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The Women's Guide to Overcoming Insomnia: Get a Good Night's Sleep Without Relying on Medication
For every woman who “does it all” . . . except get a good night’s sleep! More than 60 percent of American women have trouble sleeping― which isn’t surprising, as they have a higher risk of developing sleeping problems. But addressing this issue is more nuanced for women than for men; pregnancy and menopause are just two factors that add complexity to an already difficult problem. At the risk of jeopardizing work, parenting, relationships, or overall health, no woman can afford to deal with sleep deprivation on her own.
The Women’s Guide to Overcoming Insomnia is a roadmap for those who experience anything from occasional bad nights to chronic insomnia. It outlines several methods to overcome these issues and improve physical and emotional well- being. From medical sleep aids to nonmedical approaches, the book looks beyond the basics of sleep hygiene, helping women to retrain their bodies and minds for a good night’s sleep every night.
The Women’s Guide to Overcoming Insomnia is a roadmap for those who experience anything from occasional bad nights to chronic insomnia. It outlines several methods to overcome these issues and improve physical and emotional well- being. From medical sleep aids to nonmedical approaches, the book looks beyond the basics of sleep hygiene, helping women to retrain their bodies and minds for a good night’s sleep every night.
288 pages, Paperback
Published July 2, 2019
87 people are currently reading
303 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
March 7, 2024
I found this book to be really helpful in some ways. I personally have benefitted from mindfulness as a way to manage anxiety that gets in the way of sleeping. I appreciated the overviews and cautions around medications and supplements. I found the description of sleep restriction helpful and will need to go back and review that section again.
I am concerned that the book perpetuates the myth that hormone therapy contributes to the risk of breast cancer for women. This is a harmful myth that scares women away from getting treatment that can be so helpful.
See more information from board certified urologist Kelly Casperson here: https://kellycaspersonmd.com/happy-ne...
I am concerned that the book perpetuates the myth that hormone therapy contributes to the risk of breast cancer for women. This is a harmful myth that scares women away from getting treatment that can be so helpful.
See more information from board certified urologist Kelly Casperson here: https://kellycaspersonmd.com/happy-ne...
November 13, 2024
The irony of reading this in the middle of the night was not lost on me.
August 8, 2019
I have yet to meet a woman who hasn’t had some kind of sleep issue. So when this book arrived at my door, I had to take a look. Sleep deprivation is responsible for so many health and relationships issues, and statistically women have a higher chance than men of developing sleep issues (thank you pregnancy and menopause.)
Shelby Harris is a nationally recognized leader in the field of sleep medicine and her book gives readers hope, whether you are struggling with occasional restless sleep, chronic insomnia or anything in between. From medical sleep aids to non-medical approaches, and an in-depth dive into CBT ( cognitive behavioral therapy) the author has some helpful tips to teach us to retrain our bodies and minds to get the best night’s sleep as often as possible.
Shelby Harris is a nationally recognized leader in the field of sleep medicine and her book gives readers hope, whether you are struggling with occasional restless sleep, chronic insomnia or anything in between. From medical sleep aids to non-medical approaches, and an in-depth dive into CBT ( cognitive behavioral therapy) the author has some helpful tips to teach us to retrain our bodies and minds to get the best night’s sleep as often as possible.
July 2, 2019
I received an ARC of this book to read through NetGalley in exchange for a fair review. I chose to read A Women’s Guide to Overcoming Insomnia by Shelby Harris for the simple reason that insomnia is the bane of my existence. I can’t remember the last time I had a good night’s sleep and it’s been going on for years. Obviously something that has been going on for years cannot be remedied in the 3 days that I read the book but there are some helpful tools and I do think following the steps set out in the book will be beneficial for someone looking to improve sleep patterns. Her plan is based on using CBT-I Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia and she gives clear explanations of the steps as well as charts to fill out to track your sleep and common sense solutions such as using your bed only for sleep, going to bed and getting up at the same time, practicing mindfulness and changing behaviours. I do like that her focus is on behavioural changes and not pharmaceuticals although she does explain what proscribed sleep aids are available and how they work. I am going to purchase this book and I do think it will be helpful for people looking to solve their insomnia problems. Publishing Date July 2, 2019
#NetGalley #ShelbyHarris #TheWomensGuideToOvercomingInsomnia #OvercomingInsomnia #WWNortonandCompany
#NetGalley #ShelbyHarris #TheWomensGuideToOvercomingInsomnia #OvercomingInsomnia #WWNortonandCompany
September 11, 2024
A very helpful book
July 2, 2019
As someone who has struggled with insomnia for decades, I really wanted to like this book. Although it does have a few interesting tips, much of it is rehashed info you can get more quickly (and free) from online articles about insomnia. Despite this, I would have rated this book higher if it wasn’t for the constant repetition and filler commentary.
