how do you tell whether you've slept well or poorly?
Outside of clinical depression, which skews things, the most basic way of being able to tell is simply whether you feel like you need to go back to bed or not. People who sleep well - even when sad or upset - don't feel like they constantly need to go back to sleep. On the other hand, even when I feel good, I could always sleep / go back to bed.
Chronic sleep dep. is pretty common in our society these days, so a lot of people actually don't sleep well. :(
Thanks! Lately I've been feeling really kicked in and burned out and it so happens this was about the time an online friend mentioned they hadn't been sleeping well. I realized that I'd never actually thought about whether I was sleeping well or not and had no idea what the qualifications were.
Between the depression and being a sleep worker, I pretty well always feel like sleep might be a good idea, and I generally tell whether I slept well by how many times I woke up in the night, which is something I remember pretty well.
That said, what Moonvoice says here is more or less my understanding as well - if when you get up you feel rested, and after a bit of time waking up you feel awake, alert, and generally pretty decent, you've slept well.
If you wake up feeling like you didn't sleep, you slept poorly.
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(no subject)
Date: 2013-04-26 01:42 am (UTC)Outside of clinical depression, which skews things, the most basic way of being able to tell is simply whether you feel like you need to go back to bed or not. People who sleep well - even when sad or upset - don't feel like they constantly need to go back to sleep. On the other hand, even when I feel good, I could always sleep / go back to bed.
Chronic sleep dep. is pretty common in our society these days, so a lot of people actually don't sleep well. :(
(no subject)
Date: 2013-04-27 05:01 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-04-28 07:17 am (UTC)That said, what Moonvoice says here is more or less my understanding as well - if when you get up you feel rested, and after a bit of time waking up you feel awake, alert, and generally pretty decent, you've slept well.
If you wake up feeling like you didn't sleep, you slept poorly.
-E-
Well...
Date: 2013-04-26 09:01 am (UTC)* You fall asleep easily and tend to stay that way.
* If you wake up, you can get back to sleep in short order.
* You rarely have nightmares.
* In the morning you feel rested, wake up easily, and are comfortable.
Sleeping poorly means:
* You may have trouble getting to sleep and staying asleep.
* You're more likely to wake up at night and have trouble getting back to sleep.
* You're more likely to have nightmares.
* You have a hard time waking up, still feel tired, and may be stiff and sore.
Re: Well...
Date: 2013-04-27 05:01 am (UTC)