Tracking your sleep for better health
Last Updated: Feb 2 2025
Table of Contents
Sleep is important for the brain and body. When we aren’t sleeping well, we can worry that there is something wrong with us.
However, often times we’ve simply fallen into daily habits that are disrupting our natural sleep patterns.
To catch the habit, we need to track what we’re doing.
In this article, we show you how to track your sleep, interpret your patterns, and come up with solutions for better sleep.
For more on identifying and solving other reasons for poor sleep (such as sleep apnea, heart problems, nighttime urination, restless legs, etc), read this free article or join the member-only Sleep Better Course.
Time to study the scene of the … not-crime.
Tracking your sleep
There are lots of fun gadgets out there today for tracking your sleep. These include things like the Oura ring, FitBit, and even the Apple Watch.
However, a simple pen-and-paper tracker will do equally well for our purposes.
Download the sleep tracker below and record your metrics over the next 5 days.
Click the image to download.
Interpreting the results
What do each of the metrics recorded in your sleep tracker tell us? Here’s the rundown:
Daytime naps
You should aim to take no more than one nap a day, and for no more than 20 minutes. If you’re napping frequently or for a long time, you can mess with your body’s natural “sleep drive” - ie., sleepiness levels!
You should also try to avoid napping anytime after about 2 - 3pm in the afternoon, for the same reason.
Stay awake to get sleepy!
No more than 1 nap a day for 20 minutes.
2. Bedtime
Aim to go to bed at the same time every day - otherwise you can confuse your body’s natural circadian rhythm. This is your “internal clock” that releases melatonin and knows when it’s time to go to bed.
There’s also some anecdotal evidence that people feel more rested when at least 1 hour of their total night’s sleep is before 12 am.
Set yourself a consistent bedtime and stick to it, give or take 30 minutes.
3. How long to fall asleep
This tells us how well your body is trained to recognize your bed as a signal to fall asleep, or how calm your mind is.
BODY:
If you’re lying in bed for hours it can suggest that your body has forgotten the association between your bed and sleeping.
To retrain your body, you need to limit the amount of time you spend in bed not sleeping. This means getting up out of bed if you’ve been lying awake for more than 20 minutes, going to a nearby chair and sitting up and reading, watching TV, or staring out the window (whatever you want!). You only return to bed when you start to feel tired again.
This might sound crazy - like you’re going to end up not getting any sleep at all - but in fact if you combine this with #6 - keeping the same wakeup time no matter what time you went to bed - then you can usually retrain your body within a week.
The key is to only be in bed for sleeping - not reading, watching TV, or lying awake staring at the ceiling.
MIND:
Some people lie awake at night for hours because of anxious thoughts. These thoughts can be about general worries about the next day, their family, money, health, etc, or it could even be worries about the fact that they aren’t sleeping!
To quiet the mind, try writing down everything on your mind in a journal beside your bed. Think of it as a medicine that helps you “get it out”. Really let your words flow - anything and everything in your mind should go onto the page. This should help you feel a bit calmer so your mind can relax enough to fall asleep.
For longterm strategies for anxiety, read this.
As crazy as it sounds, get up and move the living room couch or chair and sit upright if you’ve been lying in bed awake for more than 20 minutes. Only go back to bed when you’re sleepy.
4. How many times did you wake up?
People can wake up throughout the night for a variety of reasons that we explore in our Sleep Better Course for members.
In brief:
If you wake up gasping for air, this could be a sign of sleep apnea or heart problems. Talk to your doctor
If you wake up to urinate, this could be because you’re drinking water too close to bedtime, not emptying your bladder before bed, are on medications that make you pee frequently, or have prostate issues. Talk to your doctor about the last two.
Depression or anxiety. Again, talk to your healthcare provider and explore resources at aldora for both these topics.
Bed partner’s who are snoring or moving around a lot. Try wearing ear plugs and having them read through our sleep resources for themselves!
Having to go to the washroom frequently overnight can disrupt your sleep.
5. How long were you awake?
This metric catches the same pattern as #3 - where you’ve trained your body into thinking it’s okay to lie awake staring at the ceiling.
If you are awake in the middle of the night for more than 30 minutes, get up and sit in a chair until you feel sleepy again. You wont’ need to do this forever - just until you retrain your body.
Lying in bed awake can gradually train your body to no longer associate the bed with sleeping. To break the pattern, get out of bed if you’ve been lying awake for more than 30 minutes, and return only when you’re sleepy.
6. When did you get out of bed in the morning?
You should get out of bed at roughly the same time every day, no matter how much sleep you got.
This doesn’t apply if you have the odd late night or poor night’s sleep and need to catch up on sleep in the morning. We’re talking about people who have had difficulty sleeping for weeks or months - you need to retrain your internal clock, and to do this, you need to be strict on getting up at the same time.
It’s important to combine this with going to bed at the same time every night and NOT taking frequent naps throughout the day, no matter how tired you are (and don’t drink too much coffee to stay awake!).
REMEMBER: You only need 7-8 hours of sleep a night. In fact, getting more than 9 hours can actually make you more tired!
Check your total sleep time - if you’re in bed for 10+ hours, too much sleep might be the cause of your sleepiness, not too little.
It’s time to get up! Wake up at the same time every day, even if you had a rough night’s sleep (if you’re dealing with chronic sleep issues).
7. How rested do you feel?
If you don’t see any patterns/problems in your sleep tracker for numbers 1-6, yet still find yourself exhausted in the morning, this could mean you have sleep apnea, sleep anxiety, or are oversleeping past the recommended 9 hours maximum.
For sleep apnea, talk to your doctor about getting a sleep study.
For sleep anxiety, explore more resources at this website created by researchers at Dalhousie University.
For oversleeping - set an alarm and get up! If you need some motivation, give yourself something yummy for breakfast for the first week while you’re making the change. It’s amazing what we’ll do for the reward of a warm croissant.
Check out more sleeping resources at mysleepwell.ca for sleep anxiety.
Solutions for better sleep
We explored a number of solutions in the section above, which include:
Going to bed and waking up at the same time every night
Limiting daytime naps
Limiting caffeine
Getting out of bed if you’re lying awake for more than 20-30 minutes
Writing down worries in a journal beside your bed
Talking to your doctor about a sleep study
Emptying your bladder before bed to avoid peeing overnight
For a more in-depth, personalized plan, sign up for our Sleep Better Course. You’ll gain access to our Sleep Assessment Quiz and really narrow down on your personal causes of poor sleep, in addition to those identified through sleep tracking.
In closing…
Many issues with sleep come from having given your body and mind bad sleep habits
To see which unhelpful habits you might have adopted, track your sleep for 5 days
Use the solutions mentioned here to retrain your body and internal clock
For more help, join the Sleep Better Course.
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Disclaimer: The content on Aldora Health is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended to substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. For more read our Terms of Use.