LinkedIn initially suggested my title should be my job title - Professor of Clinical Child Psychology. But I soon noticed this lengthy title did not fit into a thumbnail - and furthermore it didn’t represent the majority of the work I do.

So I changed my LinkedIn title to ‘Professor / Sleep Expert’.

After a while on LinkedIn, I noticed that there were ALOT of people on LinkedIn who had expertise in sleep. Most I never heard of.

Yet, despite arriving at the same title of ‘Sleep Expert’:

• the qualifications differed (some with MDs or PhDs, some with no qualifications)

• the skills differed

• there were slight differences in their sleep knowledge (eg, some were not up-to-date)

• and this usually means the outcomes they produce are different (eg, their ability to improve sleep)

This could be quite confusing to people looking for a sleep expert. So I’m hoping this blog will help those looking for a sleep expert, because ultimately it depends on what OUTCOME you want.

But before I address each outcome, it’s important to provide an understanding of the Scientist-Practitioner. If you don’t have time for this part, then jump forward to read about the OUTCOME you’re after…

What is a (Sleepy) Scientist-Practitioner?

Sleepy Scientist

Well, let’s first begin with a Sleepy Scientist.

A Scientist is a researcher, and in the sleep area, it’s someone who performs research about sleep.

• They: start with a question (eg, do screens from technological devices affect sleep?).

• They read what scientific studies have been done, and see what still needs to be done to answer the question.

• They then design a protocol (eg, get people into a sleep lab and measuring their sleep after using a screen or not),

• apply for ethics

• collect data, analyse it, interpret the findings

• and then write a manuscript to publish in a scientific journal (that’s right, it needs to be vetted by other experts - so daily posts on LinkedIn don’t make you a sleepy scientist).

Sleepy scientists know their shit. They’re up-to-date with the science about sleep. And whilst most people can read these sleepy publications nowadays (eg, on Google Scholar), these sleepy scientists are REALLY up to date about the science because they are producing the science. Furthermore, they go to sleep conferences where all the new sleep science is talked about.

Speaking of which, I was VERY interested to see - or indeed, not see - a whole bunch of LinkedIn ‘Sleep Experts’ at the recent WorldSleep 2019 conference in Vancouver in September last year. It was a huge conference, with over 3,000 people. A huge amount of new sleep science! Whilst I know not everyone can get to all conferences, this one was in North America, and this was probably the largest gathering of ‘sleep experts’ I’d seen at a conference in the 18 years I’ve been attending sleep conferences.

Anyways, so that’s a simplified description of the Sleepy Scientist. We can thank them - and their mentors, and possibly their mentors, and then possibly people like Bill Dement, Nathaniel Kleitman, and let’s not forget Aschoff - for producing so much Sleepy Knowledge that is helping millions of people sleep around the world.

But it’s not just Sleepy Scientists we need to thank.

That’s because Sleepy Scientists - strictly speaking - do not have the qualifications, and thus experience and skills, to sit down with a person (or group of people) who has/have a sleep problem. Sure, Sleepy Scientists can write a book like “How to Sleep Well” or “Why We Sleep”, but you cannot seek them out in the hope that they will help you with your insomnia.

That brings us to …

The Sleepy Practitioner

This person is someone who can sit in a room with a patient suffering with a sleep problem, and:

• skillfully gain the right information from said patient,

• deduce what they theorise to be the main contributions to their sleep problem

• probably even come up with a diagnosis for their sleep problem

• suggest at least 1 thing that the patient can do to improve their sleep (thus, this technique is tailored to that individual).

The Sleepy Practitioner is also skilled at developing a good relationship with the patient. This is important as patients are often asked to change their behaviours around sleep, some of which require trust. Trust is also important when it comes to delving into thoughts and emotions related to the sleep problem, sometimes which will then open bigger issues (eg, marital problems, depression). Furthermore, a Sleepy Practitioner is likely to identify a patient’s resistance to behavioural change and deal with it - or conversely, spot a glint of motivation, and be able to enhance it (and just to be clear, I wouldn’t want Tony Robinson in the room when this happens. These situations require a delicate nudge - not a velvet hammer).

The Sleepy Practitioner who has undergone a professional qualification in mental health (ie, mental health is a fancy name for ‘wellness’) (eg, medicine, psychiatry, clinical psychology, nursing, etc.) is likely skilled to deal with such issues.

Such professional qualifications have imbedded within them - learning about research. Thus, these practitioners are evidence-based - they use scientific evidence as their basis for their practice.

Whilst Sleepy Practitioners are great at helping people - they are not Sleep Scientists. The hope is that they keep their scientific knowledge up to date. Many are required to each year in order to retain their licensing / registration (eg, Continuing Professional Development).

But, they are so busy during the day helping clients, that they lack the time to keep up-to-date with the huge amount of sleep science produced each week. So unfortunately, they may be making some decisions for their clients that are not based on the latest sleep science.

The Sleepy Scientist-Practitioner

And then there’s another type of Sleepy Professional … The Sleepy Scientist-Practitioner.

In cricket, there’s a minority of players known as ‘All-Rounders’. They’re excellent at batting. And they’re excellent at bowling. Sleepy Scientist-Practitioners are the All-Rounders in the sleep area. Part of their working week is doing sleep science. Another part of their week is helping clients with their sleep. And because this is a hard juggling act, they’re in the minority of Sleep Experts.

But technically there is one Sleep Professional I’ve left out.

The Sleepy Educator

Educators understand HOW to educate people. This means conveying knowledge.

But conveying knowledge isn’t simply talking about sleep.

