Sleep disorders can have a bad effect on your health and overall mood in general. According to sleep specialists, one way to cope with your sleep disorder is to track it with a sleep diary.
What Is A Sleep Diary?
A sleep diary is like a journal or log, where you write down all of the things about your sleep, from the previous night. You can write how long you slept for, what you ate and did before you went to bed, how many times did you wake up during your sleep, when did you wake up, how did you feel when you woke up, what state are you in right now after having a night’s rest, what medications you took before sleeping , if any, and what kinds of activities you did prior to falling asleep, like exercise, hard work, walking etc.
A sleep diary keeps all the records of your sleeping pattern and it is a great way to monitor how you are sleeping. People with sleeping disorders like insomnia, sleep apnea and nightmares, are suggested to log and monitor their sleep in a sleep diary. It helps to make the person realize what induces their sleep and what makes it worse.
How Does A Sleep Diary Helps With Sleep Disorders?
Here are some ways in which a sleep diary helps with sleeping disorders.
It Helps to Notify Triggers
Sleep disorders are induced by a certain trigger, and a sleep diary can help to notify that. If you go through a person’s sleep diary and find out which days he/she hasn’t slept well, you can go to their activities and see what common things they have done in their days when they don’t sleep well. It can be late caffeine consumption, alcohol overdose, too much use of smartphones before bed, stagnant lifestyle, etc. It can be anything, but it can be most easily pointed out by a sleep diary, because a person jots down everything he/she did before sleeping, which acts as a tracker.
It Helps Find Out What Activities Induce Sleep
Keeping a sleep diary helps to find out what activities induce sleep as well. you can tell if a person slept better at a certain night just by looking at prior activities. It can be regular exercising, decreased caffeine consumption, limited screen time with TV, phones and computers, waking up early, having an energetic lifestyle etc. A sleep diary can help the person find the right activities which can help you sleep better and wake up feeling fresh and energized.
It Can Help to Modify A Person’s Lifestyle
Sleep disorders are the by-product of a poor lifestyle, which is why doctors advise you to keep a sleep diary for a month, and help you to track your sleep. It can help the doctor to fix your lifestyle for your own betterment. You can be advised to add exercise to your daily routine and you might even be advised to give up alcohol and caffeine for good. This might seem like a bunch of harsh decisions, but it will only help you in the long run. You will be able to sleep better and maybe, get rid of your sleeping disorder as well.
It Will Help the Doctor With The Diagnosis
Sleeping disorders are not an easy thing to diagnose because the symptoms are more or less the same. Keeping a sleep diary will help your doctor to find out the perfect diagnosis for your sleep disorder. If you have insomnia, then you might not be having a regular sleep pattern, your sleeping time will be less, and you will wake up feeling groggy and less energetic. If you have any other disorder, it can be notified by the log you recorded in your sleep diary. This is also another reason why doctors advise you to log your sleeping schedule for about a month, before they can deduce any sort of diagnosis.
There you have it! Who knew keeping a sleep diary would be so helpful? Keeping a sleep diary will help you get back to a better sleeping schedule. However, you would need the input of a sleep specialist for better management of your sleep disorder, so visiting a sleep clinic is important.
