If you enjoyed Why We Sleep, you will love Sleep Like a Caveman. It is more focused on practical tips for sleeping, but still includes a lot of theory about why we sleep the way we do. It's a lovely blend of anthropology, psychology, and biology. The tone is hopeful rather than preachy, it makes you excited about getting better sleep rather than feeling guilty over bad sleep.

When I teach students to analyze arguments and rhetoric, I always ask "was it persuasive enough to make you do something differently from now on?" and even when they think the argument is well written and well reasoned, that question sometimes makes them realize it still wasn't persuasive enough to make a change. This is one book that, for people personally, IS persuasive enough for me to try new sleep habits. I think the premise of "what environment did we evolve to sleep best in" is clever, and the title is not just attention-grabbing, it really is a through line to every chapter.

I’ve read several books on sleep and followed many suggestions on how to get a better nights rest but none seem to help. I appreciated that this book provided a lot of scientific studies and was so thorough in its explanation on the many different things that can hinder our sleep. While I’m not sure I believe that cavemen were truly better sleepers, I do find the focus on our human needs for sleep from an evolutionary aspect to be fascinating. I’ll definitely be looking more into some of the tips provided to see if they help. Some parts of the book seemed to get drawn out with scientific studies and medical jargon. While I appreciate the data, I would have liked to see more information with tips and methods for the listener. I also appreciated how many “myths” about sleep were debunked.

The narrator did a great job in catching my attention. I definitely would recommend this book to someone who is interested in improving their sleep.

I don’t read many self help type books but I’ve always had a number of issues when it comes to sleeping so when I saw the arc for this I decided to give it a go. I honestly didn’t think it would be that big of a help but I didn’t see how it could hurt and hey, maybe I can learn a couple of things.

This book is all about sleep, of course. It talks about what sleep is, why we sleep, how to create the ideal conditions for sleep to happen, and it talks about several sleep disorders at the end of the book.

I’m sure this has a lot of information in it that could help people. I just think this information is delivered in just about the worst way you could deliver it. The book is written by a sleep specialist and sleep therapist and you can tell. This is not a good thing. The information is given in a very scientific and stiff way and I had the worst time trying to focus on it. I read this via audiobook and I had to keep rewinding because I realized that the overflow or information and statistics was causing me to zone out and not realize what I was actually listening to. (I told this to several people I know and they all said the goal of the book may be to bore you to sleep when listening). I honestly doubt I’m going to remember a majority of what I listening to by the end of the week let alone long term.

Like I said I’m sure that there is some good advice in here and some people are going to take a lot out of this but I’m not one of these people. Maybe I have to listen to it again to fully absorb the contents? I don’t know. Overall I’m not sure I recommend this but I’m not mad I read it.

This book was… pretty good. It is really written with insomniacs in mind, and the two take away messages I got are:

1) if you are having trouble sleeping, or you think you are lying awake too long at night, it’s okay to sleep less. So if you are in bed for nine hours, but sleep for six, it’s okay to only spend six hours in bed. He goes in detail about how to do this properly (this numbers, and how to increase and so on). He talks about how most of us don’t actually need nine hours in bed.

2) if you are lying awake at night, that’s okay. He talks in detail about how this one tribe spends nine hours in bed, but is only asleep for a little over six, and how that is normal. If you are laying in bed, resting, that’s okay, and almost as good as sleep. The problem only comes when you worry about why you aren’t sleeping.

Honestly, after writing this out, I increased my rating to five stars. It’s a little dry, but I do think I’ll listen to it again.

I learned so much from this book. Very informative and enjoyable. A great read.

So much useful information about sleep which has been a long term issue for me.

I usually enjoy listening to books about sleeping slowly as I go to bed at night. However, I received this one over a holiday weekend so I listened to it pretty quickly.

Overall, I thought it had great information for better sleep hygiene, and what I found most interesting is the argument against the need for 8 hours of sleep every night. Maybe that will help my sleep anxieties a bit?

Excellent listen and very engaging audio! Full of facts and advice clearly explained and connected to many many examples. Would recommend!!

Where’s my fellow night owls? If you’re looking for something to listen to during those sleepless hours, I’ve got a fresh audiobook rec! How To Sleep Like a Caveman, by sleep therapist and scientist Dr. Merijn van de Laar.

This audiobook reviews the history of human sleep patterns, tracing back to our caveman days. It publishes on May 20th, following its book format release earlier this year. Dr. van de Laar explores archaeological findings and anthropological studies, busts some sleep myths, and shares handy tips for improving your sleep hygiene.

I’ve explored quite a few books and podcasts on sleep, and while this one has some great insights, personally I found it a tad repetitive and not as deep on the anthropological side as I had hoped. The doctor shares his own sleep challenges, which adds a personal touch, but I didn’t walk away with a ton of new knowledge.

That said, I still enjoyed the listening experience! These kind of health-help nonfiction books tend to resonate with me better via audio. I also think the narrator did a fantastic job, adding a witty flair that kept me engaged.

*I listened to the ALC via NetGalley and Harper Audio Adult. It’s a 3.5 rounded up for me:)