch PHD (mathematician) offers plenty of helpful illustrations, useful analogies and metaphors, as well as easy-to-understand explanations to demystify circadian science in this informative book. Sleep is often (unfortunately) thought of as a simple math activity (add some here, subtract some here; divide it across these days), although it is a much more dynamic process. Interestingly, sleep quality and circadian rhythms are famously difficult to measure.

Walch details that “we might focus too much on sleep factors outside of our control, and not enough on sleep-related factors within our control.” This book offers plenty of information and practical strategies regarding sleep habits that impact sleep quality and circadian rhythm, including light exposure, exercise, meal timing, caffeine intake, daily activities, sleep regularity, among many other practices.

This book feels relatable (and incredibly useful) for anyone who has experienced difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, or regularly wakes up feeling far from well-rested. It is particularly relevant given that chronic sleep restriction impacts learning, metabolic regulation and immune response.

The contents page makes it very easy to navigate through the book and then re-read the various (relevant and interesting) sections as necessary.

Many thanks to Andrews McMeel Publishing for the digital review copy, via NetGalley. This review is voluntary, and all opinions are my own.

If you want an academic, in-depth but also personable book about sleep, this one's for you! I learned quite a bit about sleep I didn't know. I gave it four stars because it got fairly repetitive in places and I found myself skimming. But I appreciated all of the graphs and I ended the book with lots of notes/suggestions which makes the book a success for me.

Overall, the book was well written and I did really enjoy it. Thank you for this advance reading copy!

This book was fascinating. As the back cover states, I’ve always known that getting enough sleep is a good, even necessary, thing, but I never fully understood why. Walch’s in-depth descriptions of body rhythms and how everything we do is on our own unique and personal clock made so much sense, and was explained in terms the lay person could understand. I had never really thought about how light affects the body, how you can better help yourself adjust to jet-lag, why you can’t “bank” sleep if you get too little or too much on a given night, or what happens to shift workers when they’re expected to fall back into a regular schedule when they’ve just worked a 12-hour overnight shift. It has really made me think about my habits and encouraged me to keep more of a sleep schedule and, hopefully, positively impact other areas of my life as well.