Sleep is associated with anxiety. Before you start changing your routine, a good place to start is a sleep diary.
It is enough to keep it for a week to understand and identify the main triggers that do not let you sleep well. A sleep diary is a great way to figure out what’s wrong with your body and correct it.
How to keep a sleep diary?
Every morning for a week, make notes of how many hours you slept, how you fell asleep, and what you woke up about, and whether you woke up at night. It is also a good idea to rate the quality of your sleep on a 10-point scale. In addition, you can use special applications in your phone or digital watch to help you track the quality of your sleep.
Once you have received information about your sleep patterns, think about the factors that can affect your sleep quality in either a positive or negative way. For example, did you take any stimulants (caffeine, alcohol, nicotine) two hours before going to bed? What is the temperature in the bedroom? How light / dark is the room? How noisy? Is your room cleaned? Do you watch your phone / laptop / TV before going to bed? Is there something you are worried about or something that is stressing you out?
You can keep a diary in a notebook, take notes on your phone, create spreadsheets or download an application to your phone to keep track of your sleep. This exercise only takes a few minutes of your time during the week, but it will help you understand your habits and patterns that affect sleep, make it easier for you to understand what you are doing wrong, and what you can change to sleep better.
Also pay attention to whether there is any difference in your weekdays and weekends. Sleep experts advise to maintain the same sleep pattern during the week, which would be almost the same between weekdays and weekends. They also advise to fall asleep and wake up at the same time. If you have sleep disorders that last longer than a month – we advise you to consult a specialist. This sleep diary will be especially useful for a specialist to help you sleep, and possibly choose the right treatment.
