Bio-sensors
– everything from blood pressure monitors on smartphones to FitBit's on wrists
that measure your locomotion - are all the rage these days and one man decided
to use these new gadgets to monitor his sleep.
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PBS's Hari Sreenivasan checked his sleeping data for a year. What he learned may help you sleep. |
As a
self-described poor sleeper much of the time, PBS news anchor Hari Sreenivasan bought a
smartwatch that checked his movements, skin temperature, perspiration, and even
attempted to get a measure of his heartbeat. It combined all these data and
more and generated an image of his sleep time. He could see in great detail how
often he slept, when he was awake and even the different phases of the sleep
cycle like deep and light sleeping.
He took
a year's worth of data and checked it against days in which he felt he had a great
night's sleep, waking up refreshed and energized, versus days in which he was
dragged-out tired.
What he
found may be unique to him, but I doubt it. At the very least, you can try what
he learned. You have nothing to lose and may gain an excellent night's sleep.
He
found the following correlated to a good night's sleep:
any sort of strenuous physical activity
during the day - like a run or a bike ride
not eating late at night, especially no
spicy foods
not checking my smartphone or computer
screen right before bed
a hot shower right before bed
sleeping with the windows open or in a
cold room
These
correlated to a poor night's sleep:
time zone shifts/ flights
lack of exercise during the day
late night computing/smart-phoning
late night meal especially if it is
spicy or very sweet
sleeping pill
As any
researcher will tell you, correlation is not imply causation, but sometimes it
does.
Sreenivasan
noted, "Breaking the sleeping-pill crutch was one of the first major
changes I made, thanks to the data. What I saw was that while I definitely
sleep longer after taking a pill, I don’t sleep better. For me, the extra time
seems to be spent mostly in light sleep versus deep sleep or REM sleep, and I
almost never wake up feeling refreshed. Sleep experts also point out that
cognitive behavioral therapy is as successful if not more so than taking pills,
without any of the long term side effects."
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