by Judith R. Davidson (2020)

While cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) is the most commonly recommended psychological treatment for insomnia, there can be long waits to access this in public sleep clinics. Further, many CBT-I apps are expensive and private therapy with a CBT-I specialist is costly. For those who are highly motivated to try this therapy and are disciplined enough to self-administer it, the author–a long-time sleep researcher at Queen’s University–gives you step-by-step guidance on how to do it. This is not to say that this is the only psychological approach to insomnia or that the CBT-I curious shouldn’t seek support professionally, but this book will also give readers a clear sense of what to expect if they wish to try it. And if you read the book and decide against CBT-I, many readers will benefit from the book’s information about sleep changes over the life cycle as well as the author’s soothing tone, particularly when sleep anxiety is fuelling insomnia.

by Matthew Walker (2017)

Written by a neuroscientist, this is the book that changed my 30+ year mediocre sleep habits. While annoyingly hyperbolic in tone at times, I credit the author’s passion for shocking me into making the changes I should have made years ago (and which polite manuals on sleep hygiene couldn’t do).