Learn how to use a sleep journal to identify patterns in your behavior that affect how well you sleep. You will find detailed instructions on what to write in the morning, such as your sleep and wake times, sleep quality, and energy levels, and what to write in the evening, including your caffeine and food intake, exercise, and pre-sleep activities. This guide also provides a list of specific journal prompts designed to help you analyze all this data you collected, and adjust your routines for better sleep. By consistently tracking your habits, you’ll learn how to adjust your behaviour to support your sleep.
Why Should You Track All These Habits?
While many people record their daily activities, few take the time to record their nightly rest. Yet sleep is a significant part of our biological existence, and its quality dictates how we feel during our waking hours.
A sleep journal serves as a data collection tool. It removes the guesswork from your health. Instead of wondering why you feel tired, you can look at your entries and see the direct correlation between your evening actions and your morning state. Using a journal allows you to take control of your behavior by providing clear evidence of what works for your body and what doesn’t.
How to Keep a Sleep Journal to Improve Your Sleep
The Morning Log
The most effective time to record information about your sleep is immediately after you wake up. During this time, your memory of the night is most accurate.
1. Time and Duration
You can keep track of all four of these or only the time you went to sleep and woke up. Or any other combination, depending on your sleeping pattern. For example, if you’re having difficulties getting out of bed in the morning, you might need to track only 1., 3., and 4.
- Time you went to bed: Record the exact time you lay down with the intention to sleep.
- Time you fell asleep: Estimate the time you think it actually took you to fall asleep.
- Time you woke up: Write down the time your eyes first opened in the morning, and you became aware you’re awake.
- Time you got up: Note the time you physically left your bed to start your day.
Keep in mind: The difference between when you wake up and when you get up is important. Staying in bed for long periods after waking can change how your brain associates your bed with sleep.
2. Interruptions
Many people wake up during the night, and sometimes even get up. Write down how many times you remember waking up. If you know the reason for these awakenings, such as a loud noise or a physical discomfort, write that down as well. Tracking these interruptions helps you understand if your sleep is fragmented.
3. Sleep Quality
Assign a numerical value to the quality of your sleep on a scale of 1 to 10. A 10 represents a night of perfect, uninterrupted rest, while a 1 represents a night with almost no sleep. This subjective rating is a key indicator of your overall satisfaction with your rest.
4. Energy Levels and Mood
Your mood and energy levels upon waking are direct results of your sleep quality. Describe how your mood was as soon as you woke up. Were you irritable, calm, or anxious? Also, record your energy levels on a scale of 1 to 10. Do you feel alert and ready to start the day, or do you feel heavy and can barely walk? These are two very different categories. You might feel a high level of energy but have a low mood, or you might feel very tired but be in a positive mood.
5. Identifying Physical Sensations
Your body provides you with signals about the quality of your lifestyle. Note any sensations you feel. This includes muscle tension, the presence or absence of a headache, clenched jaw, or a feeling of heaviness in your limbs. Writing these details down helps you see how your habits affect your body.
6. First Thoughts
The very first thoughts that enter your mind when you wake up can reveal a lot about your unconscious personality. They show you what is truly happening in your mind before all the filters turn on. Write these thoughts down exactly as they come. This practice will help you address worries and stressors you’re not dealing with so they don’t keep you up at night.
The Evening Log
To get a better understanding of why you sleep the way you do, you should track your behaviors during the day.
1. Physical Activity
How much energy you spend during the day directly affects how quickly you fall asleep. Record the type of physical activity you did during the day and the duration of those activities. Note the time of day when more intense activities occurred. Strenuous exercise late in the evening can sometimes make it harder to fall asleep, while morning activity might improve your sleep quality.
2. Caffeine Intake
Caffeine is a stimulant that stays in your system for several hours. Keep a record of the exact time you had your last beverage or food that contains caffeine. Over time, you will see if having caffeine after a certain hour correlates with difficulty falling asleep or even staying asleep.
3. Meal Times and Food Consumption
What you eat and when you eat greatly impacts your sleep. Certain foods take longer to digest, which can lower your sleep quality. Having your body digest food while you sleep disrupts sleep cycles. Some foods might cause you to wake up more often during the night. Tracking your evening meals will help you discover which foods to avoid and the best time to stop eating before bed.
Time of last meal: Write down the time you finished your final meal of the day.
Foods and drinks consumed 3 hours before sleep: List every food and drink you consumed in the three hours leading up to your bedtime.
4. Screen Usage
Electronic screens emit light that can interfere with your internal biorhythm. Record exactly how long before bed you stopped looking at phone, tablet, computer, or TV. If you look at a screen right up until you turn out the lights, write that down. This is one of the most significant factors in sleep quality. Exposure to screen light shortly before going to sleep can significantly delay falling asleep.
5. Pre-Sleep Activities
What you do an hour before sleep directly influences your sleep quality. Document what you do 1 hour before you go to sleep. If you don’t have any calming evening habits, try some and see how they affect your sleep. Relaxing evening activities could be reading a physical book, taking a hot shower, doing some gentle stretching, drinking calming tea and journaling, or performing breathing exercises. By tracking what you do before bed, you can determine which activities help you feel sleepy and calm, a sweet spot for restful sleep.
How to Analyze Your Data for Behavioral Change
After you have kept your sleep journal for at least two weeks, you will have enough information to begin an analysis. Look for patterns between your evening log and your morning log.
Use markers to color-code information. With green color mark everything in the evening log that you believe led to a night of restful sleep, and with red color mark everything that you believe led to a poor sleep.
If you notice that your sleep quality is high on days when you stop looking at screens 1 hour before bed, you have found a behavior that supports your sleep. If you see that your energy levels are low on mornings following a late-night meal, you have identified a habit that is disrupting your sleep.
Use your journal to set goals. If your data shows that caffeine after 2:00 PM leads to more night awakenings, use your journal to track your progress in moving your last cup of caffeine to earlier in the day. Your journal is your accountability partner that will help you stay motivated.
Journal Prompts for Better Sleep
In addition to tracking numbers and times, use your journal for writing about your experiences and insights.
Evening Prompts for Mental Clarity
- What are the three most important things I want to remember about today?
- What is one thing that concerned me today that I will give myself permission to forget about until tomorrow?
- How does my body feel right now?
- What is the specific sequence of events I will follow to get ready for bed tonight?
- What am I looking forward to doing tomorrow morning?
- Is there anything I need to write down so I don’t have to think about it while I try to sleep?
Morning Prompts for Self-Reflection
- Did the activities I did last night result in the sleep quality I wanted?
- How can I describe the transition from being asleep to being awake today?
- What is the relationship between my physical sensations this morning and the amount of sleep I got?
- If I could change one thing about my evening routine yesterday, what would it be?
- How does my current mood affect my plans for the day ahead?
- What did I learn about my sleep habits from last night’s data?
Approach your sleep journal with a sense of curiosity. You are documenting a specific part of your life to become more informed and aware of your behavior and how it affects your sleep. When you treat your sleep with the same importance as your waking life, you will see improvements in your energy, your mood, and your overall well-being.
