Recording your sleep can help you understand your sleep
Sometimes it’s easy to work out why you can’t drift off – a late dinner, a looming test, a noisy neighbor… But other times, it’s harder to pinpoint why you’re slipping into sleep debt. To avoid letting those bad night’s stack up, it’s important to identify the cause of those restless nights. If your environment is the problem, choosing the best mattress and best pillow can help. When it comes to behavioral issues, a sleep diary might be the solution.
“Sleep is vital pillar of our health, alongside diet and exercise,“ explains Lisa Artis, deputy CEO at the Sleep Charity and a sleep diary enthusiast. „But with 40% of the nation struggling with their sleep at any point, it’s important that we educate ourselves on what could be causing those issues, identify patterns and what we can do to improve our sleep. A sleep diary is a great way to achieve this.“
With a sleep diary, you can record the ins and outs of your kip, including how many hours you got, when you went to bed, and how you feel in the morning. By providing a clear overview, you (or your doctor) can use the sleep diary to assess your rest and spot problem areas. Ready to get started? Here’s our full guide to creating your own sleep diary.
„By keeping a sleep diary, you can help identify what’s keeping you awake,“ explains Lisa. „The diary is a useful tool that will help to pinpoint if you’re consistently waking at a similar time, what you’ve done that day, what you’ve eaten etc. to see if there is any pattern.“ Although a sleep diary can’t fix your sleep, it can help you find the source of the problem so you can work towards a solution.
A sleep diary can also give you a different perspective towards your sleep – including identifying misconceptions. For example, you might think your tiredness is due to a lack of sleep, but your sleep diary shows you’re getting a good eight hours every night. However, it also reveals your bedtime changes drastically between the weekend and the work week. Thanks to your sleep diary, you can recognize it’s not a lack of sleep, but social jet lag from differing sleep patterns that’s causing your lethargy.How long should you keep a sleep diary?
„Start recording your sleep diary as soon as you begin to recognize a problem and complete it over a two-week period,“ says Lisa. Make sure to keep it consistently during this time period, so you can gather a full picture of your sleep – you don’t want gaps that might skew the data.
However, a sleep diary doesn’t have to be a short-term commitment. If you’re working towards health and wellbeing goals that might result in an adjustment to your routine, a sleep diary can help you understand what effect these changes are having on your rest. You might even find your sleep diary becomes an enjoyable part of your sleep routine, and a good way to wind-down at night and get going in the morning.
