According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society, adults should get at least 7 hours of sleep daily. Unfortunately, over one-quarter of adults do not meet that recommendation. If you’re having a hard time sleeping, you are not alone. However, you can become one of those lucky people who get enough sleep, and keeping a sleep journal is a good place to start.
Why Is Sleep Important?
Although researchers still don’t know the biological purpose of sleep, it affects almost every system in your body. Specifically, sleep helps repair and maintain your organs, immunity, mood, and metabolism. Unfortunately, poor or lack of sleep over time can increase the risk of developing some health conditions, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, depression, high blood pressure, and obesity.
Sleep helps you maintain pathways to learn and create new memories. It also affects how well neurons communicate and also removes toxins in your brain that can build up while you’re awake.
Unsurprisingly, a good night’s sleep is essential for overall health. Yet many people struggle with sleep issues without understanding what’s causing them. This is why a sleep journal can be an invaluable tool for tracking and improving your sleep habits, giving you the rest you need to maintain your health and well-being.
What Is A Sleep Journal?
A sleep journal, or sleep diary, is a record of details relating to your sleep, including other factors that could influence the quality and quantity of your sleep, such as how much caffeine you drink, exercise, and screen time. By tracking your sleep schedule and habits, you can learn a lot about how you sleep. Here are some examples of how a sleep journal can help:
| Identify Sleep Patterns | Recognize patterns and trends in your sleep habits |
| Find Sleep Disruptors | Help identify what negatively affects your sleep, such as stress, dietary changes, or screen time. |
| Improve Sleep Quality | Provide insights to help you make lifestyle changes to improve sleep. |
| A Tool For Your Doctor | Provide valuable information for doctors specializing in insomnia or sleep disorders. |
| Reap the Benefits | Being well-rested has benefits, such as better focus, increased productivity, and more energy. |
What Are The Advantages And Challenges Of Keeping A Sleep Journal?
Most importantly, it increases your awareness of your sleeping habits. The fact you’re tracking yourself can lead to better choices because you’re becoming aware of your actions. Over time, you will identify patterns and habits affecting your sleep. This can help you or a health professional devise a plan to eliminate bad habits and form good ones. Health professionals can also use your sleep journal to help diagnose sleep disorders. On top of it all, keeping a sleep journal is free and easy to maintain.
Although recording details about your sleep and day may only take a few minutes, you need to update it daily for it to be helpful. Sometimes, that time is spread throughout the day, such as after you wake up or before going to bed. Remembering to update your journal is challenging when you start, but it gets easier over time. Entries may not always be 100% accurate, as you may estimate or forget details when writing down your thoughts. Tracking yourself can also lead to overthinking, which could increase anxiety about your sleep.
How To Keep A Sleep Journal
Keeping a sleep journal is simple and straightforward but requires consistency. You can use a notebook, a spreadsheet, or an app. The best time to record details is in the morning when your sleep is fresh in your mind and before bed to jot down some of your habit observations throughout the day.
But what should you track? Generally speaking, the more information you track, the more you’ll learn. However, tracking any information can help shed some light on your current sleep patterns and formulate a plan to improve the quality of your sleep.
Essential Sleep Journal Details
If you don’t know where to start, recording these details in your sleep journal can help you learn more about your sleeping patterns and identify reasons for sleep troubles. Here are some essential details to track in your sleep journal.
| Bedtime | What time did you go to bed? |
| Time To Fall Asleep | How long did it take you to fall asleep? |
| Wake-up | What time did you wake up? |
| Sleep Duration | How many hours did you sleep? |
| Sleep Quality | Rate your sleep as poor, average, or excellent. |
| Thoughts | Do you have any thoughts related to your night’s sleep? |
What Else Can You Record In Your Sleep Journal?
While the essential details can be eye-opening, more information can help you dig deeper and learn more about your sleep. A comprehensive sleep journal may have one or more of the following details:
| Sleep Interruptions | How often did you wake up during the night? |
| Reasons you awoke | Why did you wake up? Was it noise, stress, bathroom trips, nightmares, or something else? |
| Awake Time | How long were you awake? |
| Caffeine/Alcohol | How much did you consume during the day? How much before bed? |
| Medication | Have you taken any new medications, or have they changed recently? |
| Exercise | Did you exercise, and if so, at what time and for how long? |
| Screen Time | Did you use your phone, TV, or computer before bed? How close to bedtime did you use them? |
| Stress Level | Did you feel anxious, relaxed, overwhelmed, or something else before bedtime? |
| Naps | Did you nap during the day? If so, how long and at what time? |
| Waking Mood | How did you feel when you woke up? Refreshed, tired, groggy, or something else? |
| Energy Level | Did you feel energetic and well-rested during the day? |
In general, the more information you can provide, the greater insight you may gain. However, there is such a thing as too much data. Therefore, only track what you feel is important now. You can always add more details to track later if they become relevant.
How To Make Tracking Your Sleep Easier
Some people prefer to write in a sleep journal, which may help them think more about their day and sleep time. Others may want to make the process more automatic. Thankfully, the technology in most smartwatches and fitness trackers can record a lot of information about your sleep.
While the information may not be 100% accurate, a fitness tracker can automatically track your sleep. While it may not be perfectly precise, its consistency in tracking makes the information valuable. Fitness trackers do a good job tracking some basic metrics about your sleep, such as falling asleep, how long you slept, and when you wake up.
Syncing your data from a fitness tracker to an app can combine all your metrics in one place to see trends over time. Some apps even allow you to add notes to store your thoughts alongside your sleep metrics. Regardless of how you track your sleep, you should speak with your doctor or healthcare provider if you suspect you have a sleep disorder.
The Takeaway
A sleep journal is a valuable tool for learning more about your sleeping patterns. Whether you use a notebook, spreadsheet, or app, tracking your sleeping can help uncover why you aren’t getting enough sleep. Tracking your sleep over time can give you a clearer picture of what works best for you to get more restful sleep, which will improve your well-being and quality of life.
FitTrend’s mission is to help you along your self-improvement journey, promote an active lifestyle, and help you achieve your goals. Our journal can help you track your mood, sleep, and more. Also, FitTrend allows you to connect supported gadgets to your account to make it easier for you to update your journal automatically. Create your account today and start using FitTrend for free!
Disclaimer: No content on this site should ever be used as a substitute for direct medical advice from your doctor or other qualified clinician.
