How Can I Accurately Measure My Sleep?
This article discusses methods of tracking your sleep in a fun way. It includes mention of sleep trackers but also free alternatives that will help you to answer the question: How did I sleep last night? If you have trouble sleeping, this could be your best first step to improving it.
📝I wrote this article as an allegory. An allegory is a literary device in which abstract ideas and principles are represented through characters. Examples include George Orwell’s “Animal Farm” and C.S. Lewis’ “The Chronicles of Narnia.” Change is hard. And so, you might need to see that struggle in someone else in order to make the changes yourself. That said, if you want just the major points, they are summarized at the end of the article.
Disclaimer: This is not medical advice but practical lifestyle suggestions from the allegorical characters of Julie, her husband Dan and Dr. Doze in context with achieving better quality sleep. Actual medical advice should always be sought from healthcare professionals.
In this article, we pick things back up with Julie, the successful, do-it-all woman that we first met in a prior series. She’s recently been promoted to COO at her company LoyaltyBuilders. Julie is married to a supportive husband and is a mom to two beautiful daughters. She has it all, or so it seems. The problem is that lately, she struggles with her sleep. By the late afternoon, she is dragging. She doesn’t feel sharp like she once did. Further, she doesn’t have time for anything other than working, eating and sleeping. She used to exercise, but in order to make the tight deadlines on an important project, she kind of “fell off the wagon,” as they say.
⚠️ This article is part of a 12-part series on sleep. If you haven’t reviewed the earlier articles, I recommend that you start with It’s 4am and I Can’t Go Back to Sleep.
Julie sits in front of her computer screen waiting for the Zoom call to start.
“Dr. Doze, is that you?” Julie questions.
Answering with a slight French accent, the man on the other end confirms, “My full name is Dr. Donald Offenbach. But I go by Dr. Doze.” He smiles before asking about her day. “How do you fare today, Mademoiselle?”
“Isn’t Offenbach a German name?” Julie inquires, still not convinced.
“It’s true; I was born in Germany, but raised in France — French is my first language.” He glances away from the camera before continuing, “ I’m sorry, are you having trouble with my accent?”
Julie shakes her head quickly, immediately dismissing the idea. “No! It’s not troubling at all — I understand you perfectly,” she responds graciously.
Before moving any further, Julie leans in to get a better look at the framed diploma behind him on the wall. She comments curiously, “Before we start talking business, I want to get to know you a little more… Oh, I see your medical credentials on the wall behind you. You are a doctor, right?”
“Yes indeed.” Comes Dr. Doze’s cheerful response.
“Would you mind bringing it closer to the camera for me?” Julie requests politely.
“Sure,” says Dr. Doze a little hesitantly.
Squinting, Julie says, “I see you went to the Institute of Chiropractic Studies. Where is that located?
“It is on Dominica,” answers Dr. Doze casually.
Julie wrinkles her brow in confusion. “And where is that?”
“Technically, it’s located in the Lesser Antilles archipelago,” explains Dr. Doze.
Julie still looks puzzled. “I’m still not getting it.”
“It’s near Martinique,” adds Dr. Doze hoping to clear things up.
Julie exclaims with slight concern, “It’s in the Car-ib-be-an?!!”
With a nod and slight chuckle, Dr. Doze confirms, “Yes.”
“I’m not sure, but it feels like you may have misrepresented yourself,” Julie states, her brow slightly furrowed.
“Well, technically, I am a doctor,” responds Dr. Doze calmly. “A chiropractor is indeed considered a health care professional. I was awarded the title ‘Doctor of Chiropractic’. My education started with undergraduate pre-medical studies and was followed by a four-year doctoral graduate program at an accredited chiropractic college.”
“In Dominica,” Julie cuts in.
“Yes, in Dominica,” Dr. Doze concedes with a nod.
“Hmm… I don’t know,” Julie voices her suspicion. “But, based on what I’ve read on Reddit, it appears you do know your stuff.”
“They don’t call me Dr. Doze for nothing,” says Dr. Doze proudly. “I help top stars get a good night’s sleep. I literally put the ZzZzZ back in ZZ Top!”
“Well, I paid for 30 minutes. So, we might as well continue,” Julie replies flatly.
Grinning slightly, Dr. Doze urges her to go on: “Yes, please proceed. What seems to be the trouble?”
“It have my dream job and I am truly excelling,” she says excitedly. “We recently implemented V3 and it tripled our client numbers. The board is talking about going public in 12 months. I’m married and have two beautiful daughters; my husband is great and totally supportive.”
“An very enviable position. Sounds like the perfect life!” Dr Doze comments with admiration.
Julie slows down her speech a bit before she confesses, “The only hitch is that by late afternoon I can barely keep my eyes open. Coffee gets me through the day because I feel there’s no alternative… At night, I toss and turn, waking up a lot. I don’t feel rested when I wake up.”
“I see,” nods Dr. Doze thoughtfully.
“Chatting with my doctor, he offerred to write me a prescription. But, to be honest, I’d rather avoid pharmaceuticals. There has to be something I can do to improve my sleep without relying on drugs,” Julie explains.
Dr. Doze thoughtfully suggests, “Maybe it’s psychosomatic.”
“I’m not sure what your mean,” Julie admits.
With a hint of amusement, Dr. Doze explains, “Psychosomatic is just a fancy medical term that means that your brain is broken,” he chuckles.
Julie laughs too — though somewhat flatly — replying with a simple “Haha.”
“I like to think of sleep as a system.” Dr. Doze continues. “Poor sleep leads to stress, and stress hands you back poor sleep.”
Julie nods with understanding. “A vicious cycle,” she agrees in response.
