Rick's Insomnia: How This Started

I have not slept well since 2019. I know this because I began keeping a sleep log in October 2022 — a spreadsheet tracking bedtime, sleep onset estimate, wake events, and morning subjective quality rating — and because my doctor confirmed in 2022 that the pattern I described was consistent with chronic intermittent insomnia with a sleep maintenance component.

Before the spreadsheet: I just felt tired. I didn't know when the tiredness had started, how bad it was relative to a baseline, or which nights were worse than others. The spreadsheet provided the data structure the problem needed.

What the Data Shows

My average sleep onset latency (time from lights off to first sleep) in 2022 was 38 minutes. The clinical threshold for insomnia diagnosis is 30 minutes three or more times per week. I was at 38 minutes on average, meaning I was above the threshold on most nights.

My average nighttime awakenings: 3.2 per night. Most people average 1-2 and return to sleep quickly. My average return-to-sleep time after waking: 22 minutes.

Total sleep time: 6 hours 8 minutes average in 2022. Not critically low, but below the 7-9 hour recommendation for my age group, and the quality indicated by the wake event frequency suggested the 6 hours was lower-quality sleep than the number implied.

Why This Site Exists

I started researching sleep products in 2022 for the same reason anyone starts researching anything: the problem was real and I wanted to fix it. I found that most sleep product reviews were written by people who didn't have sleep problems. They reviewed a mattress after sleeping on it for two weeks. They reviewed a sleep tracker after using it for a month without a problem to track.

I have a problem. I have been tracking it for three years. I have tried 14 products and protocols as of this writing. Some of them have helped. Some have not. The ones that have helped have helped in measurable ways, because I have the data to measure them. That data is what this site offers.