My Sleep Voyage Across Days, Months, and Years

​Part 1 – Where I Was in 2019 and 2020

I wrote about my sleep journey back in September of 2019.  The link is below. Back then I was struggling, like now. I tried to set good sleep habits by going to bed and waking up at the same time. I took short naps when needed, but tried to keep them short, 15 – 30 minutes. I finished that sleep journey December 2nd. My sleep wasn’t perfect, but it was way better! Unfortunately, the journey wasn’t over . .
Link:  http://www.rindabeach.com/blog/a-sleep-journey
​
​

---

​Over the summer of 2020 my sleep troubles worsened. I was back to sleeping 10 – 11 hours a night, with naps too. I knew something was wrong so I set up my first sleep study on August 11, 2020. The link is below.

I discovered that my bi-pap sleep machine wasn’t working so September 2nd I went in for a second study. It’s amazing how many wires they needed to tape and paste onto me. The results – I discovered it was time to leave my bi-pap machine behind and return to a c-pap.  Link: 
http://www.rindabeach.com/blog/my-two-sleep-studies

My machine came in, and I was happy with the way it worked. It wasn’t perfect, but it was better. I checked back with my doctor in November, and she was happy with my results.
​
She said I was on the right track with my machine, but she also said I needed to work with the Cleveland Clinic on my sleep habits. I thought I was doing fine. I was heading to Texas for Christmas. Everything went well until mid-January. Then I had no choice. I had to do something . . . again!


​
Part 2 – Cleveland Clinic Says Go To Sleep 
And I listened! Well, after 2 months! I was taking longer and longer to go to sleep. I had a few nights when I was awake until 7AM. Finally, I gave up and clicked the link to the Cleveland Clinic. I signed up for the program on January 21st.  

​                                 Here’s the link: https://clevelandclinicwellness.com/pages/GoToSleep.htm

---

​​​I got an email from them on the 22nd. I logged in and answered some questions. The questions are the same everyday, but the answers change. Here are yesterday’s:

- What time did you wake up?                                                                        - Did you turn off the lights right away?   
- How long did it take to fall asleep?
​

- Did you wake up in the middle of the night?                - How many times?                               - For how long?
- What time did you wake up for good?                - How long did it take to wake up?          - Rate Your Sleep
- Did you get enough?                                                                        - Did you nap?
​

​- Did you use a relaxation technique?                  - Did you exercise?                     - Within 3 hours of bedtime?
- Did you have caffeine?                                      - Within 6 hours of bedtime?              - Did you drink alcohol?
                                                                            - Did you take any sleeping medications?
​

​ Cleveland Clinic takes all those answers and quantifies them. My Sleep Efficiency was 93 out of 100. I’m happy whenever it’s over 85, and usually, it is! WOOHOO!!!
​

​Part 3 – Let’s Chart it Out – Remember those questions and answers from yesterday? My 93/100? The Cleveland Clinic took those numbers and converted them into a chart. It shows my weekly average. Look across the bottom. I’m on Day 56. The blue bar is my Sleep Efficiency, 93 for today. The green bar is Slept Hours, almost 8.  I got up early at 9:30. Otherwise I would have had my favorite sleep number . . .  9 hours.

Day 54 was a bad night. I didn’t get to sleep until 3 in the morning, and I still got up at 10:30AM, but those days are getting fewer. I had 5 nights with 9 hours of sleep, and 5 out of 7 is really good for me!
​

​The next graph shows every night I entered my sleep data. I love to look for patterns. Here’s what I discovered - 

- I slept 7 hours – 14% of the time (8 nights)                                  - I slept 8 hours – 14% of the time ( 9 nights)
                                          - I slept 9 hours – 70% of my time in the study (39 nights)
​
Note – Math doesn’t always make sense . . . The nights add up to 56, but the % total is 98. Where did the other  2% go?   The best news – almost 40 out of 56 nights, I got 9 hours of sleep. WAHOO!

 
So, what have I learned over the last 56 days?

1. I go to sleep about the same time every night. I get up about the same time each morning.
2. If I don’t get to sleep within 15 minutes, I get up for about that much time. I’ve learned I need to redirect my brain. Reading books lets me calm down. Getting on the computer ramps me up. I don’t go there at night!
3. I stop drinking caffeine around 8PM. I stop exercising around 10.
4. I only nap on those days when I get 7 hours of sleep, but I try not to. I also try to nap for 15 minutes. Sometimes it takes 30, but I’m still a work in progress.

​So far, so good! I’ll let you know how I’m doing this summer. The portal is no longer live, BUT the best part about Cleveland Clinic . . . I can still input my sleep data to check on how I’m doing. ​