Indeed, when people sit down and start listening to an expert talk about sleep, they often become sleepy. And if you’re audience is sleepy, the ability to CONVEY knowledge is reduced (please trust me -I’ve been teaching a 3-hr class on Monday mornings to young adults for the past 15 years). So the Sleepy Educator needs to be engaging. Engaging is more than talking about an interesting topic like sleep, but maintaining your audience’s attention.

And it certainly helps to have experience with your audience type.

Someone with years of experience working with professional athletes will know how to handle a team of footballers during their talk. Someone with years of experience working in the mining industry will know the ‘lingo’ to use with such an audience. Someone with years of experience working with teens will know how to engage them so they resist secretly watching Mixer in he back row.

Now that you’re familiar with the types of Sleepy People (who are sometimes rolled up into the ‘All-Rounder’), let’s look at who you need for an OUTCOME to be achieved.

OUTCOME 1: I NEED SOMEONE TO HELP ME (Or a family member of friend) SLEEP BETTER

For this outcome, you’re looking for someone who is a Sleepy Practitioner.

Because I’m a clinical psychologist, I get asked alot about who is a good person to see for so-and-so’s mental health problem. This is a REALLY important question, because alot of practitioners say they can treat certain problems, but some are better than others at producing the desired OUTCOME (ie, moving from having a mental health problem to not having one). Below is my bog-standard reply when doing a search. I’ve framed the below in terms of someone who is suffering from insomnia:

• Ask if the Practitioner only treats sleep problems. Is this issue their ‘bread-and-butter’? Is it what they do for a living?

  • You’re looking for a specialist - not a generalist.

• How long have they been treating this issue for?

  • Not all sleep problems are informed by science. Take for example one of the most rare sleep disorders I’ve been treating lately - Non-24-hour Circadian Rhythm Disorder. There is barely any science about how to treat this population. But because I’ve been treating sleep problems since 2002, I’ve seen more of these cases and learned from that experience about what works (when science cannot tell me).

• What is their success rate, and how do they measure their success?

  • A good practitioner evaluates their work. For example, because we evaluate our own clinical work, we can report on how many children do not meet diagnostic criteria for an Insomnia Disorder after 6 sessions. A good practitioner should not be plucking a % out of the sky.

You can also check out their qualification. Some people dodge this by not stating it, and will promote their years of experience (which alone might be OK, but I’d be wary of their ability to provide evidence-based practice). Someone who is a pediatrician may know more about the latest sleep science compared to a ‘sleep coach’ or ‘lactation consultant’ (if I’ve just offended you, debate with me in the comments - if you’re a pediatrician [fist-pump]).

It’s important to find the right Sleepy Practitioner at the outset. Otherwise, the chances of success decline, and along with it … hope. Thus, it’s important to do your research, and ask around before you commit.

OUTCOME 2: I NEED SOMEONE TO COME AND TALK TO MY GROUP OF PEOPLE (SO MY GROUP’S SLEEP CAN IMPROVE).

For this outcome, I’m going out on a limb and say that you’re looking for those in the minority - the Sleepy Scientist-Practitioner (who is also an educator).

Why?

Well, I do believe that when you want to improve the sleep of your team, you need:

• A Sleepy Scientist who is up-to-date with the latest sleep science (they may have done the science themselves. So invest in hearing it from the horse’s mouth).

• A Sleepy Practitioner who can answer a team member’s specific question about their own sleep. A Sleepy Practitioner knows the odds of success for a solution they suggest because they follow-up their patients.

• A Sleep Educator who can convey the knowledge from them to your team.

And if you are serious about improving the sleep of your team, don’t just leave it at a talk. The presenter should put their expertise on the line and assess whether your team’s sleep has improved (and do with with scientifically-supported assessment tools).

If you just want someone to come and talk to your team about sleep (and don’t mind whether it improves their sleep or not), then if I had to pick one of the dot points above, I’d recommend the Sleepy Educator. They’re more likely to increase the Sleep Knowledge of the team (even if it doesn’t translate to behaviour change).

OUTCOME 3: I NEED SOMEONE TO VALIDATE THAT WHAT I’M DOING ABOUT SLEEP IS WORKING

Although there is a ‘wellness’ movement happening (which use to be a ‘wellbeing’ movement … which use to be a ‘positive psychology’ movement … I’ll stop there …) - and sleep is often recognised as a core element of wellness - many businesses may be focusing on other elements (eg, eating better, getting more physically active, drinking less poison, reducing stress).

They realise sleep is also important, even if it’s not the focus.

And some of these businesses care about the science. They just don’t know how to do the science themselves.

So for this outcome it’s pretty simple - you need a Sleepy Scientist. Some things to know:

• Sleepy Scientists are available at different places (eg, Universities, Companies) and at different levels (Post-PhD through to Professors).

• The more experience the better - but - the more experience, the more the cost.

• Whilst companies can charge a premium for such selective services, Universities may be cheaper (although they will wack on a vague percentage (eg, 25%) to cover … well, I don’t know what costs it covers because it’s rarely defined).

• But Universities are notoriously slower than Companies

So it depends on how well you want something done, how fast you want something done, and your budget. Whilst Universities are easy to find, private enterprises are not. Even I don’t know where they are. All I know is that this is one service that WINK supplies.

Conclusion

For the person wanting the services of a Sleep Expert, I hope this blog has provided some direction for you. And because the ‘All-Rounder’ described above is in the minority (and I’m one of them), I’m sure I’ve raised some emotions in my Sleep Expert community - as such, I welcome comments below.

And we congratulate the Sleep Experts who evaluate their own work. That they learn from such evaluations, improve their work, and benefit the people they work with.