Happiness Experiment 34: Sleep Hygiene Conclusions

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Sep 232012
 


This week the experiment is to test if improved sleep hygiene can improve how I feel. (By the way, I freely admit I skipped writing about day 6. I was at a conference that I think will be influencing my direction of writing quite a bit).

So, I return to the same question I ask at the end of this experiment: how has this worked?

Has improving sleep hygiene improved my sleep quality

The simple answer to this is yes.

However, there’s a more complicated question to ask: Why?

At the root of my early statement “I suck at sleep” is the fact that I have poor sleep habits. For whatever reasons, when my goal time for going to bed arrived, I was unprepared. Sometimes I stayed up later to accomplish something, or other times I was just finishing activities that left me in a state completely unprepared for sleep (exercising, drinking caffeine, etc).

Improving my sleep hygiene meant that when the time to go to bed arrived, I was prepared to do so. Typically, this resulted in me getting about half an hour more of sleep each night. It wasn’t an earth shattering amount, but it was entirely pleasant.

Even that little bit extra of sleep made a measurable difference in how I felt over a week.

So, if only because it helps you get more sleep, improving your sleep habits could definitely be worth the investment of time!

Happiness Experiment 34: Sleep Hygiene Day 5

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Sep 222012
 


This week my experiment is to try and discover if improved sleep hygiene can improve how I feel.

As I’ve mentioned before, I recognize that I’m my own worst enemy when it comes to sleep. I get distracted doing something (or maybe it’s better to day doing ANYTHING) and I get to bed VERY late. Typically, my sleep habits before bed involve a lot of running around, so I often go to bed worked up and wide awake.

To see how this week has been changing that, check out yesterday’s entry about improving my sleep habits.

Sleep Hygiene – Day 5

There’s not a lot to add to yesterday’s entry on this. I didn’t get to sleep as as early as I should have due to a couple of issues coming up, but what little sleep I had was quite good!

Happiness Experiment 34: Sleep Hygiene Day 4

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Sep 202012
 


This week I’m working on an experiment where I see if improved sleep hygiene can improve how I feel.

To see how this has been working so far, check out day 3 of my sleep hygiene experiment.

How did my sleep habits help out last night? Well, to start with, I avoided caffeine, so I had a much easier time getting to sleep.

I’m honestly not sure if I have a chicken and egg conundrum here. Is the improvement in sleep habits helping improve my night’s sleep, or is it the fact that by having good sleep habits I’ve been getting at least half an hour of sleep extra each night?

Last night, I got that extra half hour of sleep and it was about an 8 out of 10 in sleep quality. I was able to avoid caffeine for most of the day (except my usual weak green tea). That’s an accomplishment considering how my week has been. I even was energetic enough after work to go to Hot Yoga for the first time in months!

So far, this week seems to be going in the right direction.

Happiness Experiment 34: Sleep Hygiene Day 3

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Sep 192012
 


This week I’ve been working on an experiment that I hope will help me develop better sleep habits.

To see how the experiment has been going so far, check out yesterday’s entry in the sleep hygiene experiment.

Last night, I followed my rules for developing good sleep hygiene. However, I still had a lot of trouble falling asleep.

What happened?

Well, I discovered another rule that I need to institute for good sleep habits. No caffeine for at least an hour or more before bed. I had a 591ml bottle of diet coke that I’d started at work, sipped at throughout the night, and finished the last couple of gulps in the bottle about 10-15 minutes before bed.

I know, I know. It was a stupid move, and it should have been obvious. However, in an odd way, it’s an important statement that I’m actually developing sleep habits clean enough that I can see how a few gulps of diet coke impact me. Normally, I wouldn’t even notice something like that. I tend to embrace caffeine a bit too freely sometimes *laughs*.

So, no caffeine for me tonight! Let’s see what day tonight may hold!

Happiness Experiment 34: Sleep Hygiene Day 2

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Sep 182012
 


This week I’m working on developing better sleep habits.

This isn’t easy for me. I’ve never been the kind of person who likes ending the night. Often, a simple thing can distract me, giving me a burst of energy that keeps me going until I hit the point of absolute exhaustion. This leads to some interesting adventures at night and some tragically painful mornings.

I have poor sleep hygiene. I admit this. However, this blog is about experimentation, so for this week I’m trying to get a taste of what having good sleep habits feels like.

So, this leads us to the important question – how was last night?

Well, I might have slipped on my timelines by a few minutes either way, but I felt a lot less rushed last night because I didn’t feel like I was racing to finish a to-do list at the end of the night. This made for a much more relaxed night, and I don’t think I can argue that a stress-free night makes for less trouble falling asleep. Perhaps this relates to my experiment on How to Manage your Time Better – focus makes for happier and more productive time.

When it comes to quality of sleep, I would rate last night as a 7 out of 10 (notably achieved without needing to take any supplements).

The first night has gone well, we’ll see if it continues!

Happiness Experiment 34: Sleep Hygiene

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Sep 172012
 


As I confessed in last week’s experiment on melatonin for sleep, I have poor sleep habits. In fact, I went so far as to say that I suck at sleep.

During my experiment last week I started doing some reading, and I discovered that poor sleep habits (also called sleep hygiene) is a very common problem.

