Sleep Diary anyone?

[Homerec130]

I try to keep track of when I am awake in the middle of the night. You know, bathroom breaks, cat wants to get fed, something good comes on TV (wife is up half the night). That way I can go back into sleepy head especially when I get some of the odd AHI readings.

[ImaSurvivor]

I keep a steno pad in my night stand. I write down hours slept, AHI, leak rate each morning when I wake up. It has become a habit for me before I get out of bed to jot down my notes and also make a notation on the days I change my cushions, masks, filters. I also enter it all on my phone diary (it registers 187 entries to date). That is overkill but I like having the information with me during the day if I need to refer to something since I don't carry my notebook. I load sleepyhead once a week. Looking at my notebook helps me identify dates on sleepyhead that I might want to take a closer look at and I make notations in the notes section of sleepyhead when I have a new cushion, mask, etc.

I also make notations of when I am traveling and where. I have seen a pattern that my AHI is decreased by a lot when we are away. My AHI isn't over 5 but it averages around 3 at home. Interestingly when we are away it is really low for me averaging about 1 or less. I haven't figured out why that would be. It was the same when we were away a few weeks earlier apartment hunting for our daughter. Was exhausted both trips when I went to bed

I wonder if it has to do with different mattress, thicker pillows, etc. Last two nights we were away moving our daughter ... it was a long, tiring, stressful weekend all tied in with her college graduation, leaving immediately after the ceremony for a 6 hour drive traveling with three vehicles. Spent two days moving her in, assembling furniture, cleaning, grocery shopping and threw a baseball game in too. My AHI for the two nights were 0.8 and 0.9 ... now for the last two weeks home and I am back between 2 and 3.

[PaytonA]

I also make notations of when I am traveling and where. I have seen a pattern that my AHI is decreased by a lot when we are away. My AHI isn't over 5 but it averages around 3 at home. Interestingly when we are away it is really low for me averaging about 1 or less. I haven't figured out why that would be. It was the same when we were away a few weeks earlier apartment hunting for our daughter. Was exhausted both trips when I went to bed

I wonder if it has to do with different mattress, thicker pillows, etc. Last two nights we were away moving our daughter ... it was a long, tiring, stressful weekend all tied in with her college graduation, leaving immediately after the ceremony for a 6 hour drive traveling with three vehicles. Spent two days moving her in, assembling furniture, cleaning, grocery shopping and threw a baseball game in too. My AHI for the two nights were 0.8 and 0.9 ... now for the last two weeks home and I am back between 2 and 3.

It sounds like it might be that your body and mind are so tired that they really relax and let you sleep. At the end of the day maybe you do not have as many pressing issues running through your mind and body let you fall into a very relaxed sleep. A lot of tiring effort used to clear my mind real well. Maybe you too.

Best Regards,

PaytonA

[PaulaO2]

Or you lay down on your side and don't move. But at home, you feel more comfortable so you move around, including your back, which would raise the AHI.

And the aliens know where you live.

[PaulaO2]

Okay, so I kept notes for a few days and now I'm trying to put them into SH.

But the problem is, my blonde brain can't wrap itself around what day to put the notes in! I'll probably have it figured out by the time I talk it through here. That's how I think.

So, like, Thursday night, I had to sleep in the office because it was so hot. So how I felt going to bed would go into Thursday's notes?

And how I felt getting up would go into Friday's? But I see a night's sleep as one unit.

So for those of you who add your sleep notes into SH, how do you do it?

[ImaSurvivor]

PaytonA and Paula O2 ... both good comments to ponder. I had wondered if our mattress at home is too soft and adding to a bit higher AHI. I sleep on either side ok but I do find I move to my back when my hips ache from being on them. I have a slight problem with sciatic nerve pain most mornings when I wake up at home. I never feel it when in motels. The pain usually goes away once I am up moving around and hot water from the shower relieves it. It has made me wonder if it is a mattress issue for the sciatic and that has also made me wonder if that could affect the AHI too. Before beginning CPAP I loved to sleep on my stomach but I have not mastered how to do that comfortably with a mask.

Paula02, I have had the same problem wondering on what day to put my notes on and I am a brunette. LoL! On my steno pad I have resorted to writing dates i.e. 6/2 - 6/3 (identifying my data for the night of June 2 through morning of June 3). On my phone diary that information gets entered on 6/3 (I just have to remember that it is information for the night of June 2). Sleepyhead's data listed for 6/2 is data recorded going to sleep on June 2. If I do something like change a filter on say like June 3, then I enter it on my steno pad journal under 6/3 - 6/4 and maybe make an extra notation "June 3" so that a few months later when I am looking at it and trying to figure out if I changed it on June 3 or June 4 I see my note I would enter it on my Sleepyhead notes for June 3.

In your example, I would include how you felt waking Friday morning with the notes of how you felt going to bed Thursday night and the reason why you slept in your office. It is all associated with that one unit of sleep from Thursday through Friday.

[PaytonA]

All of your data is from Thursday as far as your CPAP is concerned so would you not put your awakening notes in for Thursday? The thing I am unclear about is where you would put notes for the rest of the day- like after noon on Friday.

[ImaSurvivor]

I associate how I feel waking up Thursday morning with the night of sleep that began on Wednesday night ... so I would put it all together with Wednesday's sleep report. Friday afternoon I would keep with Friday's sleep report. I think how you are feeling later in the day can be indicative of your quality of sleep you might have that night or any tweaks that were made leading into sleep like Paula did with sleeping in her office. So Friday afternoon's feelings I would keep with Friday's sleep report along with how I felt waking up Saturday morning.

[PaulaO2]

Ima, I think you just made me lose another brain cell.....

[ImaSurvivor]

LoL