Sleep Diary
The sleep diary is an essential tool for improving your sleep, especially related to building your sleep drive. Use it to track your sleep patterns and improvements over time. Record your sleep each morning. Start a new sleep diary each week.
Download & Print: Sleep Diary / Instructions
Sleep Diary Instructions
Complete your sleep diary each day, usually in the morning. Exact times are not needed. Estimates will do.
- My sleep prescription: Record what time you plan to go to bed (bed time) and what time you plan to get out of bed (rise time). Do your best to stick to this plan all week. Bed time: 10:30 pm / Rise time: 7:00 am
- Day of the week and Date: Write the day of the week and date in the spaces provided. Your week doesn’t have to start on Sunday.
- Q1 What time did you go to bed? Write the time you got into bed. Ex. 10:15 pm
- Q2 What time did you try to go to sleep? Record the time that you began to try to fall asleep. Ex. 11:00 pm
- Q3 What time did you fall asleep? Estimate the time you fell asleep. Ex. 12:30 pm
- Q4 How many times did you wake up during the night? Record your answer. Ex. 2
- Q5 In total, how long did these awakenings last? Sum up the amount of time you were awake through the night in total minutes. Ex. 20 + 60 = 80 min
- Q6 What time was your final awakening? Indicate the time you woke up and remained awake. Ex. 8:00 am
- Q7 What time did you get out of bed to start your day? Indicate the time you got out and stayed out of bed after your final awakening. Ex. 9:00 am
- Q8 Note anything that interfered with your sleep. Record anything that affected your sleep, such as alcohol, caffeine, daytime naps, pain, worries, electronics in bed, or interruptions (e.g., partners, children, phone calls, etc.).
- End of week numbers: Based on a typical night of sleep this week, calculate and record your sleep efficiency and duration.
How to Calculate Your Sleep Numbers
Use the Sleepwell calculator or follow these instructions.
My sleep duration
Sleep duration is your “total sleep time”.
First, determine the number of minutes between the time you fell asleep (Q3) and the time of your final awakening (Q6).
Time between Q3 12:30 am and Q6 8:00 am is 7h 30 min or 450 min.
Then, subtract the total duration of your nighttime awakenings (Q5).
450 min – Q5 80 min = 370 min.
Sleep duration = 370 min (6 h 10 min)
My sleep efficiency:
Sleep efficiency calculates the proportion of time you spend in bed sleeping compared to your total time in bed. Aim for 85% to 95%.
First, calculate your “total time in bed”, which is the number of minutes between the time you went to bed (Q1) and the time you got out of bed to start your day (Q7).
Total time in bed: time between 10:15 pm (Q1) and 9:00 am (Q7) = 10 h 45 min or 645 min.
Then, calculate your sleep efficiency:
Sleep Efficiency = (sleep duration ÷ total time in bed) x 100%
(370 ÷ 645) x 100 = 57%
Sleep Efficiency = 57%