At times, I found myself literally rolling my eyes after reading the same basic content over and over and over again. It really wasn’t necessary to recap each concept every single time it was mentioned, but that’s what it felt like the author did.
Some of the background/introductory stuff was interesting, but it also dragged on. I was more than 1/5 of the way through it before any actual concrete solutions/tips were presented. For the first 20% of the book, the author merely kept referring to things that would be talked about in greater detail later on. This got old very quickly.
The organization of the book could have also been much better. Instead of making readers keep skipping large sections of each chapter that didn’t apply to them, it would have been nice to have sections specifically for Adult Women, Pregnant Women, Women with Infants, Perimenopausal Women, and Menopausal Women.
This book might be for you if you’ve never read a book about insomnia and haven’t done much research online. Otherwise, you’re already going to be familiar with a lot of the tips that are offered.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing a copy of this book. This review contains my honest, unbiased opinion.
At times, I found myself literally rolling my eyes after reading the same basic content over and over and over again. It really wasn’t necessary to recap each concept every single time it was mentioned, but that’s what it felt like the author did.
Some of the background/introductory stuff was interesting, but it also dragged on. I was more than 1/5 of the way through it before any actual concrete solutions/tips were presented. For the first 20% of the book, the author merely kept referring to things that would be talked about in greater detail later on. This got old very quickly.
The organization of the book could have also been much better. Instead of making readers keep skipping large sections of each chapter that didn’t apply to them, it would have been nice to have sections specifically for Adult Women, Pregnant Women, Women with Infants, Perimenopausal Women, and Menopausal Women.
This book might be for you if you’ve never read a book about insomnia and haven’t done much research online. Otherwise, you’re already going to be familiar with a lot of the tips that are offered.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing a copy of this book. This review contains my honest, unbiased opinion.
July 31, 2019
This book was received as an ARC from W W Norton and Company in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.
Sleep is the one thing that a lot of us take for granted and do not even realize the importance unless it is taken away from us. This book was very well descriptive of the effects of Insomnia and some helpful tips and techniques to improve your sleep patterns as well as some exercises to do before bedtime. This book was very well written to the point where a lot of people can benefit from this book and really improve their sleep.
We will consider adding this title to our Non-Fiction collection at our library. That is why we give this book 5 stars!
Sleep is the one thing that a lot of us take for granted and do not even realize the importance unless it is taken away from us. This book was very well descriptive of the effects of Insomnia and some helpful tips and techniques to improve your sleep patterns as well as some exercises to do before bedtime. This book was very well written to the point where a lot of people can benefit from this book and really improve their sleep.
We will consider adding this title to our Non-Fiction collection at our library. That is why we give this book 5 stars!
October 9, 2025
5 stars for curing my insomnia! -1 star for taking a slightly insulting approach to the reader.
This book goes far beyond the generic advice on sleep hygiene (eg. importance of sunlight/darkness, no phone in bed, evening wind down, no caffeine after noon, don't nap) and introduces Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I).
What I learned (advice applicable to all genders):
- Brain training: You need to train your brain to associate your bed with sleep. This means that your bed is for sleeping only, and only go to bed when you are really sleepy.
- Sleep journal: Keep a sleep journal for 2 weeks. Record the following: when you went to bed, how long it took you to fall asleep, how many awakenings you had in the night and for how long, when you woke up, when you got out of bed. From this, you can calculate a Time in Bed and a Total Sleep Time.
- Do not check the clock overnight. You can make rough estimations for the above (i.e. subjective 'felt time')
- Sleep restriction: You then take your Total Sleep Time average, and this is your new hours of sleep that you're allowed per night. For the next two weeks you restrict yourself to this amount of time in bed (eg. if your Total Sleep Time average was 6 hours, now you only allow yourself to be in bed for 6 hours). This resets your relationship with your bed and bedtime in general - now you will be genuinely exhausted at bed time and likely be out like a light.
- Don't drink much in the hours leading up to bedtime.
- Don't have a bath right before bed (your body needs to be cool for optimal sleep). Take a bath ~2 hours before bed.
- Stick to a fixed bed time and wake time. Don't sleep in, don't go to bed early. You can't bank up sleep on the weekend.
- You won't always have great sleep every night. This is normal. Don't freak out about it.
- There's a whole range of advice, including on medication, herbal supplements, hormones, perimenopause and menopause, pregnancy, etc. I found the above dot points most useful.
Within a really short period of time of reading this book (~4 days) I seem to have reset my sleep! I have tonnes more energy and am feeling balanced, sane, happy??!! After years of having agonising 2am-4am insomnia. So this is really quite something. The concept of sleep restriction never crossed my mind - at first it seems so counterintuitive.
