Running on Empty and Better Sleep, Better You

RUNNING ON EMPTY by Connie Goldsmith is all about Sleeplessness in American Teens.  Goldsmith, a prolific writer and reviewer, speaks directly to them, beginning with a short chapter which asks: “Are you Underslept?” She devotes another section to a more “science-y” perspective, adding separate chapters on insomnia, sleep apnea and sleepwalking, for example. The writing is straightforward, not overly detailed, and supported with a variety of diagrams and pictures. There is even a short true/false quiz to build engagement and lists (like Thirteen Hacks for Better Sleep) are interspersed to promote taking action and goal setting. Personal stories from potential role models like Simone Biles are also included and could add to the book’s persuasiveness.  In roughly the last third of the book, Goldsmith includes a helpful glossary, source notes, and suggestions for further information (books, websites and audio/visual materials), plus a useful index. Overall, RUNNING ON EMPTY seems geared to middle school and early high school students (School Library Journal suggests grade 7 and up); as such, it could be a supplemental source for the important sleep unit that our Sophomore health classes complete.

BETTER SLEEP, BETTER YOU by Frank Lipman and Neil Parikh is subtitled “Your No-Stress Guide for Getting the Sleep You Need and the Life You Want.” Lipman, the creator of Be Well (a lifestyle brand which helps people achieve life changes), is joined in this endeavor by Parikh, a founder and Chief Strategy Officer at Casper, the mattress company. Together, they provide background on aspects of sleep like melatonin and cortisol or immune resilience; in the next chapter they encourage readers to get to know their non-sleeping type (stress/anxiety, rhythm, environmental, hormonal, nutritional). They also offer a self-reflection quiz for readers to better choose a type(s) and then offer some “personalized prescriptions” in subsequent chapters that deal with pre-sleep rituals, exercise, eating patterns, and sleeping atmosphere. Overall, the tone is non-judgmental and there definitely is an action-orientation to this book with multiple, practical suggestions for each of several key age groups (babies, children, teens, and seniors), including thoughts on school start times. The final chapter (“The Reset”) summarizes weekly goals to rearrange, reduce and rebuild on the way to better sleep experience. These authors, too, provide sources but only list links so the quality and timeliness of the research is a bit more difficult to evaluate. Hopefully, a more complete bibliography will appear in the final edited version.