Get more sleep at night.

everyt night, when i go to sleep, no matter what time it is, i cannot go to sleep for more than 3-5 hours. And if if i do, i still feel exhausted

I have finally decided to mark this goal to get more sleep at night as complete… although after 21 weeks I’m getting about the same amount of sleep as when I started. What I’ve really gone through over the past few weeks is a slow realization and finally acceptance of the fact that I don’t really need more sleep. What I need is to learn better stress management techniques and how to use my time more productively. I will come up with new goals to address those issues and in addition will still continue to track my sleep nightly just because I find it interesting…

I got 33 hours of sleep this week, which is 1.5 hours less than last week. The number in parentheses is my sleep efficiency coefficient calculated as the number of hours I slept divided by the number of hours I actually spent in bed:

12/11 Tuesday – 4 hours (80.0%)
12/12 Wednesday – 4 hours (80.0%)
12/13 Thursday – 5 hours (83.3%)
12/14 Friday – 5.5 hours (91.7%)
12/15 Saturday – 5.5 hours (91.7%)
12/16 Sunday – 5 hours (83.3%)
12/17 Monday – 4 hours (80.0%)

_{I got a lot of interesting comments on this goal but in particular special thanks to Pity this busy monster (I miss her old name “She keeps the few promises she makes”) whose comments and advice were especially useful…}

After some weeks in November where I had days off and vacation, I seem to be settling back into my more normal sleep pattern averaging slightly less than 5 hours a night now that my work schedule is more normal (actually more busy than normal) and will be for the next week before the Christmas holiday.

I got 34.5 hours of sleep this week, which is 2 hours more than last week. The number in parentheses is my sleep efficiency coefficient calculated as the number of hours I slept divided by the number of hours I actually spent in bed:

12/4 Tuesday – 5.5 hours (91.7%)
12/5 Wednesday – 4.5 hours (81.8%)
12/6 Thursday – 4.5 hours (81.8%)
12/7 Friday – 5 hours (83.3%)
12/8 Saturday – 5.5 hours (91.7%)
12/9 Sunday – 5.5 hours (91.7%)
12/10 Monday – 4 hours (80.0%)

I really do not seem to handle change very well, like the change from being on vacation to going back to work. I have been getting less sleep since I got back last Friday and had my worst night last night, which was the Monday I returned to work…

I got 32.5 hours of sleep this week, which is 5.5 hours less than last week. The number in parentheses is my sleep efficiency coefficient calculated as the number of hours I slept divided by the number of hours I actually spent in bed:

11/27 Tuesday – 5.5 hours (91.7%)
11/28 Wednesday – 5 hours (90.9%)
11/29 Thursday – 6 hours (92.3%)
11/30 Friday – 4.5 hours (90.0%)
12/1 Saturday – 4.5 hours (81.8%)
12/2 Sunday – 5 hours (81.8%)
12/3 Monday – 2 hours (44.4%)

I was on vacation from Thanksgiving till today, and I was interested to see how my sleep would be affected by not working and having a different schedule (going to bed later… perhaps after an evening of drinking; waking up later; spending time doing fun or relaxing things instead of work). I actually did get more sleep, though not dramatically more, and I couldn’t really tell if alcohol consumption impacted my quality of sleep significantly.

I got 38 hours of sleep this week, which is two hours more than last week. The number in parentheses is my sleep efficiency coefficient calculated as the number of hours I slept divided by the number of hours I actually spent in bed:

11/20 Tuesday – 4.5 hours (90.0%)
11/21 Wednesday – 5.5 hours (91.7%)
11/22 Thursday – 7 hours (93.3%)
11/23 Friday – 6 hours (92.3%)
11/24 Saturday – 5.5 hours (91.7%)
11/25 Sunday – 4.5 hours (75.0%)
11/26 Monday – 5 hours (90.9%)

This is the most sleep I’ve gotten during the last 18 weeks!

Despite getting more sleep this week than I’ve gotten in the past several weeks, I felt more lethargic this week than usual. I read on one website that too much sleep can cause tiredness just as much as not enough sleep can. It seems hard to think that 36 hours in a week can be too much, however… I do realize now that sleep is only part of the picture when it comes to well-being, and that using the idea of not getting enough of it as an excuse (when it really isn’t an issue) could mask other problems…

Based on one comment from last week, I’m beginning to make use of my “extra” time by spending less of it in bed (note the higher sleep efficiency coefficients) and more of it doing stuff, not necessarily productive stuff, but at least not just lying in bed waiting in vain to fall asleep again. I’ll work on being more productive next…