Problems I had with the book:
- It has a pretty old school idea of the kind of problems that women face. Whenever examples are given of what kind of thoughts women might ruminate over they are extremely domestic, eg. "I need to go to the dry-cleaners", "Did I pack my son's lunch", "When am I going to get time to go grocery shopping". After enough repetition this really grated against me. Women have real problems and concerns beyond when we are going to get the ironing done!
- The CBT-I advice is revealed quite slowly, and in a bit of a patronising way that doesn't reveal the mechanisms/principles at play.
Overall though, I have to thank the author. It's an enormously helpful resource. Thank you.
This book goes far beyond the generic advice on sleep hygiene (eg. importance of sunlight/darkness, no phone in bed, evening wind down, no caffeine after noon, don't nap) and introduces Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I).
What I learned (advice applicable to all genders):
- Brain training: You need to train your brain to associate your bed with sleep. This means that your bed is for sleeping only, and only go to bed when you are really sleepy.
- Sleep journal: Keep a sleep journal for 2 weeks. Record the following: when you went to bed, how long it took you to fall asleep, how many awakenings you had in the night and for how long, when you woke up, when you got out of bed. From this, you can calculate a Time in Bed and a Total Sleep Time.
- Do not check the clock overnight. You can make rough estimations for the above (i.e. subjective 'felt time')
- Sleep restriction: You then take your Total Sleep Time average, and this is your new hours of sleep that you're allowed per night. For the next two weeks you restrict yourself to this amount of time in bed (eg. if your Total Sleep Time average was 6 hours, now you only allow yourself to be in bed for 6 hours). This resets your relationship with your bed and bedtime in general - now you will be genuinely exhausted at bed time and likely be out like a light.
- Don't drink much in the hours leading up to bedtime.
- Don't have a bath right before bed (your body needs to be cool for optimal sleep). Take a bath ~2 hours before bed.
- Stick to a fixed bed time and wake time. Don't sleep in, don't go to bed early. You can't bank up sleep on the weekend.
- You won't always have great sleep every night. This is normal. Don't freak out about it.
- There's a whole range of advice, including on medication, herbal supplements, hormones, perimenopause and menopause, pregnancy, etc. I found the above dot points most useful.
Within a really short period of time of reading this book (~4 days) I seem to have reset my sleep! I have tonnes more energy and am feeling balanced, sane, happy??!! After years of having agonising 2am-4am insomnia. So this is really quite something. The concept of sleep restriction never crossed my mind - at first it seems so counterintuitive.
Problems I had with the book:
- It has a pretty old school idea of the kind of problems that women face. Whenever examples are given of what kind of thoughts women might ruminate over they are extremely domestic, eg. "I need to go to the dry-cleaners", "Did I pack my son's lunch", "When am I going to get time to go grocery shopping". After enough repetition this really grated against me. Women have real problems and concerns beyond when we are going to get the ironing done!
- The CBT-I advice is revealed quite slowly, and in a bit of a patronising way that doesn't reveal the mechanisms/principles at play.
Overall though, I have to thank the author. It's an enormously helpful resource. Thank you.
August 29, 2019
I don't have insomnia, maybe a night or two here or there, or a week at most at a time, but nothing long lasting. But who doesn't want a better night of sleep? I definitely have a problem with Sunday night as during the weekends I time shift. It's automatic, I can't help it. I fit myself into a sleep schedule to fit work, but it does not fit my internal time clock. Actually sounds like a recipe for chronic insomnia, so the fact I don't, makes me feel lucky.
Yet, I do struggle at times, which is why this book looked interesting to me. I wanted to also understand why it was geared towards women and not everyone. The author, Harris, mentions several things that are particular to women: we tend to worry more, our brains are harder to shut off, then there's those things such as menopause, perimenopause and pregnancy. The hormones and cycles definitely play a role in our sleeping.
It's sometimes hard to rate self-help books, and this one definitely fits in that category. One reason for a lower rating is the repetitiveness that is here. I think authors of these types of books figure people may skip around and not read every chapter, but this book is geared for reading in the usual manner. Another reason I rated the book lower was for lack of examples. It felt like more examples for the situations would have made for a better book. If there was repetition due to padding out the book, more of these examples would have taken care of that issue.
In a moment of synchronicity, I received an email yesterday that discussed a new FDA Black Box warning for insomnia medications. The short article states that the best primary way to tackle insomnia is not medications but cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia, known as CBT-i. I had never heard of this before reading the book, but the book is all about CBT-i.
Despite the flaws of the book it still contains a lot of useful advice. I will likely add some of these recommendations to my sleep routine.
Book rating: 3.5 stars
Thanks to W.W. Norton and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book.
