In my experience with patients using sleep monitors, they can be friend or foe. Some people benefit by becoming more conscious of their sleep patterns and what makes sleep more restorative or less, while others become more anxious about the fact that they aren’t sleeping well, so they end up sleeping worse! 

Think about what your intention is for using one. Is it for motivation for you to attend to your sleep hygiene more thoughtfully? Are you interested in seeing connections between better sleep with better mood, focus, energy, etc.? Or are you someone who tends to be a bit obsessive about doing things “perfectly”? If the latter, it may inadvertently make things worse by stressing you out if/when the monitor tells you that your sleep was poor.

If you do decide to try one, just be mindful of whether it’s benefiting you or making you more distracted by the results. If it’s the latter, let the sleep monitor go, and focus on the foundational elements of good sleep hygiene: whole foods, plant-based nutrition, regular exercise, stress reduction exercises, productive days, creativity, social/spiritual connections, a feeling of contribution, etc.

Let us know what you decide and how it goes!

Best! -Zoe

I just invested in a Bose Wave 4 with Alexa and am using it to play the Barry Goldstein CD that comes in Dr. Amen’s PBS package on “Feel Better Fast and Make It Last also it has connectors on the back for Echo Dot/Alexa that play your Amazon music subscriptions and Audible books. The Goldstein CDs are available Amazon music digitally, if you are not a disc collector.Audible will play any book you want or have bought from them, including Dr. Amen’s.

I got is all connected this weekend to the subscription I already had with Fire TV. It also has an outlet to connect to your TV as an extremely well designed and versatile sound bar. Having a hearing impairment, this has helped me to enjoy movies again. It also can connect to my wireless headphones, so I do not have to bother neighbors. My hearing loss has recently made following conversations in situations with loud background noise and hard to hear dialogue during action scenes where sound effects are loud. It is so good that anyone can hear all of the dialogue and background without needing to turn it too loud. 

Best of all I have been able to fall asleep quickly with that Barry Goldstein’s compositions or with the help of Dr Amen’s hypnotic recordings.