Six old ways, one to try tonight, and a bedside book for the nights after.
How to Fall Asleep the Old Fashioned Way
calm, deep, healthy
The old household ways for the hour you lie awake. Written down plain, at last, by a grandfather who knows that hour well.
PDF eBook · $37, one payment · 7 days to ask for your money back, and you keep the book
From the voice of Sleepy Wisdom, the podcast rated 4.7 out of 5 on Spotify
See what is inside first01 · Three steps
How it works
You pay
On Stripe's secure checkout page. Your card details go to Stripe. I never see your card number.
The book opens
On the very next screen, with a button to download it. On your phone, your tablet or your computer.
It stays in your email
The same link comes to your inbox, so you can download it again any night you like.
Nothing ships. There is no account to make and no password to remember.
02 · Old and new
The honest bedside table
A good many of us, tired of guessing, have bought things for the bedside and hoped. I will not add it up for you. Every house is different. But here is the difference, plainly.
The modern shelf
- An app, and then another app
- A band on the wrist that gives your night a score
- A new pillow, then a topper
- Jars of supplements
- A diffuser on the bedside table
Some of these suit some people. Not all of them earn their place.
The old household way
- A pair of bed socks you already own
- A clock turned to face the wall
- A dull book by a low lamp, or one of my episodes, played low
- A pencil, and tomorrow's list left downstairs
- The knowing of which one to try first: this book
Most of it costs nothing, and most of it is already in the house.
Your house will differ. The point does not: try the free way first, and look hard before you buy. Nobody is at fault here. A quiet evening is simply hard to put in a box, so nobody sells it.
03 · Look inside
Real pages from the real book
This is exactly what opens on your phone. The type is set big on purpose, and every entry starts on a fresh page. On a screen, tap a line in the Contents and it takes you straight there.
Swipe to see more pages
Tap to enlarge
04 · The contents
What is inside
Eleven Parts, set out by the trouble you have tonight, not by century. Cold feet, a busy mind, a bad dream, a strange bed: find yours and go straight to it. Written plain, so anyone can follow it by lamplight.
- Signs That Need a Doctor, Not a Book: when to put the book down and make the appointment · p. 4
- The Quick Start: six old ways, one to pick tonight and one more each day after, and most of them cost nothing · p. 20
- What to do the moment you wake at two, and why that hour is nothing to be ashamed of · p. 29
- Warm feet, a cool room, a quiet house: bed socks, the wrapped hot-water bottle, and the night-rattle walk · p. 98
- Give the mind one dull job: sheep through the gate, the cognitive shuffle, and tomorrow put on paper · p. 150
- The cupboard by the kettle: warm cups and old herbs, with the safety line beside each one, and the rule to ask your pharmacist first · p. 207
- What the children brought home: CBT-I, morning light, the weighted blanket, the sleep score, and what I kept · p. 282
- Hard nights: waking at four or five, pain or illness, grief, a strange bed, the carer's night, alone in the house · p. 324
- When the night had names: the curfew bell, the night watchman, and the knocker-up who tapped on the window before the shift · p. 362
- My House Rules: the handful I still keep every night · p. 389
- The Herb and Supplement Interaction Index, to take to your pharmacist · p. 450
- Nine fill-in worksheets to print, from a one-week notes page to a sheet to take to the doctor and a packing card for a strange bed · p. 458
And that is a fraction of it. Eleven Parts, 130 entries, four appendices, and modern evidence notes at the back for anyone who likes to check (p. 413).
05 · My podcast
You may know my voice already
Sleepy Wisdom | Grandpa Huxley
More than 1.5 million views on Spotify and Facebook
I am the voice of Sleepy Wisdom, a free podcast of long, slow stories for bedtime. The episodes are made to be played low. This book is the old household ways themselves, written down plain at last, for the hour you lie awake.
Listen free on
06 · The book
Get your copy
A PDF eBook, ready on the next screen after you pay. Nothing ships.
Grandpa Huxley's Old Sleep Manual
How to Fall Asleep the Old Fashioned Way
From the voice of Sleepy Wisdom, the podcast rated 4.7 out of 5 on Spotify
- 468 pages in big, plain type, every entry on a fresh page
- A PDF for your phone, tablet or computer, with a Contents you can tap
- The Quick Start: six old ways to begin with tonight
- Nine fill-in worksheets and the Night in One Page, made to print
- 7 days to ask for your money back, and you keep the book
$37 · one payment
Buy now7 days, my word on it: every penny back, and you keep the book.
