What I learned from monitoring my sleep patterns for a month

#1 - It's a real pain in the a@@ to keep track of all that stuff for an entire month.

#2 - I averaged 7.5 hours of sleep per night.  The most I ever got was 9.25 and the least was 5.25.  In general, my sleep quality was better when I got more sleep.

#3 - I went to bed between 11:00 pm and 1:30 am, with an average bedtime of 12:15 am.  In general, I got more sleep when I went to bed earlier.

#4 - It took me an average of 30 minutes to fall asleep.  This is somewhat subjective, since I couldn't really monitor when I got to sleep.  I based it off of the last time I looked at the clock after going to bed.  The longest it took was 2 hours.  I fell asleep faster when I went to bed before midnight.  The five nights that it took more than an hour to get to sleep, I went to bed at midnight or later.  The shortest times to sleep were when I went to bed shortly before midnight.

#5 - The longer I slept, the better I rated the quality of sleep, in general.

#6 - The more pain I was in, the less sleep I got.


#7 - In the day-to-day game of weight gain/loss, I lost more when I slept more and gained more when I slept less.  Although from day to day, I gained or lost up to 2 pounds, overall, I didn't gain or lose significantly during the month.

#8 - There was a slight trend of worse sleep on days with more alcohol, but it wasn't as significant as I'd expected.

#9 - I looked at the four nights where I rated my sleep "poor" and found no common denominator.  I exercised each of the days, but did different exercises and different times of day.  My mood, pain, and energy levels were moderate to good on those days.  Some days I got outside, some I didn't.  I went to bed from 11 pm to 1:30 am.  So, it was disappointing to be unable to find any reason that would lead to poor sleep.  Even the phases of the moon were different!   Similarly, the nights I rated the best didn't have any obvious commonality.

#10 - I did not engage in self-care activities such as meditation and journaling nearly enough over the month to determine if it would help with sleep, mood or weight loss.

My conclusions from this month were pretty limited:

1)  Aim for bedtime before midnight.
2)  Limit alcohol consumption.

My next experiment will be to try to journal and meditate every day for a month and see if it has any effect on sleep, mood and weight loss.  I'm going to give myself a break from monitoring my own behavior for a week, and start the experiment in March.

9 weeks into the exercise program and 1 year into the "new me" experiment

January 25, 2013

February 10, 2014

 A year ago, I was told that I had the beginnings of some medical conditions that were related to my weight and my diet.  Not wanting to enter the world of prescription medications, I began to work on making myself healthier.  In the past year, I've made a lot of changes in my life.  I've been feeling really blah with the winter weather over the past few weeks, so I decided it's time to take inventory of all that I've accomplished, in order to motivate myself to continue being good to myself.

Diet changes:
1.  I've eliminated, for the most part, sugar, artificial sweeteners, and high fructose corn syrup.
2.  I've eliminated, for the most part, gluten grains.
3.  I've eliminated, for the most part, white potatoes and corn.
4.  I've eliminated, for the most part, fried foods.
5.  I've significantly reduced my consumption of alcohol.
6.  I've significantly increased my consumption of fruit and vegetables.
7.  I've added coconut oil as a staple of my diet.
8.  I've learned to love sweet potatoes, baked or oven fries.
9.  I've eliminated, for the most part, processed meat (although a little bacon is eaten every now and again).
10.  Chia seeds have become a staple of my diet.
11.  I now snack on nuts and fruits, rather than chips and cookies.
12.  I've eliminated dairy, except for a little grass fed butter on occasion.
13.  I'm consistently taking Vitamin D supplements, and have done much better with taking multivitamins.



Exercise changes:
1.  I began walking and riding my bike, gradually increasing the distance and speed.
2.  Two months ago, I added in strength and interval cardio training.  I'm on a 6-day a week schedule, and haven't missed too often.


Results:  I didn't start taking measurements until I'd already lost 20 pounds, so these are the results since then.
1.  I've lost 53 pounds, 3 pant sizes, and 2 shirt sizes.  My shoes from last year are even too big.
2.  I've lost more than 8 inches from my hips.
3.  I've lost more than 7 inches from my waist.
4.  I've lost more than 4 inches from my bust.  My bust measurement has actually be increasing a little in the past couple of months since I've been working out.  I think because my better muscle strength keeps me from drooping so much.
5.  My % body fat had dropped about 10%.
6.  My % muscle has stayed consistent, or increased slightly.
7.  My lab tests have normalized.
8.  I have more endurance.
9.  My muscle and joint pain is significantly less.
10. My mood is much better.
11.  I can walk up to 4 mph on the treadmill without my Achilles tendons hurting (2.8 mph used to be my limit).
12.  My husband has joined me in this journey, and he has lost over 20 pounds and has significantly improved his blood sugar control (he's diabetic).
13.  I've reduced, but haven't been able to eliminate, my use of anti-inflammatory medications.

I'm pretty happy with myself for all that I've done to keep myself healthier.  I rarely feel like I'm sacrificing anymore, other than when I get an occasional craving for pizza.  Feeling better makes it all worthwhile.

Currently, I'm working on figuring out the optimal sleep cycle for myself.  My goals for the next year are to maintain my current eating and exercise patterns, perhaps going back to complete elimination of corn products (I've found they really don't agree with me).  I would also like to get myself into a schedule of regular emotional/spiritual self-care, such as journaling, doing self-Reiki, and getting bodywork.

The sun is supposed to come out this week and the weather should warm up.  I expect that will improve my mood greatly.   I'm looking forward to getting outdoors more and continuing on my journey of being the best me I can be.

Exercise plan - Week 9 Photos:

7.5 weeks of Exercise

Just a quick update.  It seems that my body is changing shape, even if the weight isn't falling off.   Still down about 5 pounds from 2 months ago, which I consider a win since Christmas and New Year's were mixed in there, and the yucky winter weather is keeping me indoors much too much for my liking.  I've managed to exercise nearly every day I've had scheduled, and I'm starting to increase the weights I do when it's strength day and the speed I walk at when it's cardio day.