As I’m starting 12 days straight of work, I need better sleep now more than ever, so my experiment this week will be about maintaining better sleep hygiene.

I came across one fact last week that might be the key to better sleep habits. There were a number of articles indicating that using any kind of electronic display device for the hour before bed can disrupt your sleep. Apparently, the bright light given off by televisions, cellphones, and computers can disrupt your body clock, which impacts your sleep.

This discovery really spoke to me, as it’s not uncommon for me to be up late writing in this very blog, or catching up on a television show. I imagine that if I organize my night better and avoid getting caught up in late-night blogging and television, I might be getting more sleep overall.

So, for the experiment this week, I will be concentrating on three different, but important factors.

1. Exercise for a minimum of 30 minutes per day (this should be easy, I can get a walk in at lunch for a minimum). Also, no exercising should happen after 10:30pm.

2. Finish all television, computer, and cellphone related activities by 10:30 each night.

3. Get into bed by 11:30 each night (at the latest). If I’m in bed before that, read until 11:30 (or 1 hour after I last exercised and/or watched an electronic display).

If I can manage an average sleep quality of 7 out of 10 while on melatonin supplements last week, let’s see if I can’t bump that up a notch with some good sleep hygiene!

Happiness Experiment 10: 8 Hours of Sleep Per Night – Day 6

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Jan 282012
 

Hypothesis more or less confirmed.

It would be easy to say that sleeping in on a weekend is a better way to feel rested, and I would love to have slept 10-12 hours, but that’s not what this experiment is about. This experiment is about 8 hours of sleep.

I woke up after 8 hours of sleep feeling more rested than I have felt for days.

So, quality, not quantity of sleep appears to be the winning theory at this point in time.

Of course though, I’m not going to make any conclusions until I’m done this experiment. However, I have decided to make some changes to the experimental procedure, which I’ll be discussing tomorrow.

One could make the case that true science should involve exploring every different combination of habits, but I argue that as an intelligent human, I can adapt what works and establish a new baseline.

So, I will now “take stock” of things after every 10 experiments. This will allow me to work things I learn from my successful experiments into my day-to-day life.

Happiness Experiment 10: 8 Hours of Sleep Per Night – Day 5

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Jan 272012
 

Unfortunately, today was another rough day in the world of 8 hours sleep.

However, I feel justified in a bit of patting myself on the back here, because I’ve come up with a realization. The issue this week is quality, not quantity, of sleep.

That’s not to say that 8 hours of sleep a night isn’t a spectacular goal, but I don’t think it’s the holy grail of personal health and happiness.

I think quality of sleep is equally important to quantity. As you might recall from my happiness experiment with Yoga, I was able to increase my quality of sleep without increasing quantity.

In the case of this experiment, that’s particularly important as I’ve hardly exercised this week.

Why 8 Hours of Sleep a Night might not be enough on it’s own

It all comes back to my bad habits and time management.

Typically, I get around to exercising at about 9:30 to 10pm. I try to finish at least an hour before bedtime if not more.

However, when I’m going to bed at 11-11:30pm, I found myself skipping exercise most days, as I didn’t want to jump into bed right after exercising.

So, in a week that’s been more stressful than normal for a variety of reasons, I was denying myself some of my normal stress outlets.

It seems like a fairly obvious realization, but it took me a surprisingly long time for me to realize it. I’m just going to blame the quality of sleep I’ve been having recently *grin*

Tonight will be my test to see if this theory is right. It’s a Friday night, tomorrow is a low-stress day with a lot of fun, and I spent about 2 hours walking outside tonight. If my quality of sleep improves, then my theory is proven. If not, then I’m confused.

But let’s not forget the successes

Even in the face of this realization, I still need to remember to acknowledge what has worked. This morning I woke up to a snow storm.

I won’t bore you with any more pictures of the clock on my oven, but I was awake and out the door with time to spare. Even with a slower than normal drive and snow on the ground, I made it to work on time.

Also, while my sleep wasn’t as high a quality of rest as I might have wished, during a stressful week, I certainly wouldn’t have wished for LESS sleep.

Partial victories, I’ll take them where I can get them.

Happiness Experiment 10: 8 Hours of Sleep Per Night – Day 3

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Jan 252012
 

Today was a day of incredible high’s and deep crashes.

I managed to get to sleep last night in time for me to get about 7.5 hours of sleep. I’m still slipping below the 8 hour average, but I think that will balance out over time. Also, I’m getting 30-60 minutes more of sleep per night than I was at the beginning of this experiment, so the principle is still sound.

This morning saw me get up and out the door at the usual time:

Experiment 10 Day 2

Then, right when I parked my car at work, things started going a bit crazy, but all in a good way.

I won’t bore you with the details, but even when things in life go excellent, they can still be exhausting. This was one of those times. By the end of the work day, I was pretty darn tired.

It’s been a while since I’ve had a day like this. Did this happiness experiment set the stage for a day like this, or was this the result of time invested at work? As tiring as a day like this can be, I’m more than happy to see if I can duplicate it.

Until tomorrow then, we shall see what the new day holds. As for the rest of tonight, I don’t think that there’s much risk of me making it a late night.