In case you’re going to make the plan to smarten up in the new year and embark on the one book per week challenge. Beyond that, it’ll be well worth keeping a few audiobooks handy for the hours of slogging through mind-numbing cardio.
I’ll be recommending a book every week, until I run out of ideas and start posting my favourite excerpts from the Lord Of The Rings trilogy.
Before we arrive at that point, all my book suggestions will be set within the zone of improving physical and mental fitness. Meaning that there will always be some takeaways that you can then try and weave into the gym and rest lifestyle.
Back to the first book in the lineup – ‘Why We Sleep’
Mr Walker is a, maybe the, leading sleep researcher on the planet. In this book, he’s set down the reasons we need sufficient sleep, and all the negative ramifications from regularly missing out on the 8 hour mark.
It boils down to this: low levels of sleep obstruct every process in the body. And even if you think you’re making do on 5 hours, you’re probably unconsciously roaming around essentially sedated.
It’s a great piece that condenses the complicated process of sleep into simple language. The modern barriers to a good night of rest get laid out: stress, blue light, lack of hours in the day, etc. Followed by ways of counteracting them.
In case you don’t want to grab this book, here’s the key takeaway. It’s 7-8 hours or bust. But getting the hours in isn’t enough. Good sleep is then still going to be heavily reliant on a consistent bedtime routine.
