PROJECT: Measuring Me Take 2
The behavior I’d like to change sleeping late. I noticed that I usually go to sleep around 2 to 3 am regardless when I get into my bed. Therefore, I have decided to record my actions and thoughts on my phone whenever I get in bed and see what actions and thoughts lead me to eventually sleep late.
When I got in bed early, not feeling sleepy, I started watching videos on my phone. When I got in bed late, like this Saturday, I felt sleepy and tired but not willing to sleep.
I realized that I have developed this behavior of having to perform some rituals before I actually fall sleep.
I either watched some YouTube or TikTok videos, or browsed second hand camera gears online. I didn’t want to sleep immediately either because I felt that I deserved to have some time for myself outside of studying, working and socializing if I had no alone time that day, or I felt that there is still time after watching some videos. The consequence was that my brain got really active after consuming such content and I could not easily fall asleep.
I used two models to capture my habit ecosystem. One is a connection circle and the other one is a causality map.
From these two models, I can see that the direct reason for my late sleep schedule is I consume too much visual content that stimulates my brain, making it hard to fall asleep. I overestimate my self-control on media consumption. Another notable thing is that I get frustrated when I get in bed late, feeling the lack of self/alone time in the bed. I would use media consumption as compensation for the loss.
In order to change this behavior, I will try to keep my phone and tablet away from my bed. This way, I won’t be able to start media consumption as soon as I get in bed. I can use Siri to play podcasts or read books put next to my bed. Both ways, as replacements for visual media, reduce the brain stimulation and make it easier to fall asleep.
