The Curation: Design Books, Sleep Hacks, and Beautiful Space
Hi Everyone! As the holiday season is approaching, I thought it’d be a good idea to curate some of my favorite design books, perfect for giving or receiving. I’ve divided them into two sections: The Classics and New Releases (all released in 2023). I personally own all books and have enjoyed them thoroughly, but not everything is for everyone. Books by individual designers are very much in their style (You’ll see Kelly Wearstler, Heidi Caillier, McGee, Amber Lewis, deVOL, etc) so if you’re a fan of their work, you’ll love these books. “Never Too Small” is great for fans of small spaces, and AD is well… it’s AD.
Made for Living: Collected Interiors for All Sorts of Styles; $22
Minimalista: Your Step-by-Step Guide to a Better Home, Wardrobe, and Life; $20
Homebody: A Guide to Creating Spaces You Never Want to Leave; $23
Pacific Natural at Home; $27
Live Beautiful; $23
Weekly Learnings & Findings
The best bridge between despair and hope is a good night’s sleep
Matthew Walker, author, scientist, and professor of neuroscience
Recently I came across this eye-opening podcast episode where the guest Dr Matthew Walker, talks about the impact of sleep on human health. Now, we all know that sleep is important to our wellbeing, yet in today’s modern society, sleep is often seen as a “weakness”, or something that is often sacrificed for work or various other activities.
What’s scary is the research and evidence on all the negative health effects of not getting enough sleep, including memory problems, depression and anxiety, heart disease, increased cancer risk, and Alzheimer’s linked buildups in the brain - which he explains in the podcast as well as in his book Why We Sleep (which by the way has over 30,000 reviews in Amazon with an average of 4.7).
Further, there are so many myths around sleep, like attempting to catch up on sleep over the weekend, which is not an effective strategy; or how everybody “should” or “can” be a morning person, turns out everyone has a ‘Chronotype’, the body’s natural inclination to sleep at a certain time.
Some of the sleep hacks (to fall asleep faster and better quality sleep) takeaway:
Routine - Going to bed and waking up at the same time every day (when you sleep doesn’t matter as much, as some people are “early birds” while others are “night owls”. Scientists call this your “Chronotype” and Matthew explains this very well in both the podcast episode as well as his book).
Darkness - Dim down the lights around the house (This is one reason why I like smart bulbs and recommend them in many of my videos, especially for the bedroom).
Temperature - 65-68 F (18-20 C). Sounds pretty cold to me, but there is scientific evidence behind this. Matthew also recommends getting a thicker blanket, or even an extra layer of clothing if you find this too cold for you.
Walk it out - Don’t stay in bed too long if you can’t fall asleep as it will make you anxious and frustrated. Instead, get up and do a relaxing activity until you start feeling sleepy.
Caffeine - They have a half-life of about 5-6 hours for the average adult, which means that about 50% of caffeine is still circulating in our system 5-6 hours after we had that cup of coffee. This also means that caffeine has a quarter-life of somewhere between 10-12 hours. Try to avoid caffeine 8-10 hours before bedtime to improve sleep quality. Turns out, even if you can fall asleep easily when having an espresso after dinner, it can decrease the amount of deep sleep you have (stage 3&4 of non-REM sleep), resulting in nonrestorative sleep.
Alcohol - One of the most misunderstood sleep aids. Alcohol is a sedative, which means that while you might lose consciousness more quickly, you’re actually not ‘falling asleep’ faster. It fragments our sleep and reduces REM sleep, that’s why we often feel unrefreshed and unrestored the next day after drinking too much.
Regarding caffeine and alcohol, what I find interesting is that Matthew doesn’t ‘force’ you to completely eliminate them or simply say that it is bad. But rather explaining the science behind it and that consuming them in moderation is completely okay (especially when it comes to coffee, as they contain quite a number of health benefits).
I highly recommend checking out the podcast, or the book (or audiobook), whichever media you enjoy consuming the most.
Beautiful Space
Self-designed Dream Home |Written by Lucy Feagins, Photography by Nikole Ramsay
Struggling with decorating your home?
Check out my Practical Home Design course where I cover a step-by-step process so you, yourself, can confidently make your own choices and design a home that you’ll love. I'll also provide you with guides, handbooks, templates, and a bunch of resources to aid your learning.
See you in a fortnight!
Reynard Lowell