How to keep a sleep diary: what to record and a simple example

Fill in the previous night’s sleep details each morning, using your best estimates. A few consistent notes are more useful than trying to reconstruct every minute of the night.

HealthHub’s sleeping well guide recommends bringing a sleep record to your GP or sleep specialist when discussing sleep concerns. It can help make the conversation more specific: when the difficulties happen, what your nights look like and how they affect your day.

When should you fill it in?

Complete the sleep section soon after getting up, ideally within an hour. Use the morning date to label the night that has just ended.

You do not need to check the clock whenever you wake. Estimate how long it took to fall asleep and how much time you spent awake overnight. The Consensus Sleep Diary, developed by sleep researchers, uses morning entries to capture these experiences.

Keep the task brief. “About half an hour” is a useful entry. You do not need to decide whether it was exactly 27 or 34 minutes.

What should you record?

• Time you got into bed: when you physically went to bed.
• Time you tried to sleep: when you stopped reading or doing other things and attempted to sleep.
• Time taken to fall asleep: your estimate, sometimes called sleep latency.
• Night waking: how many awakenings you remember and roughly how long they lasted altogether, before your final awakening.
• Final wake-up time: when you last woke and did not return to sleep.
• Time you got out of bed: when you got up to start the day.
• Sleep quality: a short description, such as poor, fair or good.

These distinctions follow the core structure of the Consensus Sleep Diary. Getting into bed at 10.30 pm and starting to try to sleep at 11 pm are two different entries.

Useful optional notes

Add a little daytime context where relevant:

• Naps or unplanned dozing: approximate start time and duration.
• Caffeine: what you drank, roughly how much and when. Include kopi, teh and other caffeinated drinks.
• Alcohol: approximate amount and timing.
• Medicines or supplements: name, dose and timing if relevant to your sleep discussion.
• Anything unusual: illness, pain, stress, a late shift or a noisy night.
• Daytime functioning: whether you felt alert, tired or sleepy, and any effect on work or daily activities.

HealthHub includes mood, substances and medication details among its suggested sleep-record information. You can note daytime details in the evening if that is easier to remember. The US National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute’s healthy sleep guide also separates morning sleep information from evening entries about naps, drinks and daytime sleepiness.

A simple sleep diary example

Here is an invented entry to show how the pieces fit together. It is not a target sleep schedule.

Morning date: Tuesday, 13 October

I got into bed at 10.45 pm and read for a while. I started trying to sleep at 11.15 pm. I think it took about 30 minutes to fall asleep.

I remember waking twice before morning, for about 40 minutes in total. My final wake-up was at 6.30 am, and I got out of bed at 7 am.

My sleep felt fair. I felt tired over breakfast but managed my usual morning routine.

Yesterday I had a kopi at 9 am and tea at 3 pm, with no alcohol. I napped for about 20 minutes at 2 pm. I was thinking about a work deadline before bed.

In this example, the period from trying to sleep at 11.15 pm to the final awakening at 6.30 am was 7 hours 15 minutes. Subtracting the estimated 30 minutes to fall asleep and 40 minutes awake overnight gives about 6 hours 5 minutes of sleep.

That calculation is optional. Keeping the separate timings is enough to start. The 30 minutes between the final awakening and getting out of bed should not be counted as sleep.

How long should you keep going?

Aim for about two weeks, including workdays and days off, unless your clinician gives you different instructions. SingHealth’s CBT-I information explains that a therapist may request roughly two weeks of sleep records when assessing someone for cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia, or CBT-I.

Keep both easier and more difficult nights. If you miss an entry and cannot remember it, leave a gap rather than inventing details.

What can you do with the entries?

Look for questions worth discussing:

• Do your sleep timings differ between workdays and days off?
• Is the main difficulty falling asleep, waking overnight or waking earlier than intended?
• Which nights leave you struggling most the next day?
• Are any changes repeated across several entries?

A pattern can suggest a question; it does not prove what caused the problem. Bring the diary to an appointment rather than using one number to diagnose yourself. For related reading, see waking during the night or too early and worrying about sleep.

Do not use the example’s sleep duration to set your own restricted sleep window or change medication. The AASM patient guide to insomnia treatment advises choosing insomnia treatment with a medical provider who can consider daytime sleepiness and other health conditions.

When should you ask for help?

Speak to a GP if sleep difficulties persist, bother you or affect daily functioning. You do not need a completed two-week diary before seeking advice. SingHealth: Insomnia

Mention loud snoring, witnessed breathing pauses, waking gasping or significant daytime sleepiness. These can be signs of sleep apnoea and deserve assessment. HealthHub: Obstructive sleep apnoea

For broader information about symptoms and support, read our guide to insomnia in Singapore. You can also browse our sleep education guides.

Start with one brief entry tomorrow morning. Record what you remember, leave uncertainty as uncertainty and use the diary to support a conversation about your sleep.

This article provides general information for adults and does not replace individual medical assessment.