Garmin Sleep Tracker – “It’s Not the Night Before That Matters. It’s All the Nights Before That.”
There’s something about sleep. I was never one for much sleep when I was a teenager. My father and I would wake up at 6:00, and go exercise before school. There were always chores before breakfast and carpool. Bedtime was usually 10:00, and I wasn’t one to stay up on the phone. I frequently read myself to sleep. Now, with technology, I’m hoping the Garmin Sleep Tracker will not just provide data, but help me acquire knowledge about how to optimize my sleep.
When I attended Boarding School, I became a very light sleeper. There were always people pulling pranks and hazing. I just never wanted to get caught with my pants down. I also arose early to run 3 miles, shower, and be first in line for breakfast when it was fresh.
Sleep and Fitness Are Connected
I think Americans are chronic under-sleepers. We are overstressed, we don’t take vacations, and we treat ourselves with chemicals and fads. We drink too much alcohol and not enough hydration solution. Sleep quality and quantity suffer. I know in Dallas, I basically ended up homeless when our neighbor, a drug addict, would harass us all night long. HE was unemployed and went from 8-Balls to Pot, to live his life up and down. WE were not on his schedule of nightcrawling, so we suffered and ended up assaulted. But that’s another story for another time.
Sleep affects your performance. One night of poor sleep can be overcome. It’s chronically poor sleep that affects performance, mood, and life. I’m hoping the Garmin Sleep Tracker will help my performance by enhancing my chronic sleep habits.
Tracking 1 Week of Sleep With My Garmin Watch
My Garmin Fenix 6X Pro is recording about 7.5 hours of sleep per night. The Garmin Sleep Tracker shows that I’m usually asleep by 9:06 pm and I usually wake up around 5:20am. I DO sleep better after exercise, but not always. Deep Sleep Goals are mostly being met, but REM sleep is less consistent. If I do not take a sleep aid, I usually wake up around 2-3am, and I’m awake anywhere from 20-60 minutes when I do wake up. When I take a sleep aid, I almost ALWAYS have a great night of DEEP and REM Sleep. I don’t want to take those medications too often, so I usually take them just once a week, after about 3 nights of restlessness.
I’m going to reduce my alcohol intake to 1 beer per evening. I’m also going to try to follow Garmin’s recommendations for Hydration, something I have NEVER been good at. I’ll also try to find the elusive Garmin Sleep Score, which shows up on my wristwatch but doesn’t show up on Garmin Connect.
Here’s the video description; don’t forget to refer friends to the blog, and thank you for your subscription. I’ll be announcing February’s Webinar soon.
Enjoy the Ride!
