Reflection #7: Seven Days of Sleep

1. How did your sleep compare on a weekday, to the weekend?

During the weekday I got to bed earlier than I would on a weekend because I have to get up relatively early. My sleep on the weekend is usually much better because I go to bed when i’m actually tired, and am able to wake up more naturally and when I feel ready to. From what I recorded on my chart I wrote down that when I woke up on a weekday I mostly felt tired, whereas during the weekend I felt good. My quality of sleep during the week was mostly bad to alright, I had some trouble falling asleep. During the weekend my quality of sleep was good.

2. How did your sleep compares on a monday night vs a Tuesday night?

On Monday night my sleep was bad. I had trouble falling asleep and even woke up in the middle of the night. On Tuesday night I had a good sleep. I had a little trouble falling asleep but otherwise felt like I had a good night's rest. On Monday night I slept at my moms house, and on Tuesday night I slept at my dads. This could have had an impact on how well I slept, because I was in a different environment.

3. How does school start time affect your sleep? Would starting classes an hour later change anything for you?

For the most part school time doesn’t greatly affect my sleep. When I don’t have school I tend to sleep in a little more, but I am naturally an early riser so I don’t mind getting up. I like to sleep in but it isn’t the end of the world. I wouldn’t like it if school started an hour earlier. I feel like I wouldn’t get as much done, and would fall behind in school work and other things I have to do. I like to get things out of the way early because at night I like to relax. I think starting class an hour later would affect me in a negative way.

4. How many nights did you recall dreaming? What might that say about the quality of sleep?

I recall dreaming four nights this past week. I dreamt mostly later on in the week, closer to the weekend. Dreaming occurs during Rem sleep, which is the best type of sleep. This shows me that during the end of the week and the weekend is when I get my best sleep. I think this might be because I am adjusted to going to bed and waking up earlier.   

5. Are you surprised with your results?

I am somewhat surprised with my results. One thing that was unusual was me getting up in the night. I used to sleep walk a lot, but it hasn’t happened in months/years, so I was shocked when I got up in the night and opened my door, only to go back to bed again. Though I was aware I did it, I have no idea why I did it. Other than this my sleep pattern was pretty usual.  

6. How do you think you could improve your sleep? ( 3 ideas )

I think I could go to bed earlier during school nights so I don’t feel so tired in the morning. I normally go to bed early, but i’ve had a lot of homework lately and have been going to bed an hour earlier than usual. Another thing that could help me fall asleep faster could be reading before I go to bed. I find that reading allows me to somewhat turn off my brain faster. As well as reading I think that eating dinner would also help with my sleep. When I’m at my dads house we tend to eat dinner quite late, which not only pushes my homework to a later time, but keeps me up.