Waking up feeling tired and groggy every morning is not something that is coveted. If lying down awake every night has become a daily practice for you then a sleep diary is something that you need.
A sleep diary is nothing but a log that records the sleep patterns and the habits of the patient and can turn out to be extremely beneficial for the doctor to determine whether a sleep study is needed and also diagnose the kind of sleep disorder the person has.
Over the course of a couple of weeks, you should record in your sleep diary the vital pieces of information like –
The time you went to sleep and the time when you woke up
The time period for which you lay awake in bed
The length of your quality or deep sleep time
Your food and drink intake
The amount of alcohol or caffeine consumed during the day
The medications you take
The stress that you were experiencing
The exercise you had during the day and the period through which you had it
and anything else that you doctor can suggest.
Now let us take a look at the reasons to use a sleep diary –
It Helps to Understand the Habits Related to Your Sleep – Your sleep habits can be the real culprits for not letting you sleep well instead of the sleep disorders. If you drink wine with a heavy dinner everyday, consume coffee or any type of caffeine late in the day, go for social media scrolling after retiring to bed, cater to your sweet tooth middle of the night or sleep in a cluttered milieu or are too stressed – everything can wreak havoc on your sleep. Most often, the sleep study patients who never bother to keep a sleep journal or diary are detected with Insufficient Sleep Syndrome. This implies that you are not being able to sleep well because of the behaviours that you practise every day which are mentioned above. So by maintaining a sleep diary you can avoid a visit to the doctor and a lot of effort on your part. If your problem does not show improvement even after that, you should consult with a doctor.
You Will Be Able to Work for Your Sleep Proactively -Once you start keeping a sleep diary, you will be more aware of the significance of sleep and the ill-habits that are deterring you from experiencing a full night’s sleep. You will find yourself to be more meticulous about embracing the good habits to induce more sleep. For example, you may consciously decide to cut on your smoking and alcohol consumption, switch from caffeinated drinks to tart cherry juice, chamomile tea or almond milk that are all sleep-promoting agents and shun your mobile or working on your laptop till late at night because of this. Conclusively, when you keep a track, you start to take your sleep more seriously and stay away from habits that keep you from having it.
You Can Reduce Your Stress with Its Help– Cortisol, a stimulant, is released into the body when you are anxious. This is similar to having your morning joe for you and naturally is capable of keeping you awake all night. But if you maintain a diary about the stressors that you experience everyday it can release the worries and anxieties that are responsible to keep you from getting an optimum amount of shut eye.
It Helps the Doctor to Diagnose the Issue – Once you consult with a sleep specialist it is likely that she will prescribe you to maintain a sleep journal for about a couple of weeks. So it is better that you start to maintain it so that your doctor does not have to wait to start treating you. If you have already maintained a diary for about 2 weeks and still having sleep problems, then you should consult with a physician. This will help her to rule out the chance of misdiagnosis like starting to treat for insomnia when you have sleep apnea and so on. Your sleep diary can assist your doctor to steer clear of such a consequence.
You can Judge the Treatment Effectiveness - If you have sleep apnea then you may be prescribed with CPAP or the best snoring aids for controlling your sleep apnea. You will naturally be inquisitive to know whether the treatment procedures are at all making a difference. So it is recommended that you maintain your sleep diary for the first week as you go through your treatment. This way you can assess the effectiveness of your treatment when you compare your current entries with your previous (pre-treatment) ones. This will inspire you to go on with it especially when the results are right in front of you.
The above are some of the reasons why you should maintain sleep diary or journal so that you can be aware of your sleep patterns and progress and can lead a healthier life.
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