Record Sleeping Time
In my current sleep habit, I describe two things that I use to go to sleep now:
- “Sleep Meditation”
- Record Sleeping Time
This post will focus on record sleeping time.
Introduction
When I had a 16 step process to take before sleeping, it was relieving because I thought through: what was important to get me to sleep.
Over time, these 16 steps kept me up longer and longer.
If I don’t complete these steps, I’ll never get to sleep.
In reality, the most important thing is to:
Go the f**k to sleep.
The sleep meditation helps establish a baseline activity. The other important activity I do is not what I do before sleep, but after I wake up:
Record and review my sleep times.
Sleep Goal
I had a “sleep goal” of being in bed at a certain time. Sleep before 22:00 x% per week.
This worked, until I already failed for that week and I would just toss the sleep schedule away. Recovering from failing early in this situation is hard.
Even worse: I would have all day feedback when I didn’t sleep well!
Talk about setting myself up for failure. I would be punishing myself twice: one for not meeting my goal and two for being a zombie all day.
I had to change this.
Problem with Sleep Goal
With a sleep goal, it’s binary - “Did I sleep before 22:00? Yes or No.”
There is no difference of reward if I slept at 21:59 or 21:30. Or in failing if I slept at 22:01 or 23:00.
There are other externalities in my life as well: did my family keep me up? Did I have to address another pressing concern?
The sleep goal or habits doesn’t account for those.
Measure Sleep
Instead of having a hard and fast “sleep goal” - just measure and review.
By reviewing, I am starting to see patterns in my sleep habit. Measuring is a “goal” but there’s no reward or punishment associated with it. Measuring when I sleep creates observation data.
With the observation data, I can make the right adjustments to my sleep. Is going to bed at 22:05 acceptable? Did going to bed at 21:50 improve my day? Will going to bed at 22:00 provide enough sleep for my day?
These are questions I want to answer - only after getting more data. The best way to get more data is to measure.
So Far
I like measuring when I sleep because it starts addressing a deeper issue. Setting simple goals won’t immediately address a problem I had for years nor with varying externalities.
By measuring and reviewing my sleep data, I see patterns and start to make subtle changes to address them - like changing a habit.