We often emphasize the need for good sleep. But sometimes, it can be hard to know what defines "good sleep". You may ask yourself, how do you know if you're sleeping well, or if you need some improvement?
That's why understanding how to measure sleep is useful, because you'll have a parameter against which to judge how good or bad your sleep is. Once you know how to measure your sleep, you can then determine if you are getting adequate sleep, or if you need to talk to a sleep specialist. Here are the best ways to measure sleep.
Objective Measurements
Sleep can be objectively measured, meaning officially measured with a device that will provide accurate results. If you want the best data on your sleep, then you can use objective measurements.
These measurements include polysomnography, sleep trackers, and electroencephalogram (EEG).
A polysomnography is a sleep study. You go to a facility and spend the night there, while being attached to devices and monitors by wires that transmit information about your sleep.
The data being collected throughout the night includes how long it took you to fall asleep, how much time you are spending in each sleep stage, and how many times you woke up throughout the night. In addition to those measurements, your vital signs, brain activity (EEG) and sleep behavior are also measured. These results are compiled and then sent to a sleep expert who analyzes them and provides a diagnosis.
Sleep trackers are devices you can buy at home, and often use for more than just measuring sleep. Fitness rings, watches, and sensors in the bed can determine some of the same information in the polysomnography. There is a concern about the accuracy and reliability of the information collected, but they are very convenient and provide a snapshot of your overall health.
Subjective Measurements
Objective measurements are excellent for tracking sleep and obtaining reliable data. However, there are subjective measurements that can be just as helpful. Subjective measurements of sleep are your own perspective or experiences of your sleep. Sometimes they are accurate, and other times, disturbances happen at a level below consciousness so you cannot record them.
One measurement is sleep quantity. Sleep quantity is how many number of hours you slept. Start with the time you fell asleep and end with the time you woke up for good to start your day. Then factor in about how long it took you to fall asleep, and any time you woke up throughout the night.
Subtract that time and you have a fair guestimate about how long you actually slept. Adults should get between 7-8 hours of sleep a night. If you are in bed for 7 hours, but only truly got 6 hours of sleep, then you are below the recommended number of hours.
Sleep quality is a subjective measurement. Sleep quality is how you slept. So, even if your sleep quantity was 8 hours, if you spent that entire time tossing and turning, or having nightmares, then you had poor sleep quality. Sleep quality is impacted by your sleeping environment that should be comfortable, cool, quiet and dark. Lights, sounds, high temperatures, and bad mattress or itchy sheets detract from your optimal sleep quality.
Sleep latency is a term that describes how long it takes you to fall asleep. If you lie in bed and immediately fall asleep,then you have a short sleep latency. If you roll around for hours, unable to fall asleep, then you have a long sleep latency. The average sleep latency is about 15 minutes, so if it's taking you significantly longer than that to fall asleep, you may be experiencing a sleep disturbances or disorder.
WASO, or wakefulness after sleep onset, is the amount of times you woke up after falling asleep, and the amount of time that you stayed awake. Waking up momentarily, and turning over to fall right back asleep is normal. But waking up several times and staying awake for hours is abnormal. Urinating throughout the night impacts your WASO, as does having a bed partner whose sounds and movements disturb your sleep.
These terms are all ones that you can keep track of in a sleep diary. Sleep diaries are records of your personal sleep experience for a certain amount of time. Include all of these elements of sleep so your physician has a clear picture of your normal sleep pattern.
Common signs of good sleep
Good sleep is readily identifiable because you feel energized, focused, and able to make it through the day without the overwhelming need to fall asleep. If you can wake up before your alarm, without feeling tired, then you are most likely getting enough good sleep.
Low levels of stress and excelling coping throughout the day are also signs of you getting good sleep. When inconveniences don't overwhelm you, and you are able to problem-solve your way through the day, then your emotion regulation is not being impacted by poor sleep.
The amount of movement in your sleep can be measured by how disturbed your bed sheets are in the morning. If you're in the same position you were when you fell asleep, then you also are likely getting great sleep. Your body is comfortable, your brain is not overly excited or engaged, and you are in such a deep sleep, that you spend more time in stage 3 sleep, which paralyzes your muscles.
Common signs of bad sleep
Sleep deprivation may be a little harder to spot because it can seem so normal. Sleep deprivation is very common, and its symptoms become so entangled into everyday habits and emotions. The first sign is that you are exhausted, even after a full night of sleep. Hitting the snooze button three or four times in the morning is a sign that. you are not getting enough sleep. Yawning throughout the entire day, with a significant desire to take a nap all day is called excessive daytime sleepiness. It is a common symptoms of sleep deprivation.
Another sign of bad sleep is feeling body aches throughout the day. Muscle repair and restoration is a part of deep sleep. If your bed is uncomfortable, or you're sleeping in a poor sleeping position, then you will be hurting all day without any other explanation. You may also have prolonged pain from working out, injuries, or medical conditions. Sleep can normally assuage some of these sensations, but poor sleep will not have the same affect.
Waking up several times throughout the night, moving around all night, and taking a long time to fall asleep are also common signs of bad sleep. This means that for some reason, you have trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, or both.
Last, but certainly not least, a sign of bad sleep is poor emotion regulation and focus or memory. If small inconveniences send you over the edge, and you aren't even able to cope with major dilemmas, you most likely are not getting enough sleep. Even if you have a primary reason why you are unable to cope with disruptions, sleep deprivation compounds that reason, making it very difficult to function. Motivation, focus, and memory problems are all associated with sleep deprivation, so if you struggle at work to finish certain tasks, work productively and efficiently, or remember to do things, then you may be struggling with your sleep.
If you experience some or many of the problems in this last section, then it is time to talk with a sleep health professional. Keep a sleep diary of your subjective and objective measurements, then schedule an appointment with our sleep health professionals. You also can click the orange button below to take a free online sleep test and learn more about our services.
