Based on a sample of one, I can boost my calorie burn and my step total. I took a look at my little portable device several times today. I had a very brief sortie at lunch - literally around the building and back in again - but then added in an evening walk to get the total for the day up a bit.
I've had a good week for sleeping. Having dug into the data, I'm pretty sure the best way to sleep more is to turn out the light earlier and try to sleep more. There seems to be a fairly consistent gap between the amount of time the device says I'm asleep and the amount of time my device says I'm lying down. Note the cautious wording there - it's not perfectly accurate in telling the difference. Sometimes, when I'm watching tv or reading a book, apparently I'm so still it truly thinks I'm asleep. For example, yesterday early evening I was reading horizontally on the couch, and it counted 29 minutes of actual sleep. Then there is a gap when I actually got ready for bed, and then just three minutes of lying down in bed before falling asleep.
It felt like disturbed sleep last night; I remember getting up to pee at least twice during the night. I have many restless nights and last night was on the restless side, but not completely out of the ordinary for me:
3 minutes lying down
1 hour 10 minutes sleeping
2 minutes awake
44 minutes sleeping
2 minutes awake
1 hour 47 minutes sleeping
8 minutes awake
32 minutes sleeping
2 minutes awake
2 hours 43 minutes sleeping
4 minutes awake
20 minutes sleeping
2 mintues awake
20 minutes sleeping
4 minutes awake
then up and out of bed.
It's quite typical to have just one stretch of solid sleep, and it is always at the end there. I know from fatigue science that typically from three to five am local time is everyone's Window of Circadian Low (yes, we say "wockle" around the office) and I usually am soundest asleep during that time.
Even though it was restless, it adds up to 7:45 total sleep, which is really terrific by any standards.
So I think its time to get ready for bed now, not an hour from now!
4 comments:
I have been blessed with a talent for sleep, but I come here not to boast (nor to bury Caesar!). I'm still not getting enough sleep--anywhere from 5 to 6 hours sometimes and I need 7 and prefer 8. F. and I discussed this and it's true what you say about actually going to bed earlier. We think we go to bed at 11, but actually we get ready to go to bed at 11. Grab the computer and phone from techno-addicted teen, take a shower, brush teeth, put on lotion, chat a little, read a little, sometimes fool around a little. Add it all up and we're not sleeping until midnight mostly. It's 10 now and I'm going to at least try to start the clock at 10:20 tonight to see how much earlier I am actually drifting off.
did the taking of the notes during the night waken you?
I love data but am bemused by the collection!
Liz
K - that's pretty much exactly my problem. My magic device beeps at 10 - so the light goes off by 11. I have been slightly better this week. I hope it works for you. However - I do still sometimes have long periods of wakefulness in the middle, haven't defeated that yet.
Liz - I don't take notes - my magic armband is actually a wearable computer that tracks this for me and gives me a readout after the fact. It has a bunch of sensors - an accelerometer to tell if I'm moving, skin temperature, skin connectivity (ie am I sweating), and a couple of other things. It has been benchmarked against expensive sleep monitoring machines, and it's somewhere above 90% accurate at telling the difference between sleep and waking. (OK, I'm a total nerd, I followed the footnotes on their website and read the peer-reviewed articles. What can I say. I actually do love biology. And, I tend to get obsessive about whatever I'm focused on at the moment. It's part of my motivation.)
this is a dang informative blog!
Liz
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