How well did you sleep?

This is the first question I ask myself when I wake up in the morning. If I am just going by how I feel, of course, it’s subjective. But I also use a Fitbit and Oura ring to track sleep so that I have some data to review. It is both the quantity of sleep and the quality of sleep that matter. 

Sleep is important. Period. The more experiments and data we collect, the more beneficial we find sleep and the more detrimental we find the lack of sleep across all ages. 

This is why I start my day by asking the important question, “How well did I sleep?” If I slept well, I’m firing on all cylinders and it will be a great day ahead. If I did not sleep well, I may not be a hard-charger that day. And, more importantly, I need to figure out what I need to do to ensure a good night’s sleep the next night.

I know some people who use daily schedules and planners, and the first thing they schedule is sleep time. The prioritize sleep to the point that everything else that day is scheduled around it. Obviously, it takes discipline as well as the ability to control your daily schedule to make this happen.

I challenge you to start asking yourself the question, “How well did I sleep?” after you wake up in the morning or whenever you wake up if you have a different schedule. Listen to your body. Use this technique to figure out ways to improve your sleep. Your health depends on it.