Date: Name:

Reflection #7: Seven Days of Sleep

For this assignment, you will be monitoring your sleeping habits. I’m not expecting you to make any changes, I’m just looking for you to
be more aware of your sleeping habits, and perhaps identify what might be getting in the way of you feeling rested. For the next 7 days,
I would like you to try and fill out the following chart. At the end of the 7 days, please respond to summary questions. Save this word
document as a PDF, and post it on the Reflection page of your ePortfolio, under the heading “My 7 Days of Sleep”.

Date Bedtime/ When did Sleep Quality (did you wake up? Did 20 minutes after Comments
Wake up you last look Toss/turn? Did it take you long to you you got up, how
at a device? fall asleep? dream did you feel?
?
(Y/N)

05/06 Right Yes, I often take a long while N Awake, if not a

2:30/10 before bed to fall asleep bit groggy

06/06 3:15/12 With this I did take a while to fall Y Pretty okay is I had some wacky, stress-induced
pandemic asleep. I didn’t really toss the only words dreams this night. Between the
and online and turn in my sleep, I can find to pandemic and other stressors, there
school, my however. sum it up. were some very odd things happening.
response
for each of
these is
the same:
right
before bed
07/06 2:30/9:45 Right I did take a long time to fall N Not gonna lie,
before bed asleep, as well as tossing did not feel
and turning most of the great.
night. I woke up in the
middle of the night.
08/06 3:30/11 Right I unsurprisingly fell asleep N Pretty good,
before bed pretty quick after my actually.
previous sleep.

Colpitts Psychology 12
Date: Name:
09/06 3:30/11:30 Right I was very fitful in my sleep, N Pretty bad,
before bed and woke up a few times. groggy.
10/06 2:30/10:15 Right Meh. I took an average N A little groggy,
before bed amount to fall asleep, and but it got
slept okay. better.
11/06 1:45/10 Right It took me quite a while to Y A little Because I had been dealing with lots of
before bed fall asleep. I was pretty fitful stressed, but UBC stuff, my mind was focused on it.
in my sleep, but didn’t wake otherwise fine. When I woke up, I remember dreaming
up. about being at UBC this fall and not
being able to find my classroom.

Questions:
1) Are you surprised with your results? Explain.
Not really? I’d kind of already observed my sleep patterns, and the correlation between screens and difficulty in sleep. When I
was at my aunt’s in Quebec last summer and I read in my cousin’s room for an hour before bed after putting my phone away, my
quality of sleep was so much better, and it was much easier to fall asleep.
2) How many nights did you recall dreaming? What might that say about the quality of your sleep? Hint – in which stage of sleep do
dreams occur?
I only recall dreaming twice. However, it is significant to note that I forget dreams often, and the only reason I know this is
because sometimes it will be almost afternoon and a random person biking outside or something will give me deja vu, and it will
remind me of my dream. I do not doubt that there’s other occasions on which I have dreamed but have not remembered. When
dreaming, you are in REM sleep. This means that often you will have a better quality sleep when you have dreams. Most of the
dreams I do end up remembering are the stress induced ones, because the next morning I will likely think of the stressor again.
3) Given that we are no longer “going TO school”, how does your sleep for the last 7 days compare to the sleep you got before the
pandemic had us all at home?
I had a WAYYY better sleep schedule before the pandemic. However, the length and quality of my sleep was much, much worse.
The way school was laid out time wise made it impossible for me to receive sleep that was actually satisfying.

Colpitts Psychology 12
Date: Name:
4) Consider the PBS video we watched in class, the Adolescence Sleep Update article by Dr. Wolfram, and your sleep data.
Considering a “normal” school environment, how does school start time affect your sleep? Do you notice a difference in how you
felt on the late start Mondays we started this year?
On late start Mondays, even with the same amount of sleep, I felt so much more refreshed. I also noticed that I was bright and alert for
all classes. With normal starts, every single first morning class is so difficult for me to focus in. I still have not shaken sleep from my
mind, and am unable to perform as well. This is supported by the Sleep Update article by Dr. Wolfram. His study finds that when school
starts even a bit later, there is many improvements and benefits.
5) How do you think you could improve your sleep? Provide at least 3 ideas.

I know that I need to stop looking at devices right before bed. I would like to begin
reading for an hour before bed again. I would also like to do stretching more regularly
before bed to get my blood flowing and relax my muscles. Lastly, I would like to start
sleeping on my back. Once it becomes comfy, I will probably have more ease falling
asleep than on my front (I know, it’s such a bad habit), and it will also probably
positively impact my ability to breathe at night.

Colpitts Psychology 12