How I Slept

Another short one due to going to bed late, then being very slow to nod off, then waking early. I have no regrets as discipline simply hasn't been a priority, but I'm fully aware that for the sake of wellbeing, discipline in all areas must return. I intend to begin today.

I dispute these figures somewhat - it's true I was awake around 5am, but I'm sure I slept at least an extra hour between 6 and 7 when the alarm went off. I suspect that because it was just an hour on its own at the end, the tracker didn't pick it up.However, there's no getting away from the fact that this would still be under the critical minimum.Possibly the bright morning sunshine had some effect on waking me early.

This is a classic alcohol-disrupted sleep pattern. Certainly alcohol makes you nod off easily enough, but the sting in the tail is early waking. It's a good thing I don't do it very often! I will hopefully return to healthy sleeping tomorrow night.

This was a sleep of being late to nod off and early to wake, causing a failure to reach the critical minimum of 6 hours. However the sleep itself was unusually high quality and unbroken.

TOTAL SESSION TIME:  14:22 - 15:46 TOTAL SESSION LENGTH: 1hr 23mins TIME IN TRANCE/SLEEP: 1hr 12mins EFFICIENCY: 87% TOTAL BRAIN-REST FOR TODAY: A return to meditation discipline brought me very close to the magic 8 hour target, but I did make the more more pragmatic 7 hour target. I will be suitably rested for the weekend job.

An interesting one! Length and efficiency were normal for the sleep opportunity, but after the usual "restless hour", sleep in the second half was completely unbroken, and most of my deep sleep occurred in it. I remember dreaming (but not the content) and I was woken by the alarm. An odd but satisfactory sleep.

This wasn't deliberate - I forgot to put the tracker back on after charging it - but it did give my wrist a rest.

After a short sleep then no meditation on Monday, leading to an accumulation of sleep debt, I was interested to see how my brain would respond. This time I gave myself the full 8 hour sleep opportunity. I achieved only the critical minimum and the sleep pattern was normal. However, deep sleep was longer, and there was no "restless" hour and no toilet visits, pushing up sleep efficiency. I am now convinced that though sleep itself is not within my conscious control, to sleep well enough I must create adequate sleep opportunities, ideally 8 hours overnight and a two-hour meditation opportunity in the afternoon. Though this is not always possible, it must be the default in the absence of matters arising.

Sunday night is the self-imposed shortest sleep opportunity compounded this week by taking time to drop off and awaking early - possibly because I had all the things to do on Monday on my mind.

One of my best weeks of the study, sell over the critical minimum and just short of target.

A somewhat more restless night than previous given the same sleep opportunity, coming in just under the critical minimum due to early waking, but the pattern is very similar to last night.

I was particularly pleased with this sleep! After a smooth day back at the Weekend Job, and so getting some exercise, and setting aside 8 hours sleep opportunity, the result was this "good as it gets" sleep, in which the second half was unbroken. I will do my best to keep up low stress, sufficient exercise and adequate sleep opportunity to see if this continues to give good results.

Yesterday we had the builders in replacing the roof grouting, which meant indirectly that I had neither exercise nor meditation yesterday. I was noticably grumpy by bedtime, but I slept OK. In a deviation from the norm, the awake periods were in distinct blocks spread over the middle section and the final two hours were unbroken.

A better sleep than I remember - it felt like I stayed awake after 03:00 but clearly I eventually went back to sleep, which pushed me over the critical minimum. I am now certain what is required with my current lifestyle to obtain adequate brain-rest: A "wind-down" in bed 2100 - 2200 A sleep opportunity 2200-0600 A two-hour meditation opportunity 1330-1530 Of course on a lot of days and nights, I can't give this amount of time, but I will put it in when I can.

TOTAL SESSION TIME:  13:28 - 15:29 TOTAL SESSION LENGTH: 2hr 1mins TIME IN TRANCE/SLEEP: 1hr 49mins EFFICIENCY: 90% TOTAL BRAIN-REST FOR TODAY: A long-deep meditation that went the distance pushed total brain-rest over the critical minimum and just short of target. The conscious trance-portions of the meditation felt pleasant and euphoric, and I felt relaxed and refreshed.

This was an unusual one. Though I gave myself the maximum 10-6 sleep opportunity, it took an hour to nod off and I woke up an hour early. The sleep itself, though under the critical minimum, did not follow the usual pattern, with all the cycles in different places and no restless second half. With so many variables contributing to an individual sleep, it's not possible to give a full explanation.

TOTAL SESSION TIME:  14:28 - 15:48 TOTAL SESSION LENGTH: 1hr 20 mins TIME IN TRANCE/SLEEP: 1hr 3 mins EFFICIENCY: 79% TOTAL BRAIN-REST FOR TODAY: The first full 8-hours brain-rest!! Meditation was lighter and shorter than normal but good enough to push the total to record levels.