“Exactly. And breaking out of this cycle can be quite a challenge for some,” admits Dr. Doze sympathetically. “My process typically involves starting with the easy changes first and then shifting to harder ones if that doesn’t work. Let me ask you something: do you use a sleep tracker?”
“In bed?” asks Julie, slightly puzzled.
“Yes, naturally,” says Dr. Doze.
“No,” replies Julie with a small shake of her head. “I’d rather not wear anything on my wrist when I sleep.”
“There are alternatives. Oura makes a ring. It is highly reviewed. You might want to look at that,” says Dr. Doze thoughtfully before adding, “But sleep trackers just stress me out. Instead, I take a different approach — playing solitaire.”
“To fall asleep?” asks Julie, raising her eyebrows in surprise.
“No, no,” corrects Dr. Doze with a small laugh. “I play solitaire first thing in the morning and always on Expert level! I’m especially fond of FreeCell. My record is 59 seconds.”
“Wait,” gasps Julie incredulously, “you solved FreeCell on expert in 59 seconds?”
Dr. Doze simply nods, saying light-heartedly, “Yes! But then again I have a rule: I must finish every puzzle I start — it once took me over an hour to solve one puzzle!”
“And how is this going to help me exactly?” Julie asks, skepticism evident in her voice.
Dr. Doze, unperturbed, explains, “I use the time it takes to solve the puzzle as an indication of how well I slept. In fact, most of the time I can tell right away if I’ve had a good night’s sleep or not.” He leans forward earnestly. “The crucial part is having a consistent method to measure your sleep quality and making sure you keep record of it.”
Understanding dawns on Julie’s face. “Oh! That makes sense. So you’re basically trying new strategies and then checking how effective they were in the next morning?”
“Spot on, my dear!” Dr. Doze affirms with a hearty chuckle. “Well, that’s nearly all the time we have. If you want to book another appointment we can sort that out now.”
A pause comes from Julie as she weighs her options before asking, “I’m not sure. I want to speak with my Husband first. How can I reach out to you?”
“Just DM me on Reddit whenever you’re ready. I’ll respond instantly.” Then he warningly adds matter-of-factly,” But remember, it’s $100 per visit and like I’ve said before: No refunds!”
“Certainly,” Julie nods before adding appreciatively with a warm smile,” Thank you Dr. Doze. Goodbye for now.”
Waving in return Dr. Doze ends their call amicably saying, “Auf Wiedersehen!”
👉 Make sure you follow me so you are notified as I publish more about sleep. Just scroll up or down to my photo and click on the follow button.
Julie bumps into her husband, Dan in the kitchen.
“How did your appointment go with Dr. Doze24?” Dan inquires.
Julie chuckles. “He’s a quirky Chiropractor. Went to school at the Institute of Chiropractic Studies in Dominica.”
“Dominica? Isn’t that in the Caribbean?” Dan asks, brow raised.
“Yeah,” Julie affirms. “But, I read practically all his recommendations on Reddit. He definitely knows what he’s doing.” She pauses for a moment then continues, “Hey, I’m checking out this sleep tracker, the Oura Ring. It isn’t cheap but it has a cult-like following. Would you mind if I bought it?”
Dan tilts his head thoughtfully before replying, “If you think it’s going to help then sure, go ahead.”
“Thanks, Dan.” Julie smiles with relief before adding, “The other choice is FreeCell.”
Dan gives her a confused look.
“Oh, never mind.” Smiling, she says “I think this Oura Ring is really going to make a difference.”
Epilogue
In this episode, Julie learns about the importance of sleep tracking. She learns that it can be any repeatable, objective measurement. She plans to use this technique to measure the impact of changes she’s made the day before.
- If you become stressed because of your sleep score, make a pact with yourself that you won’t look at it for three consecutive days. I typically don’t look at my sleep score until noon.
- If you hit a plateau with your sleep score, you can always focus on something else like your readiness score. I did this and eventually learned that I was overdoing it with exercise (activity) but also had long periods of inactivity.
- These days, my goal is to get a good score in all three areas: sleep, readiness and activity. If I get a score of 85 or above, my Oura Ring awards me a crown. If I get an 85 or above in all three areas, I earn a triple crown.
- You can find more information about Oura Ring here. You may receive a discount by following this link.
In the next episode, Julie learns about how to properly construct experiments to determine which new behaviors lead to the best night’s sleep.
I have personally struggled with sleep for years. In fact, I still do. I wrote this series to pass on what I’ve learned but also to pick up some tips from you. If you’re willing, I would appreciate any tips that have worked for you. You’ll be helping me and anyone else reading this article. Simply scroll to the top or the bottom of this article and click on the “Respond” bubble. 💬
👉 Make sure you follow me so you are notified as I publish more about sleep. Just scroll up or down to my photo and click on the follow button.
⚠️ This article is part of a 12-part series on sleep. If you haven’t reviewed the earlier articles, I recommend that you start with It’s 4am and I Can’t Go Back to Sleep.
👋 If this article inspires you, then please show your support by giving me one or more claps. The clap icon has been ingeniously designed to allow between one and 50 claps. In order to view the clap button, use your finger to scroll up or down on your phone and it will magically appear or scroll all the way to the bottom if you are on a laptop.
Disclaimer: This article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute the practice of medicine, nursing or other professional health care services, including the giving of medical advice, and no doctor/patient relationship is formed. The use of information on this article or materials linked from this article is at the user’s own risk. The content of this article is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Readers should not disregard, or delay in obtaining, medical advice for any medical condition they may have, and should seek the assistance of their health care professionals for any such conditions.
