Two Bearable users tracked their Sleep & Habits for two years, here's what they learned.

Two years ago, one keen early adopter of Bearable (and his girlfriend) decided to track a number of sleep habits and behaviours to see what impacted the quality of their sleep:

Read his story below:

Why was I interested in conducting this experiment? Because, along with fitness and nutrition, I knew that sleep could play a huge role in my overall well-being. 

There’s a wealth of information about the importance of sleep and it’s impact on physical and mental health, which can include:

• • Reduced risk of obesity
  • Better insulin management
  • Better cognitive performance
  • Better mood
  • Better physical safety
  • Better learning and thinking
  • Better emotional and mental health
  • Reduced risk of suicidal ideas and behaviours

At this point in time, I had just begun to access treatment for chronic migraines and so I also wanted to do everything that I could to support this process. I hoped that by improving my sleep I could also improve my overall health and reduce the severity of my symptoms.

Having made myself familiar with many of the common sleep hygiene recommendations, I set out to understand the habits that would help me to manage my sleep and health better.

One of the first thoughts I had about Bearable was that it might help to highlight the different ways that people respond to common health recommendations. To put this to the test, my girlfriend and I tested a selection of common habits associated with better sleep and tracked them – along with daily sleep quality scores – in Bearable.

And then we waited.

🧪 The results of our sleep experiment.

Two years later, it’s fascinating to look back at some of the similarities (fasting before bed helped us both) as well as some of the differences (sharing my bed is terrible for my sleep but not my partner’s). In some ways, it has also generated even more questions about what impacts my sleep. 

For example, I’d love to understand the effect of a number of the tests at a more granular level:

1. 1. Going to bed at different times
   2. Different types of breathing routines
   3. Different doses of magnesium 
   4. Different lengths of fasting.

I don’t know how easy it will be to convince my girlfriend to track different breathing, fasting, and bedtime routines with me for the next two years, but I’ll certainly try.

Ultimately, this experiment helped me to find what improves and worsens my sleep and – I think more importantly – helped me to make lifestyle changes that help to improve my overall health. Combined with medical interventions, self-care habits have helped me to manage what was one of the toughest moments in my life.

👋 Need some help setting up your own health experiments?

Get in touch with us at support@bearable.app and we’ll help you decide what to track.