Sleep Tracking - Conclusion

The sleep tracking challenge has come to an end and i wanted to share some takeaways.  Over the 21 days:

• i averaged just under 9 hours and 15 minutes of sleep each night
• most nights i woke up at least once
• i drank caffeine throughout the 21 days, most were consumed at least 5 hours prior to sleep
• although i planned to take ZMA, i only used it once because my stomach was rarely empty before bed

I'm pretty surprised as just how much i slept.  It was 193.2 hours total.  I'm curious as to how certain aspects of my life, namely diet, are affecting my sleep.  I hypothesize that if i eat cleaner my body will need less recovery time.  Although i don't plan to keep tracking my sleep, i will be more aware of the quality and quantity of my sleep.

Sleep Tracking - Days 14 thru 21

Here is the completed spreadsheet from my sleep tracking challenge.  (Again, the times are represented as decimals for mathematics sake and the asterisks mean that i used an alarm to wake up.) 

Night of	Bedtime	Wake	Sleep Time	Naps?	Total	Wake During Night?	Caffeine?	ZMA?	What did i do before bed?
10/1/2014	1.5	10.25	8.75	No	8.75	Many times	2p and 5p	No	Beer, book, tv
10/2/2014	2.25	11	8.75	No	8.75	Many times	2p and 5p	No	Beer and tv
10/3/2014	0	10	10	No	10	Few	12, 430 and 10p	No	tv
10/4/2014	11.5	7.5	8	No	8	3 times	?	No	movie
10/5/2014	11	10	11	No	11	Once	830a and 4p	No	beer and ps4
10/6/2014	2	10.5	8.5	No	8.5	Once	No	No	beer and ps4
10/7/2014	2	6.75*	4.75	3 hours	7.75	No	12p and 10p	Yes	read
10/8/2014	2	11	9	No	9	Once with cramps	5	No	read, beer, food
10/9/2014	2	11.5	9.5	No	9.5	Twice	2p and 10p	No	beer, read
10/10/2014	1	9	8	3 hours	11	No	430p and 10p	No	TV, food, beer
10/11/2014	2.5	11	8.5	No	8.5	Once	Yes	No	TV
10/12/2014	3.25	1.25*	10	No	10	Once	Yes	No	beer and PS4
10/13/2014	2.75	12	9.25	No	9.25	Once	Yes	No	Liquor and tv
10/14/2014	2	11.75	9.75	No	9.75	Twice	Yes	No	Wine and book
10/15/2014	2	11.25	9.25	No	9.25	Many times	Yes	No	Wine and tv
10/16/2014	3	10.75	7.75	No	7.75	Once	Yes	No	Food and ps4
10/17/2014	2	10.75	8.75		8.75
10/18/2014	2	12.25*	10.25		10.25
10/19/2014	1	11.25	10.25	No	10.25	Twice	Yes	No	Tv
10/20/2014	1.25	10*	8.75	No	8.75	Twice	Yes	No	Book, food and wine
10/21/2014	1.25	6.75*	5.5	3 hours	8.5	No	Yes	No	book and wine

Sleep Tracking - Days 6 thru 13

Here are my sleeping stats for the past week.  The asterisk (*) represents that i used an alarm to wake up.

Night of	Bedtime	Wake	Sleep Time	Naps?	Wake During Night?	Caffeine?	ZMA?	What did i do before bed?	Wellbeing (1 - 5)
10/1/2014	1.5	10.25	8.75	No	Many times	2p and 5p	No	Beer, book, tv	3
10/2/2014	2.25	11	8.75	No	Many times	2p and 5p	No	Beer and tv	2
10/3/2014	0	10	10	No	Few	12, 430 and 10p	No	tv	3
10/4/2014	11.5	7.5	8	No	3 times	?	No	movie	3
10/5/2014	11	10	11	No	Once	830a and 4p	No	beer and ps4	3
10/6/2014	2	10.5	8.5	No	Once	No	No	beer and ps4	2
10/7/2014	2	6.75*	4.75	3 hours	No	12p and 10p	Yes	read	3
10/8/2014	2	11	9	No	Once with cramps	5	No	read, beer, food	2
10/9/2014	2	11.5	9.5	No	Twice	2p and 10p	No	beer, read	3
10/10/2014	1	9	8	3 hours	No	430p and 10p	No	TV, food, beer	3
10/11/2014	2.5	11	8.5	No	Once	Yes	No	TV	3
10/12/2014	3.25	1.25*	10	No	Once	Yes	No	beer and PS4	3
10/13/2014	2.75	12	9.25	No	Once	Yes	No	Liquor and tv	3

The bed and wake times are represented in decimals.  For example, 2.25 is 2:15 and 6.75 is 6:45.  Over the first two weeks, i'm averaging 9 hours and fifteen minutes per sleep each night.  

Sleep Tracking - Days 1 thru 5

Here's the data from the first 5 nights of sleep tracking.  Hopefully  by the end of this challenge i'll have a better understanding of my sleeping habits and patterns.

Night of	Bedtime	Wake	Sleep Time	Naps?	Wake During Night?	Caffeine?	ZMA?	What did i do before bed?	Wellbeing (1 - 5)
10/1/2014	1.5	10.25	8.75	No	Many times	2p and 5p	No	Beer, book, tv	3
10/2/2014	2.25	11	8.75	No	Many times	2p and 5p	No	Beer and tv	2
10/3/2014	0	10	10	No	Few	12, 430 and 10p	No	tv	3
10/4/2014	11.5	7.5	8	No	3 times	?	No	movie	3
10/5/2014	11	10	11	No	Once	830a and 4p	No	beer and ps4	3

Further info:

• In the bed and wake sections, 1.5 means 1:30, etc.  I work afternoon turns during the week so I typically stay up until at least 1 in the morning.  It's great not having to wake up to an alarm.
• ZMA is a supplement that is said to help achieve deeper levels of REM sleep.  I have a couple of bottles but I haven't been using them for the challenge yet.
• Wellbeing is on a scale of 1 - 5 where 1 is feeling terrible and 5 is feeling fantastic.  3 is normal.

Sleep Tracking - Introduction

For the next 21 days i will be tracking the amount of sleep i get each night.  Assuming that we sleep 8 hours a night, we'll spend 1/3 of our lives asleep!  That stat alone is reason enough to examine my sleeping habits.

After checking out this handy pdf from the National Institutes of Health, i put together a simple spreadsheet in Google Docs.  I will be tracking the approximate time of falling asleep and waking up, whether or not i woke during the night,  how many caffeine drinks i had during the day, and whether or not i supplemented with ZMA.  I'll also take a note of how i felt during the day.

I'll post at least twice per week with updates.