Sleep Quality & Deep Sleep

[yerrag]

I had a couple of days of 100 percent sleep quality where I felt groggy the next day, tired, unrested etc. Not sure how they work out that.

I don't think they'd know if you knocked yourself out drinking and slept the whole night through, and woke up with a headache. It is a computer program working on a limited sets of inputs - sound and motion - and their sleep quality scoring system is based on assumptions that may or may not apply to you at any given night.

I've been testing a different sleep app, Sleep as Android. I thought it would work well as it should be able to hear when I wake up and go to the bathroom, and my Galaxy S5's accelerometer should confirm what the mic hears. Last night, I woke up to pee. I didn't try to soften my motion, yet it didn't notice that I woke up. Maybe the app was also asleep at that time, who knows? Still, it was satisfactory as it was the first night it did that in a week. I wonder if a pillow snuffed the smartphone that time and made it deaf.

Overall though, I think the app helped. It kept track of when I wake up for the most part. It detected my snoring and recorded it. It kept track of how long I slept. Without it, I wouldn't know that I snored. Funny thing though, last night I had my mouth taped snuggly. I thought I slept very well. I was disappointed though when it said I snored 3% of the time, and that was the highest snore score I got. And I heard and verified my snoring as recorded.

That left me wondering how I could have snored with my mouth taped all that time. Maybe it was my cat? Do cats snore? It sure sounded human.

 

[YourUniverse]

I know a fairly decorated and large powerlifter. He's north of 280, south of 5'8, and strong as hell. Talking to him, it becomes fairly suspicious that he has sleep apnea - takes naps, is tired all day, has to train in the morning because his energy fades sharply, and of course, he's very large with a thick neck.

Interestingly, he wakes up feeling wide awake. Could the stress of dozens of micro wakings make a person wake up feeling "good"? In that vein, wouldn't waking up groggy then be a good sign, low stress?

 

[raypeatclips]

I don't think they'd know if you knocked yourself out drinking and slept the whole night through, and woke up with a headache. It is a computer program working on a limited sets of inputs - sound and motion - and their sleep quality scoring system is based on assumptions that may or may not apply to you at any given night.

I've been testing a different sleep app, Sleep as Android. I thought it would work well as it should be able to hear when I wake up and go to the bathroom, and my Galaxy S5's accelerometer should confirm what the mic hears. Last night, I woke up to pee. I didn't try to soften my motion, yet it didn't notice that I woke up. Maybe the app was also asleep at that time, who knows? Still, it was satisfactory as it was the first night it did that in a week. I wonder if a pillow snuffed the smartphone that time and made it deaf.

Overall though, I think the app helped. It kept track of when I wake up for the most part. It detected my snoring and recorded it. It kept track of how long I slept. Without it, I wouldn't know that I snored. Funny thing though, last night I had my mouth taped snuggly. I thought I slept very well. I was disappointed though when it said I snored 3% of the time, and that was the highest snore score I got. And I heard and verified my snoring as recorded.

That left me wondering how I could have snored with my mouth taped all that time. Maybe it was my cat? Do cats snore? It sure sounded human.

Sure, but I hadn't knocked myself out drinking alcohol haha.

Strange it didn't pick up that you were awake when you got up. Maybe these apps are pretty limited and flawed and we can just use them for a rough idea, rather than think they're flawless and take the graphs as gospel.

I know a fairly decorated and large powerlifter. He's north of 280, south of 5'8, and strong as hell. Talking to him, it becomes fairly suspicious that he has sleep apnea - takes naps, is tired all day, has to train in the morning because his energy fades sharply, and of course, he's very large with a thick neck.

Interestingly, he wakes up feeling wide awake. Could the stress of dozens of micro wakings make a person wake up feeling "good"? In that vein, wouldn't waking up groggy then be a good sign, low stress?

That is an interesting thought, waking up feeling good a sign of stress and groggy as low stress. I wonder.

 

[biggirlkisss]

jamie try and go from there. Use incandescent or led 2700k . as bright as possible highest lumens.

 

[Luckytype]

I think it just uses the mic to pic up a sound pattern based on breathing and time between breaths with movement added in.

Since becoming hypo ive noticed my ability to stay in one position without fidgeting has increased. When I first get to bed there is a solid 20 minutes where i just lie still. Based on the app it says im in deep sleep.

Also i can sleep for 9 hours nearly flatlined in the bottom of "deep sleep" and still wake up feeling like crap.

The app is just a tool to gauge restlessness and maybe snoring, not to measuring restorative quality. Helpful nonetheless

 

[yerrag]

How often do you dream while sleeping? Can you have restorative sleep without even dreaming every now and then? If you have REM sleep as a part of restorative sleep, shouldn't your chances of having a dream be increased and be more often? It is rare that I dream. Once a month is too often already. It seems my sleep quality has a long way to go before I can call it excellent. Anyone here dreams every night?

