Researching Your Sleep

I had been fighting insomnia for decades, but refused to take sleeping pills because I have experienced too many people get addicted to them. I had become irritable, unproductive, and generally a negative person to be around.

In researching what I needed to do to get where I wanted to be, an old adage appeared: what gets measured, changes.

Intellectually, I knew this, although I didn't necessarily want to admit it, because it would require me actually DOING something, rather than having some miracle bestowed upon me.

But I also was damaging relationships left and right, and feeling miserable in general. So, begrudgingly, I created a spreadsheet where I could track my sleep.

This consisted of:

• what time I got ready for bed (out on pajamas, brush teeth, etc.),
• what time I turned the lights out,
• what time I fell asleep,
• if I woke up,
• how long I was awake if I did wake up,
• what time I actually woke up from the night,
• and what time I got out of bed.

The news startled me. But, I actually had a measurement to start from. From that info, I learned that I could change a few things, and gradually implement a new system.