I'm not sure why this sleep was particularly good, but unusually I went to bed after an adrenalin surge after watching West Ham FC scrape a draw against Stoke City. I had moderate exercise and low sugar during the day.

TOTAL SESSION TIME:  13:13 - 15:07 TOTAL SESSION LENGTH: 1hr 55 mins TIME IN TRANCE/SLEEP: 1hr 45 mins EFFICIENCY: 92% TOTAL BRAIN-REST FOR TODAY: With two weeks holiday over, I made some attempt to return to discipline, setting aside two hours for meditation. After a substandard night's sleep, I soon went under and have very little memory of the next hour and three quarters, pushing my total brain-rest over the 7 hour daily target.

A fairly typical Sunday night where I go to bed later, which doesn't stop the restless second half beginning on time around 03:00. No regrets though as I had quality time with my some, the opportunities for which will soon end.

A very mixed week in sleep performance in untypical circumstances, coming back from Ireland on Tuesday and finishing my holiday at home, with no rigid pursuit of disciplines, just a couple of meditations, which were crucial in pushing total brain rest above the average critical minimum of 6 hours.

This is a "good as it gets" sleep with my current lifestyle and follows my typical pattern. The broken second half had two prolonged conscious periods but fortunately I had no desire to get up. These periods are a kind of limbo - you're too awake to sleep but too tired to get up. These periods are interspersed with dreams.

Lack of exercise and a couple of pints before bed goes a long way to explaining this short sleep and early waking. My emotional response is just a shrug of the shoulders - I had a wonderful quiet quality evening with my family and enjoyed my beer. This doesn't mean I'm indifferent however - I wouldn't want this result every night - I know how important a minimum of 6 hours per night is.  There isn't going to be an immediate response - the weekend will be one of leisure and I intend to get back to discipline on Monday.

TOTAL SESSION TIME:  14:34 - 16:29 TOTAL SESSION LENGTH: 1hr 55 mins TIME IN TRANCE/SLEEP: 1hr 41 mins EFFICIENCY: 88% TOTAL BRAIN-REST FOR TODAY: This full-length meditation proved crucial, pushing my total brain-rest over the critical minimum.

This rather substandard sleep was due to quality time with my son, so there's no regrets. Note how consistent my sleep efficiency is, regardless of sleep length, quality and time.

TOTAL SESSION TIME:  14:03 - 16:01 TOTAL SESSION LENGTH: 1hr 58 mins TIME IN TRANCE/SLEEP: 1hr 50 mins EFFICIENCY: 93% TOTAL BRAIN-REST FOR TODAY:   The first meditation for several weeks was a good one - very deep, and pushed my brain rest over the target of seven hours.

This sleep fell short of the critical minimum 6 hours due to impromptu quality time with my son, which I don't regret at all, and a restlessness at the other end which was beyond my control. The positives were REM and deep sleep of around an hour each.

The first sleep back in my own bed was a good one by my standards, nicely balanced and over the critical minimum.

A more restrained but late night led to a quality - albeit somewhat fragmented sleep. I can't remember the last time I woke up as late as 09:30!

Fitbit's inability to read my sleep is probably due an enjoyable night out in Dublin

Although it was rather broken up, this turned out to be the best sleep of the trip so far, achieving the target 7 hours.

The shortest sleep of the week, a little under the critical minimum. I am convinced that it was due to lack of exercise - I was travelling all day. I remember dreaming, reflected in more REM activity than last night.

This was a sleep that was much better than I remembered it - though of course can only remember the awake bits - which were most unpleasantly dominated by relentless post-viral coughing. As it turns out, it all happened in one block at my infamous restless hour. The overall sleep was suitably adequate, though apparently mostly dreamless.

A particularly energetic day was followed by this unusual sleep in which the "broken" section was at the front rather than the back. There was still the 3am wake up but no broken section followed it. The sleep length was another "good by my standards". I appear to need 8 hours sleep opportunity to get the critical 6 hours sleep.

Though this sleep is somewhat broken (which I blame on Guinness) it is also reasonably lengthy by my standards, which I attribute to exercise! I was apparently snoring my arse off, so loudly that poor Sebastian slept in the bathroom to get away from it!

This is the start of an extended time away so I was interested in how it would affect my sleep. This first night was a very stark one of two halves - sleeping very well in the first half and very broken in the second. This may have been influenced by two pints of Guinness! 

A self-inflicted short sleep, although the pattern was very average.

I have had something of a "what comes naturally" attitude to sleep this weekend, particularly this sleep, where I went to bed feeling sleepy and stayed there until I wasn't. I probably won't adopt it as a long-term strategy, but it was interesting to observe that it did deliver a little over the critical minimum with adequate deep sleep. I suspect I had more REM sleep than the tracker recorded, but I'll give it the benefit of the doubt.