Your Actual Sleep May Differ From Your Perceived Sleep
October 16, 2007 by Kristen King
Filed under Women's Health
“I slept like a baby.”
“I tossed and turned all night.”
“I get 8 hours or more no matter what.”
We may think we know how we’re sleeping, but according to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, we may be very wrong.
Self-reports of total sleep times, both habitually and on the morning after a polysomnogram (PSG), or a sleep test, tend to be higher than objectively measured sleep times, according to a study published in the October 15 issue of the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine (JCSM).
Graciela E. Silva, PhD, of Arizona State University, analyzed a total of 2,113 subjects who were 40 years of age or older. The participants were 53 percent female, 75 percent Caucasian and 38 percent obese. Dr. Silva compared the subjects’ total sleep time and sleep onset latency obtained from unattended home PSGs to sleep times obtained from the Sleep Heart Health Study (SHHS) Sleep Habits Questionnaire, completed before the PSG and the morning after the PSG. The SHHS Sleep Habits Questionnaire contained questions regarding sleep habits, smoking status as well as cardiovascular and respiratory problems.
The results showed that the mean habitual sleep time was 422 minutes, while the mean morning estimated sleep time was 379 minutes and mean PSG total sleep time was 363 minutes. The mean habitual sleep onset latency was 17 minutes, while the mean morning estimated sleep onset latency was 21.8 minutes and mean PSG sleep onset latency was 16.9 minutes.
Read the rest of the report here. For information and resources to help you improve the quality of your sleep, visit SleepInformation.com.
Contents © Copyright 2007 Kristen King
I can tell within 2 hours of waking if I’ve had a good or bad sleep. Even if I wake up “feeling” like I got a good sleep, within 2 hours if I’m starting to have trouble concentrating and I’m feeling fatigued, then I know I sleep poorly. Usually my parnter will then tell me “Geez, bad night last night? You tossed and turned all night.”