Secure checkout by Stripe · One payment, no subscription · Nothing ships, and there is no account to make
07 · Who I am
Grandpa Huxley
I have spent a good many nights in a hard chair downstairs, with a lamp turned low and a very dull book, or one of my episodes playing low. The ways in this book I learned from my own family as a boy, from an older relative who had sat up through a great many nights, and from friends and other households over a long life. I kept the ways that were simple and cost next to nothing. This book is those ways, written down plain at last. My wife, Rosie, wrote four short entries of her own. Her ground is the house, the linen, the garden and the kitchen, and she would like it known that she was right about all of them.
I will not promise you sleep. Nobody honest can. What I will do is tell you plainly what each old way is, where a modern study supports it and how far, which ones are only tradition or history, and when a bad night belongs with a doctor and not a book. That is the whole bargain. And if you would rather listen than read, my free podcast, Sleepy Wisdom, is on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube and Facebook. The episodes are long and slow, and made to be played low at bedtime.
Huxley
Grandpa Huxley is a fictional character, illustrated and voiced with AI.
08 · Questions
Questions, answered honestly
Is a paper book coming in the post?
No, nothing ships. It is a PDF eBook. It opens on your phone, your tablet or your computer. If you want paper, print the pages you like at home. The worksheets and the Night in One Page are made for exactly that.
I am not good with computers.
You do not need to be. You press one button to pay, and the book is on the very next screen. The same link comes to your email too. There is no account and no password. If you get stuck, write to grandpahuxley@gmail.com. We answer every message, and we will walk you through it.
Is this a subscription? Will you charge my card again?
No. It is one payment, and that is the end of it. Nothing comes back to your card later.
What if I lose the file?
Look in your email for the link we sent. You can download the book again from it. If you cannot find the email, write to grandpahuxley@gmail.com from the address you bought with, and we will send the link again.
Is this medical advice? Will it fix my sleep?
No, it is not medical advice, and I will not promise you sleep. Nobody honest can. It is a book of old household ways, with a plain word on where a modern study supports each one, and where it is only tradition. The most I will say for any of them is that it may help. If you have any of the signs on p. 4, Signs That Need a Doctor, Not a Book, see your doctor first. If anything in the book sits badly with your treatment, your treatment comes first.
I take medicines. Are the herbs safe for me?
That is not for me to say, and it is why every herb in Part Six has its safety line beside it. Read Never Mix. Ask First. on p. 6, and the Herb and Supplement Interaction Index on p. 450. Then take your boxes to your pharmacist and ask first, before you try anything new. The pharmacist first, and the kettle second.
Is this just tips I could find free online?
Some of it, yes, scattered about and argued over. What you will not find in one place is the lot of it, set out by the night you are having, in big type, with the safety lines beside it and a page that tells you when to see a doctor. Most of the old ways in it cost nothing. The book is the knowing of which one to try first.
$37 for a book?
It is a big one: 468 pages, 130 entries, nine fill-in worksheets, and the evidence notes at the back. One payment, and you may keep it on your phone, your tablet and your computer. If it is not for you, write to me within 7 days, and every penny comes back. You keep the book.
Do I need to buy anything else?
No. Most of the old ways cost nothing, and most of what they need is already in the house: a pair of socks you already own, a pencil, a dull book by a low lamp, or one of my episodes, played low. Every herb in Part Six has its safety line beside it, and the rule is the same every time: ask your pharmacist first.
Who is Grandpa Huxley?
I am the voice of Sleepy Wisdom, a free podcast of long, slow stories for bedtime. I am British, I like my tea, and I have kept a good many late nights. There is a little more about me, and how I am made, just above.
Can I print it?
Yes, for yourself and your household. Print any pages you want at home. The worksheets and the Night in One Page are made to print and to keep by the bed.
How do I get a refund?
Reply to the email that brought your book, or write to grandpahuxley@gmail.com, within 7 days. Every penny comes back, and you keep the book.
Questions before you buy?
Write to us. We read every message, and we answer.
Ready when you are
A PDF eBook, on the next screen after you pay. Nothing ships, there is no account, and you have 7 days to change your mind.
Take your time over it. The book will keep. It is not going anywhere, and neither am I.
Get my copyQuestions first? Write to grandpahuxley@gmail.com.