Yet, I do struggle at times, which is why this book looked interesting to me. I wanted to also understand why it was geared towards women and not everyone. The author, Harris, mentions several things that are particular to women: we tend to worry more, our brains are harder to shut off, then there's those things such as menopause, perimenopause and pregnancy. The hormones and cycles definitely play a role in our sleeping.
It's sometimes hard to rate self-help books, and this one definitely fits in that category. One reason for a lower rating is the repetitiveness that is here. I think authors of these types of books figure people may skip around and not read every chapter, but this book is geared for reading in the usual manner. Another reason I rated the book lower was for lack of examples. It felt like more examples for the situations would have made for a better book. If there was repetition due to padding out the book, more of these examples would have taken care of that issue.
In a moment of synchronicity, I received an email yesterday that discussed a new FDA Black Box warning for insomnia medications. The short article states that the best primary way to tackle insomnia is not medications but cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia, known as CBT-i. I had never heard of this before reading the book, but the book is all about CBT-i.
Despite the flaws of the book it still contains a lot of useful advice. I will likely add some of these recommendations to my sleep routine.
Book rating: 3.5 stars
Thanks to W.W. Norton and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book.
July 4, 2025
This book is a bit of a mixed bag. A lot of the info available in here is something you could find doing a decent search via Google. There are lots of articles out there covering a good 96% of what is in this book. That said, there was one thing in here I have never tried before, restricting sleep time based on quality and time awake. That was interesting.
Author gives helpful advice on seeking prescription, and over the counter medicines, as well as supplements, along with some precautionary warnings about using each one.
While readers may decide to skip large chunks of texts because A) they don't apply to the reader or B) it's just a 'look at so and so who had this problem' story, there might be something interesting in their for readers to try. I would recommend using the library's copy rather then buying your own though.
Author gives helpful advice on seeking prescription, and over the counter medicines, as well as supplements, along with some precautionary warnings about using each one.
While readers may decide to skip large chunks of texts because A) they don't apply to the reader or B) it's just a 'look at so and so who had this problem' story, there might be something interesting in their for readers to try. I would recommend using the library's copy rather then buying your own though.
May 15, 2020
Sleep disorder specialist Harris begins by explaining why women are particularly vulnerable to insomnia. After suggesting lifestyle changes that might help, she moves onto CBT-I, or Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia, to help both mind and body retrain themselves for better sleep. She discusses the CBT process, beginning with a sleep diary, to the point that a reader could either do it herself or seek out professional help. And though her aim is to promote sleep without medication, she also covers appropriate meds. Definitely worth checking out if you have this problem.
March 5, 2025
This book has some great information that covers several topics for women who are struggling with insomnia, and I love that Sleep Doctor Shelby has sections of the book that are just open and honest as even as a professional you can still struggle every now and then.
The next time someone asks for a sleep help book I will be definitely have this one in my recommendations, especially to other women.
The next time someone asks for a sleep help book I will be definitely have this one in my recommendations, especially to other women.
January 31, 2022
A great read if you’re struggling with insomnia (which is more common in women than men) and need a game plan. Loved the chapter on productive and unproductive worries! Dr. Shelby Harris delves into the hormonal changes and other factors affecting women’s sleep, outlines a cognitive behavioral approach, and provides a ton of other actionable advice.
August 25, 2024
I’m 3 weeks into this program and so far it seems to be helping. I highly recommend this book. I thought I knew everything about insomnia and tips for overcoming it, but I learned new things in this book.
October 26, 2025
This was an enlightening read about the process of sleep. It featured information about the different stages and reasons in a woman's life that cause sleep issues. I learned some tips that I hope will help me in my quest to get better and more restorative sleep so that I can function day-to-day.
January 9, 2020
This book has some very insightful advice for getting a better night's sleep.
Read
April 19, 2020A bit dry but useful ideas especially last 1/2
July 29, 2020
Great tips for deep sleep.
September 1, 2020
Very informative. Explained well and easy I’ve read several but this just cemented the ideas and concepts. I skipped sections that don’t pertain to me but I still got a lot out of it. Best yet.
March 23, 2022
Lots of clean information. Mostly everything I’ve heard before but nice to see it all in one place. I read the e-book but could be nice to look for this one in hardcopy.
August 9, 2022
Very helpful information.
February 11, 2023
very repetitive. Not enough about post menopausal women.
September 26, 2023
This was so practical and helpful. So many things I had been doing wrong became clear immediately. I will be recommending this.
March 1, 2024
Good ideas.
June 3, 2025
Reads like a workbook which doesn’t work as an audiobook. Would be much better as an actual workbook with worksheets to complete.
December 8, 2023
The first two-thirds of this book offers very specific ways for helping overcome sleep problems. Applying them does not guarantee improvement, but many people (including myself) have benefited! The last third of the book includes what I would call not-so-helpful methods for dealing with worries and anxiety. But the book is worth the read if this is your struggle.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews