Sleep TrackingEditorial team · Nov 1, 2026 · 2 min read
How to Keep a Sleep Diary
A simple, repeatable way to record sleep so you can see patterns instead of guessing.
Read the articleFree printable resource
The sleep diary
A two-page nightly log and a reflection page, designed to be printed and filled in by hand in under two minutes each morning. Yours to download and keep — no email required.
PDF · A4, print-ready · free
Preview: the nightly log page. The downloadable PDF contains two week-long grids and a reflection page.
What a sleep diary actually records
A sleep diary is not a gadget or a score. It is a short, honest record of your nights, kept for long enough to see a pattern. Memory is unreliable at 6am — writing down the same few details each morning turns a vague sense of "bad sleep" into something you can actually look at.
- When you went to bed
- And when you actually turned the light out.
- How long it took to fall asleep
- An estimate is enough — precision is not the point.
- Night wakings
- How often, and roughly how long you were awake.
- Final wake and rise
- The time you woke, and the time you got up.
- Morning energy
- A simple 1–5 rating you can compare across weeks.
If you decide to speak with a clinician, a completed diary gives that conversation something concrete to start from — which is often more useful than a single night's memory.
How to use it
- 1
Print the pages, or keep the PDF on a tablet you can write on.
- 2
Fill in one row each morning, within an hour of waking, while the night is still fresh.
- 3
After two weeks, read the reflection page and look for repetition rather than single bad nights.
Educational information only — not medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. See our medical disclaimer.
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