Should I track my sleep?
Yes — at least for a few weeks. Tracking reveals patterns (consistent late nights, fragmented sleep) you might not notice. But don't become obsessed; orthosomnia (anxiety about sleep tracking) is a real phenomenon.
What to track
Bedtime, wake time, total sleep, perceived quality. Simple tracking with a journal or basic app is enough. High-end wearables add detail but not necessarily insight, and their readings are not as reliable as a clinical sleep study.
Useful patterns
Patterns emerge after a few weeks: are weekend shifts hurting? Does evening alcohol go with bad nights? Tracking surfaces patterns worth testing; on its own it cannot prove cause and effect.
Avoid orthosomnia
Sleep clinicians have described patients whose quest for 'perfect' tracker scores became a sleep problem in itself, and named it orthosomnia (Baron et al., 2017). Use tracking to identify big patterns, then stop checking nightly.
Sources
- Baron et al., Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 2017. Orthosomnia: Are Some Patients Taking the Quantified Self Too Far?
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