I got 36 hours of sleep this week, which is an hour and a half more than last week. The number in parentheses is my sleep efficiency coefficient calculated as the number of hours I slept divided by the number of hours I actually spent in bed:

11/13 Tuesday – 5 hours (90.9%)
11/14 Wednesday – 5 hours (90.9)
11/15 Thursday – 5.5 hours (91.7%)
11/16 Friday – 6 hours (100.0%)
11/17 Saturday – 5.5 hours (91.7%)
11/18 Sunday – 5 hours (90.9%)
11/19 Monday – 4 hours (80.0%)

Interestingly, I didn’t work last Monday or Tuesday, so I got more sleep during the middle of the week than average…

I still have the pattern where I have the most difficulty sleeping in the middle of the work week whereas weekends are less problematic. The last two weeks have been extra stressful, but I think life in general should be more manageable in the next couple of weeks so that I should hopefully be able to get more restful sleep. But who knows, I always fabricate something to stress out over…

I got 34.5 hours of sleep this week, which is a two and a half hour improvement over last week. The number in parentheses is my sleep efficiency coefficient calculated as the number of hours I slept divided by the number of hours I actually spent in bed:

11/6 Tuesday – 3.5 hours (63.6%)
11/7 Wednesday – 4.5 hours (81.8%)
11/8 Thursday – 5 hours (83.3%)
11/9 Friday – 5 hours (83.3%)
11/10 Saturday – 6 hours (92.3%)
11/11 Sunday – 5 hours (83.3%)
11/12 Monday – 5.5 hours (91.7%)

I didn’t get as much restful sleep as I would have liked this week. The biggest reasons for this were preparation for a professional exam I took last Thursday and some major projects at work. What I should work on now is more effective stress management techniques. I’ve never been good at stress management.

Another thing that threw me off this week was the time change; my schedule is still about an hour off although to be fair it’s only been a couple of days. I’m getting about the same amount of sleep, but I’m falling asleep before 11 and waking up around 4 or earlier. I wish we could just forget about standard time and stay on daylight savings time all the time. I hate it that it’s dark when I leave to work in the morning and dark when I get home…

I got 32 hours of sleep this week, which is an hour and a half less than last week. The number in parentheses is my sleep coefficient calculated as the number of hours I slept divided by the number of hours I actually spent in bed:

10/30 Tuesday – 2.5 hours (41.7%)
10/31 Wednesday – 5.5 hours (91.7%)
11/1 Thursday – 4.5 hours (75.0%)
11/2 Friday – 5 hours (83.3%)
11/3 Saturday – 5 hours (83.3%)
11/4 Sunday – 5 hours (90.9%)
11/5 Monday – 4.5 hours (75.0%)

I had a little more trouble this week compared to last week. There are some reasons for this. First, work has been a lot more busy and stressful since I have a big presentation coming up next week. Second, I have a professional exam I’m taking on Thursday, so I have been trying to prepare for that as well. Maybe not this week, but hopefully the following week, things will ease up a bit and I can focus more on this goal…

I got 33.5 hours of sleep this week, which is 2 hours less than last week. The number in parentheses is my sleep coefficient calculated as the number of hours I slept divided by the number of hours I actually spent in bed:

10/23 Tuesday – 4 hours (66.7%)
10/24 Wednesday – 5 hours (83.3%)
10/25 Thursday – 4.5 hours (75.0%)
10/26 Friday – 3.5 hours (58.3%)
10/27 Saturday – 6.5 hours (100.0%)
10/28 Sunday – 5 hours (83.3%)
10/29 Monday – 5 hours (90.9%)

This week I completed my fourth week with my experiment of resetting my internal clock where I established a set bedtime and a set wake up time which I tried to adhere to religiously. The thing I did differently this week was to move my bedtime up half an hour so that I spent 6 hours in bed each night. My hours of sleep per night are becoming more stable, and I finally got the nightly average back above 5 hours. I got more sleep this week than I’ve gotten any of the last 8 weeks, yet I feel more tired this week than I did last week. Go figure…

I got 35.5 hours of sleep this week, which is 2.5 hours more than last week. The number in parentheses is my sleep coefficient calculated as the number of hours I slept divided by the number of hours I actually spent in bed:

10/16 Tuesday – 5.5 hours (91.7%)
10/17 Wednesday – 4.5 hours (75.0%)
10/18 Thursday – 5 hours (83.3%)
10/19 Friday – 5 hours (83.3%)
10/20 Saturday – 5.5 hours (91.7%)
10/21 Sunday – 5 hours (83.3%)
10/22 Monday – 5 hours (83.3%)