This writeup has two parts:
1. Sleep Analysis: Quality sleep is necessary for personal wellness. This first part of the assignment assesses your own personal “sleep wellness”.
2. Sleep Improvement: Identify modifications needed to pursue personal “sleep wellness”. Articulate a strategy for achieving personal “sleep wellness”
Part 1: Sleep Analysis
1a. Maintain a Sleep Log: This will be a hand-written record of your personal sleeping habits. It should record as much objective information as possible. It must include at least 3 entries.
INCLUDE IN EACH ENTRY:
• Time you went to sleep; Time you woke up; Total hours of sleep (record times awakened, how long)
• Rate the quality of sleep on a scale of 10 (great) to 1 (poor)
• Dream memories – how many different dreams (or fragments of dreams) can you recall? What was last dream you had? Why do you think you had that dream?
• Other notes about sleep habits and behavior from that night.
1b. Take the “How Large is Your Sleep Debt” Quiz: Quiz and scoring instructions below.
1c. Analysis of sleep behavior: Look at your sleep log and your sleep quiz score. Write a paragraph analyzing your “Sleep Wellness”.
• Are you getting enough sleep? Why or why not? Provide examples.
• What is your sleep space (your bedroom) like? Do you have a tv and/or other electronics in your sleep space? How do these factors affect the quantity and quality of your sleep?
• Do you think your caffeine intake affects your sleep? What about alcohol or other drugs?
• Do you have a sleep routine?
Part 2: Sleep Improvement: Based on your sleep analysis, identify any modifications to your sleep schedule or sleep space needed to pursue personal “sleep wellness”. Develop a strategy for achieving personal “sleep wellness”. If you are getting adequate sleep based on your analysis, then you may not need to make any changes. How can you change your patterns for the better? How will you make sure to get your needed sleep?
Here are some resources to help you identify ways to improve sleep:
• Textbook: “Using Psychology in Your Life: How Can I Get a Good Night’s Sleep” section
• http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/adult-health/in-depth/sleep/art-20048379
• https://sleepfoundation.org/sleep-tools-tips/healthy-sleep-tips
• http://www.prevention.com/health/sleep-energy/20-ways-sleep-better-every-night
Sleep Quiz: How Large is Your Sleep Debt?
The following questionnaire is designed to determine whether you have a sleep deficit. Answer each question by circling yes or no.
1. Do you normally need a loud alarm clock to wake you up in the morning?
Yes
No
2. Do you usually hit the snooze control to get a few minutes more sleep when the alarm goes off in the morning (or simply turn off the alarm and try to catch a bit more sleep)?
Yes
No
3. Do you find that getting out of bed in the morning is usually a struggle?
Yes
No
4. Do you sometimes sleep through the alarm?
Yes
No
5. Do you sleep longer on the weekends than you normally do during the week?
Yes
No
6. On vacations and holidays, do you sleep longer than you normally do on regular work weeks?
Yes
No
7. Do you often feel that your “get-up-and-go” has “gotten-up-and-gone”?
Yes
No
8. Do you find that it is more difficult to attend to details on routine chores than it used to be?
Yes
No
9. Do you sometimes fall asleep when you had not intended to?
Yes
No
10. Do you sometimes find yourself getting very sleepy while you are sitting and reading?
Yes
No
11. Do you sometimes find yourself getting very sleepy or dozing off when you are watching TV?
Yes
No
12. When you are a passenger in an airplane, car, bus, or train and the trip lasts over an hour without a break, do you commonly find yourself getting very sleepy or dozing off?
Yes
No
13. Do you usually feel extremely sleepy or doze off when you are sitting quietly after a large lunch?
Yes
No
14. Do you tend to get sleep when you are sitting quietly at a public meeting, lecture, or in a theatre?
Yes
No
15. Have you sometimes found yourself getting extremely sleepy with the urge to doze when you drive and are stopped for a few minutes in traffic?
Yes
No
16. Do you drink more than four cups of coffee or tea (containing caffeine) during the day? (Remember to count refills; also count extra-large take-out cups as two cups.)
Yes
No
To score this test, count the number of times you circled yes.
Source: Coren, S. (1996). The sleep thieves: An eye-opening exploration into the science and mysteries of sleep. Free Press (Simon & Schuster): New York, pp. 264-265.
Stanley Coren, author of the questionnaire, suggests the following interpretation of the total scores:
• 4 or fewer: Student gets adequate sleep.
• 5 or 6: Most days, the student gets adequate sleep. Some days a person’s sleeps account may be a bit short, and this may mean that performance is less than 100% on certain activities.
• 7 or 8: There is evidence of a sleep debt that may cause noticeable reductions in work efficiency.
• 9-11: Definitely a large sleep debt exists. The person’s work is likely to suffer from large, random errors, and even small errors may be missed when the work is reviewed a second time.
• 12-14: In addition to experiencing the same symptoms as those who score in the 9-11 range, the person’s general quality of life suffers. The person may also be a bit accident prone and subject to temporary memory deficits such as momentarily forgetting his or her address or phone number.
• 15 or above: Sleep debt is a major problem. Levels of sleepiness are in the range often found in people with clinical levels of sleep disturbance – for example, those with sleep apnea or severe insomnia.
