Here at SimplyMe we understand how important a good night’s sleep is, especially when you're working shifts!
We also know it’s important that you get a clear and detailed picture of what your data is really saying about your health. That's why our data scientists use algorithms and maths for everything.
Before you fall asleep on us (are you tracking your sleep minutes?!), take a quick look at the way we calculate sleep and how this applies to you.
Main sleep
Main sleep is your longest period of time ‘asleep’ in a single stretch with any breaks or ‘awake’ periods being less than 40 minutes.
Additional sleep
Any sleep period that is shorter than your main sleep. It is only considered Additional Sleep if there is an awake period or 'break' of over 40 minutes. See the example below:
Sally falls asleep at 6AM and wakes up at 10AM (4 hours). She makes a cup of tea, reads the paper and falls back to sleep at 10:50AM for another hour.
Sally’s sleep time = 4 hours main sleep, 50 minutes awake, 1 hour additional sleep.
While there are many studies that look at anything from quality of sleep to duration, there’s another piece of the puzzle related to shift work, consistency.
As well as inadequate sleep duration and interrupted sleep, the lack of consistent sleep or a ‘regular bedtime’ has been proven to have adverse affects on a persons health.
That doesn’t mean if you stay awake all night watching TV and you fall asleep at 5AM every morning you’re in the clear.
There are other factors that impact consistency including: time in bed versus actual time asleep, duration of sleep on weekends versus weekdays and consistency of sleep over extended periods of time.
While your ratings may continue to appear as amber or red, it’s not all doom and gloom here.. there are always ways you can continue to improve your sleep!
The more you can stick to a regular bedtime , the more uninterrupted sleep you can have and the more you keep your sleeping patterns as consistent as possible… the happier and healthier you will be!