The problem with most self-help books is that they are often long-winded and hard to put into practice. You are left with the feeling that the only self-help going on is the author helping themselves to your time and money.

This is not one of those books.

I bought the Kindle edition of Dr Sarb Johal’s book, “The Little Sleep Book, Everything You Wanted To Know About Sleep With Tips To Help” to see if there was anything to help me sleep better.

At 71 pages, this is short book; if it were stealing your time, it wouldn’t be a lot.

The reason it’s short is that there’s no padding in this book. Dr Johal gets straight to the point, has references to supporting material if you want to go deeper, and uses plain english. The message is clear and concise. No time-wasting here.

This is a nice change from many other non-fiction books that contain endless anecdotes, some witty, some not so witty, about how wonderful and effective the outlined techniques are, but without being really clear as to actual techniques themselves.

The content itself is well-researched, and is backed up by the ‘practising psychologist’ guarantee; the material in the book is included based on clinical experience as to its relevance.

The book is well structured – it moves from purpose, importance of sleep, what ruins your sleep, what helps your sleep, how to fall asleep, and so on.

After each major section the key message is stated along with a short summary, which really helps you focus on what you need to remember.

The length and structure of the book means it is easy to integrate the information, and quickly come away with a personalised sleep improvement plan. And if that doesn’t work, go back to the book and swap out one technique for another.

The most useful chapter for me was How To Fall Asleep Faster. This contains 16 short tips for getting to sleep (and back to sleep) faster. My problem is that I wake around 2-3am and cannot get back to sleep. I’ll be trying a few of these ideas over the next few weeks.

I bought this on Kindle for less than the price of a large coffee, and I think it represents excellent value.

If you are looking for a long-winded exposition, the reading of which will put you to sleep, then this is not the book for you.

However, if you want concise practical information and advice, based in science and clinical practise, then give this a shot.