Sleep Diary
Track your sleep night by night to see real patterns, calculate sleep efficiency, and bring clear data to a doctor or to CBT for insomnia.
About this tool
A sleep diary is the foundation of understanding and improving sleep. Memory is a poor judge of how we slept: a few rough nights can color our sense of weeks, and we tend to overestimate how long it took to fall asleep. By recording a few simple details each morning, a diary replaces impressions with a clear, week-by-week picture of your actual sleep patterns.
Clinicians rely on sleep diaries too. In cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I), the recommended first-line treatment for chronic insomnia, the diary is the working document. It is used to calculate sleep efficiency (the percentage of time in bed that you are actually asleep) and to set and adjust a sleep window over time. A doctor assessing sleep problems will also learn far more from one to two weeks of diary entries than from a single appointment.
Keep it quick and honest. Fill it in once each morning based on your best estimate, and resist the urge to clock-watch during the night, which only increases arousal. After a week or two, look back for patterns: a late caffeine that costs you sleep, weekend lie-ins that shift your clock, or how alcohol affects the night. Those patterns are where the useful changes start.
- Carney CE, et al. The consensus sleep diary: standardizing prospective sleep self-monitoring. Sleep. 2012;35(2):287-302.
- Edinger JD, et al. Behavioral and psychological treatments for chronic insomnia disorder in adults: an American Academy of Sleep Medicine clinical practice guideline. J Clin Sleep Med. 2021;17(2):255-262.
Sleep Diary FAQ
How do I use a sleep diary?
Each morning, log your bedtime, wake time, estimated hours slept, number of awakenings, and a quality rating, plus notes on caffeine, stress, or naps. After one to two weeks, review it for patterns.
What is sleep efficiency?
It is the percentage of time in bed that you spend actually asleep (time asleep divided by time in bed, times 100). It is a key metric in CBT-I, where a healthy target is often around 85 percent or higher.
Should I check the clock during the night?
No. Clock-watching tends to increase anxiety and arousal, making sleep harder. Fill in the diary once in the morning using your best estimate.
Is my data saved anywhere?
No. The tracker runs in your browser and nothing is uploaded. The PDF is created on your own device.