Wiki: Sleep Diary Article Updates

[Himm]

Hello, all. I wanted to share my recommended updates to the Sleep Diary post on the Wiki. Here's the link to the original page. 

I was always kind of confused by the list because it wasn't organized chronologically, which made journaling more confusing than it needed to be, which then made me journal less or not at all. 

My general issue was, "am I writing about how I feel today, or yesterday?"

Here's my new format for all the daily diary entries. Notice how I separated the entries into yesterday and today, rather than one big mixed list of entries. 

Yesterday:

1. How did you feel during the day? (mood, drowsiness, etc.). Rate how you felt from 1-5 and the major cause.
   
2. Note the start and end times of any daytime naps and exercises
   
3. Note the name, dosage and time of any drugs used including medication, sleep aids, caffeine and alcohol
   

Last Night:

1. The time and type/heaviness of evening meal
   
2. Activities the last hour before bedtime, such as meditation, watching TV, playing PC-games
   
3. Stress level before bedtime, often on a scale from 1 to 5 and the major cause
   
4. The time the person tried to fall asleep
   
5. The time the person thinks sleep onset occurred
   
6. Activity during aforementioned two moments (remaining eyes closed, meditating, ...)
   
7. The presumed cause, number, time, and length of any nighttime awakenings and activities during these moments
   
8. Quality of sleep
   
9. Level of comfortableness of any recalled good or bad dreams
   

This Morning:

1. The time the person had wanted or intended to wake up
   
2. The time the person woke up
   
3. Whether the person woke up spontaneously, by an alarm clock, or because of another (specified) disturbance
   
4. The time the person got out of bed
   

I think this format makes more sense because I believe most people are checking their sleep data first thing in the morning. If not, they can organize and rename the list groups however they want. For example, Morning, Today, Tonight, and etc.

[PeaceLoveAndPizza]

Thanks for taking the time to write things up. Send a PM to SuperSleeper and ask about becoming an editor. All help is appreciated!

[Himm]

Sure 

[UnicornRider]

Thanks Himm, 

your active participation will help all of us.