Track your sleep

[TracyK]

While it is important to track your calories when you eat and your steps when you exercise, you should also be tracking your sleep. Obtaining proper rest is essential for not only achieving weight loss result but making your journey to reach your goal easier. You need to do what you can to get your 7 hours of rest. If you really want to track your sleep, you'll find that there are certain apps and fitness/health trackers that can help you see how much rest you're getting.

[enviroTodd]

I couldn't agree more that sleep plays a very important role in your ability to be healthy and to lose weight. THat's something most people don't acknowledge or that they know and don't do much about. I think it's important to track sleep, too, but that's a lot harder said than done. It's hard to tell how much sleep you've actually had and it's difficult to gauge when you've had quality rest and when you've had a light sleep. Fitness trackers sometimes come with that feature but their accuracy varies very widely so don't use those for anything other than a guess to back up your own feelings about how much sleep you got.

[Bean]

I thought it was 8 hours

[suzieQ]

I thought it was 8 hours

I think it's anywhere from 7 to 9 hours. I do alright with 7 but am definitely happy with my 8. Anything less than 7 and I pay for it.

[BabyButtons]

I couldn't agree more that sleep plays a very important role in your ability to be healthy and to lose weight. THat's something most people don't acknowledge or that they know and don't do much about. I think it's important to track sleep, too, but that's a lot harder said than done. It's hard to tell how much sleep you've actually had and it's difficult to gauge when you've had quality rest and when you've had a light sleep. Fitness trackers sometimes come with that feature but their accuracy varies very widely so don't use those for anything other than a guess to back up your own feelings about how much sleep you got.

I couldn't agree more enviroTodd! Sleep is very important but it is realllly hard to track it. I actually had a fitness tracker tell me that I was getting 8 hours of solid rest when I KNEW I was awake at certain points of the night. I think it tracks how still you are and assumes that you're sleeping haha. So, yeah, don't really trust fitness trackers with sleep trackers.

[enviroTodd]

I couldn't agree more enviroTodd! Sleep is very important but it is realllly hard to track it. I actually had a fitness tracker tell me that I was getting 8 hours of solid rest when I KNEW I was awake at certain points of the night. I think it tracks how still you are and assumes that you're sleeping haha. So, yeah, don't really trust fitness trackers with sleep trackers.

I think that your ability to listen to the rhythms of your own body and pay attention to how much rest you're getting and how rested you actually feel is very good. It shows that regardless of how advanced we may think technology is - and it has obviously come a very long way - it still is not entirely capable of matching what nature has created on its own. Our own minds and the range of factors that go into something as basic as sleeping is still far too much for something that looks like a wristwatch to be able to measure. Unless you want to go to an actual sleep clinic, I think it could potentially do more harm than good to try to use gadgets like fitness trackers to measure sleep. It's wise of you to listen to your own self, BabyButtons.

[BabyButtons]

Thanks enviroTodd. I think it really is best to listen to ourselves when it comes to our sleep. If you're having trouble sleeping Tracyk, I would recommend working on establishing a sleeping routine where you go to bed and get up around the same time every day. Don't eat too close to bed time, wearing comfortable sleeping clothes, make sure you're not too cold or too hot and avoid looking at tv and tablet/smartphone screens while you're in bed. If you feel fully rested when you wake up, you shouldn't need to track your sleep at all!

[enviroTodd]

Thanks enviroTodd. I think it really is best to listen to ourselves when it comes to our sleep. If you're having trouble sleeping Tracyk, I would recommend working on establishing a sleeping routine where you go to bed and get up around the same time every day. Don't eat too close to bed time, wearing comfortable sleeping clothes, make sure you're not too cold or too hot and avoid looking at tv and tablet/smartphone screens while you're in bed. If you feel fully rested when you wake up, you shouldn't need to track your sleep at all!

Those are all very good recommendations. I would also recommend trying to create a natural sleeping environment. Make sure your home is slightly cool instead of warm. Even if you're chilled at first, you'll warm up in your blankets and you'll fall asleep much better in a cool room than a warm one. Keep yourself in dim lights for an hour or two before bedtime to help encourage the production of melatonin and don't turn on any bright lights during the night. It's better to use a nightlight in the bathroom than turn the light on because you might signal to your brain that it's time to get up. I always play binaural rhythms for sleep so I can tune out any background noise and ensure that my brain is using the right waves for deep and restful sleep.

[TracyK]

I couldn't agree more that sleep plays a very important role in your ability to be healthy and to lose weight. THat's something most people don't acknowledge or that they know and don't do much about. I think it's important to track sleep, too, but that's a lot harder said than done. It's hard to tell how much sleep you've actually had and it's difficult to gauge when you've had quality rest and when you've had a light sleep. Fitness trackers sometimes come with that feature but their accuracy varies very widely so don't use those for anything other than a guess to back up your own feelings about how much sleep you got.

Thanks enviroTodd that really helped to answer my question! I think I must just track my sleep myself. That may be the best way for me to figure out how much sleep I'm getting.