How Did You Sleep Last Night?

How did you sleep last night?  If you slept great, I would love to hear what you did.  If you didn't, what do you think you could do differently tonight to improve?  I'm all about doing the small things to improve the quality of my sleep.  The idea is to get 1% better every night.  For me, this seems to be working.  My sleep app on my smart watch gives me the feedback I need to make adjustments.  Last night's rating was an 84, one point below the "excellent" range for the general population.  While I can't control certain aspects of my sleep such as the amount of time I spend in deep sleep or REM sleep stages, I can control when I retire for the evening.  My phone app tells me the exact time I fall asleep which is different from the time I actually hit the pillow.  This is the part I'm currently working on – reducing the amount of time it takes to enter the sleep cycle.  Nightly routines prior to bedtime are helpful such as dimming the lights and turning off my cell phone ringer.

There appears to be a direct correlation between my day time activities and my night time sleep.  No physical activity during the day hurts my sleep score.  Going to bed too late impacts the score.  Worry about the next day causes the score to drop.  The first time I wore a watch at night I had a very poor sleep score, probably because I knew I was recording feedback.  It took a while before I stopped thinking about nightly tracking.  

Imagine what your life would be like if you spent the next year of your life striving to improve your sleep quality by 1% each night.  Is there any other investment you could make that provides a higher return other than committing to this?  What do you have to lose by focusing on sleep for twelve months?  Challenge yourself and go for it.  You may not be a sleep pro in the first weeks or months and that's okay.  Good things happen to people who are in it for the long haul.  Make sure you keep sleep records so you can measure your improvements.  Have a great day.