Though I often write about ways I’m improving wellness in my life, there are a few things I feel like I’m naturally good at—or lucky to not need improvement with. For one, I generally enjoy eating clean, so that comes pretty easy. Secondly, sleep. Since I was young, I’ve always been an excellent sleeper—something I took for granted until I was an adult and realized that most of my friends actually struggled with it. And since sleep is generally one of the biggest impacts on  health, how you feel, anxiety, etc., it’s a crucial thing to get right.

So when Beautyrest approached me about experimenting with their Sleeptracker monitor, I thought my results would blow them away. I thought I had the sleep thing down. But after using their device to track data surrounding my shut-eye, surprise, surprise, I wasn’t sleeping as well as I thought—at all.

The biggest concern I noticed when looking at my sleep data was the inconsistency. Some nights I got 5 hours of sleep, some 10. Some mornings I woke up at 5, others at 8. This might not seem like a huge deal, but because I do so much research on wellness in general, I was well aware of the fact that this wasn’t optimal. When you’re going to sleep and waking up at random, your circadian rhythm gets out of whack, and this can affect several aspects of your life. You generally don’t sleep as well, either, or get as much REM sleep. This is likely why—even on nights I thought I slept plenty—I’d sometimes drag by 7 p.m., or why certain days I had a lot more energy to get through a workout.

To back up a bit, Beautyrest has developed a technology that tracks your sleep (and even your partner’s if you’re sharing a bed). They’re not the first to do this—there are wearables trying to accomplish this—but the Beautyrest  Sleeptracker monitor goes further. They’re showing breathing rate, heart rate, REM sleep, personalized sleeping tips, etc. which is pretty fantastic. Their small device sits between your mattress and foundation so you don’t even know it’s there (because I could never get behind something on my wrist). My husband has also been tracking his sleep and it’s super exciting that we can both take note of where we can improve. Especially with things like breathing while sleeping—something I truly hadn’t thought about before.

Now that I’m more conscious of my own sleep patterns, I’ve made it a goal to be in bed by 11 p.m. each night (byeee late-night Netflix) and to set my alarm for 6:30 a.m.. It’s only been a few nights, and already I can feel my body responding to the schedule. Here’s to a lot less sleepy evenings and more energized workouts!

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