 

[YourUniverse]

jamie try and go from there. Use incandescent or led 2700k . as bright as possible highest lumens.

It's something I could give a shot, although I have to admit that I'm skeptical. I have a philips wakeup lamp that can be set fairly bright.

How often do you dream while sleeping? Can you have restorative sleep without even dreaming every now and then? If you have REM sleep as a part of restorative sleep, shouldn't your chances of having a dream be increased and be more often? It is rare that I dream. Once a month is too often already. It seems my sleep quality has a long way to go before I can call it excellent. Anyone here dreams every night?

To my knowledge, we dream in stages of sleep that are lighter than true "deep sleep" - dreamless sleep is usually thought of as the most restorative. Personally, I wake up feeling AMAZING on mornings when I can recall dreams. I don't remember having dreamt for some time now.

A little update. I've gotten 96% and 90% on the app the last 2 nights, whatever that means. I note that on nights that I score poorly, the graphs show I am almost awake around midnight. On nights that I score highly, I am fairly deeply asleep around midnight.

This morning, I woke up very groggy, but with a "90%" score, and a good amount of deep sleep. As the morning has progressed, however, I feel lighter and more energetic than usual. Perhaps there is something to the scoring that we have yet to discover, and maybe being groggy means cortisol and etc are low.

What I have consciously been doing is 1) shining the UVB lamp on my back for ~2 minutes in the morning, and again for ~15 seconds in the afternoon, and b) having gelatin, honey, salt, and vinegar in chamomile tea before bed. The tea makes me extremely sleepy.

 

[lampofred]

I heard that having adequate amounts of GABA is key in achieving deep sleep, but I have no idea how to actually achieve that. All Peat says about increasing GABA is that hypothyroidism, hyperestrogenism, and excess PUFA in your brain create the excitotoxic state in your brain with low GABA, but I'm not sure if he's ever mentioned any short-term way to increase GABA-ergic activity besides staying warm.

 

[YourUniverse]

I heard that having adequate amounts of GABA is key in achieving deep sleep, but I have no idea how to actually achieve that. All Peat says about increasing GABA is that hypothyroidism, hyperestrogenism, and excess PUFA in your brain create the excitotoxic state in your brain with low GABA, but I'm not sure if he's ever mentioned any short-term way to increase GABA-ergic activity besides staying warm.

Good point. GABA is antagonised by glutamate to my knowledge. I asked @DaveFoster how to block glutamate, and he recommended aspirin & lowering inflammation. It makes sense - aspirin definitely makes me feel more calm and sleep better.

 

[Mito]

Anyone here dreams every night?

Yes

 

[Mito]

If I understand correctly, it's just using the gyroscope to detect motion; is that the best measure of sleep?
Also, what about the argument against having an electronic device so close to you while sleeping? That was a big factor as well, for me, to stop using it.

Fitbit Alta HR uses both motion and heart rate. It can be placed into manual sync mode which means it does not send or receive a signal unless you want it to. It communicates with Bluetooth not WiFi.

 

[yerrag]

Yes

Wow! In your experience, is it the hallmark of a good sleep?

 

[Mito]

Wow! In your experience, is it the hallmark of a good sleep?

Not necessarily because overall duration, number (and length) of sleep disturbances, and deep sleep influence it as well.

 

[yerrag]

Not necessarily because overall duration, number (and length) of sleep disturbances, and deep sleep influence it as well.

Am I wrong is thinking that you dream despite having these issues? So being in a dream state while asleep is not dependent on the favorable effect of these factors working well?

 

[Mito]

Am I wrong is thinking that you dream despite having these issues?

That’s correct, I dream despite sleep disturbances.

 

[yerrag]

That’s correct, I dream despite sleep disturbances.

Is there a specific time?

 

[Mito]

Is there a specific time?

Not really.

 

[yerrag]

Not really.

Fairies have been known to be quite inconsistent with their appointments.

 

[SOMO]

I tried to do a Warrior Diet (1 daily meal) and found I was getting nightmares throughout the night, probably indicating my BG was falling at night while asleep.
Also, as RP notes, I get up at night frequently to urinate, although I do drink a fair amount of fluids (glycine + Pyridoxine HCl B6 + salt + stevia + water) right before bed.

I usually try to avoid carbohydrates before bed, but if nightmares continue, will definitely try eating more sugar before bed.

 

[Mossy]

Fitbit Alta HR uses both motion and heart rate. It can be placed into manual sync mode which means it does not send or receive a signal unless you want it to. It communicates with Bluetooth not WiFi.

Ok, that does sound better than the smartphone version, but I still have some skepticism about these type of devices/apps being accurate and just kind of gimmicky. I'm not saying I will always have this view; like many of us, I would like an accurate means to determine sleep quality, but just based on my experience, and many others, that a registered good night of sleep many times is contradicted by the fact of feeling bad in the morning.