LESS GUESSING. A LITTLE MORE CONTEXT.
Make room for the whole picture.
A difficult night can feel like the whole story. A few simple notes help you see it in context.
What is a sleep diary for insomnia?
A sleep diary for insomnia is a daily record of when you go to bed, how long you think it takes to fall asleep, how often you wake, and when you get up. It also gives you space to rate how the night felt. You fill it in yourself, usually after waking. You do not need a wearable, a stopwatch, or a perfect memory.
The aim is to put several nights beside each other. “I slept badly” describes a real experience, but it leaves many questions open. Was it hard to fall asleep? Were there several brief wakings? Did you lie in bed after your final waking? A short record helps make those differences easier to explain without asking you to remember a whole week at once.
A diary is often part of cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia, or CBT-I. The NHLBI suggests keeping a sleep diary for one to two weeks before seeing a doctor. Your clinician may ask for more detail or a different format. NiteLog is a starting point for personal tracking; it is not a substitute for a clinician’s assessment.
Keep the task small. Use reasonable guesses and move on with your morning. Checking the clock throughout the night just to complete a diary can make the process stressful. Your notes should support a conversation, not turn sleep into another test to pass.
How it works
Log tonight’s sleep
After waking, choose the date when you went to bed. Enter bedtime, minutes to fall asleep, the number of night wakings, and the time you got out of bed. Add a quality rating if you wish. Save the entry right here; no sign-up is needed.
See your sleep efficiency estimate
NiteLog compares estimated time asleep with time in bed. The calculation assumes each awakening lasts 15 minutes. You can see that assumption beside your result, so a tidy percentage does not hide the guess behind it.
Spot patterns across nights
The chart shows your latest seven records and their average estimate. Your full history stays below it. Look for repeated timing patterns rather than treating one night as a verdict. Saving the same date updates that night’s record.
What to track
Bedtime means when you get into bed. Sleep onset is your estimate of how many minutes pass before you fall asleep. Those are different events. If you read in bed first, that time is included in your estimate of time awake.
Night awakenings counts the wakings you remember. A brief waking and a long one count the same in this simple tool, which is why the score needs care. NiteLog does not collect the actual length of each waking.
Wake time here means when you get out of bed for the day. If you wake much earlier and stay in bed, this version cannot capture that interval separately. Mention it in your own notes or to your clinician.
Sleep quality is an optional one-to-five rating of how the night felt, with one at the low end. It is not part of the efficiency formula. You can have a high estimate and still feel unrefreshed.
Naps and caffeine can provide useful context. This version has no fields for them. If they seem relevant, keep a separate note of nap timing or when you had coffee, tea, or energy drinks. You can bring those notes alongside your diary.
Understanding your sleep efficiency
Sleep efficiency describes the share of time in bed spent asleep. NiteLog uses an estimate because it knows your reported sleep onset and awakening count, but not the duration of every waking. Its calculation is:
(minutes in bed − minutes to fall asleep − night awakenings × 15) ÷ minutes in bed × 100
For example, eight hours in bed is 480 minutes. With 30 minutes to fall asleep and two wakings, estimated sleep is 420 minutes. Dividing 420 by 480 gives 87.5%. This is a worked example, not a claim about anyone’s sleep. Bedtime at 23:30 and getting up at 07:00 counts as 450 minutes across midnight.
The tool uses 85% as a reference for its Great label. Below that, Fair or Needs attention invites you to review your records. These labels do not determine whether you have a sleep disorder. Short time in bed can also produce a high score without enough total sleep.
If estimates stay low or you feel unwell, discuss both the numbers and your daytime experience with a clinician. Do not shorten your time in bed just to raise the score. A sleep diary for insomnia supports questions about sleep; it does not prescribe a schedule.
Why keep one
A record gives you something concrete to look back at. You may notice that bedtime drifts on weekends, or that a night which felt terrible had a similar schedule to another night. These are observations to explore, not proof of a cause. Separate notes about caffeine, naps, or a stressful day can add context.
An insomnia sleep diary can also make an appointment easier. Instead of trying to recall every waking, you can show the dates, timing, and quality ratings you have collected. The NHLBI describes CBT-I as a usual first treatment option for long-term insomnia; a clinician can explain whether it fits your needs.
Your experience still matters when it differs from the chart. Treat your record as a way to describe that experience more clearly. If tracking makes you more anxious, take a break and discuss a simpler approach with your clinician.
A FEW THINGS YOU MIGHT BE WONDERING
Frequently asked questions
How long should I keep a sleep diary?
Start with one to two weeks, unless your clinician asks for a different period. That gives you a record of both weekdays and weekends. Fill it in after waking, using your best estimates. A missed day is fine; leave the gap and continue rather than trying to reconstruct every detail later.
Is a sleep diary effective for insomnia?
A diary helps you record sleep and discuss patterns with a clinician. It is commonly used during cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I), which is a recommended first treatment for long-term insomnia. Keeping records alone is not a treatment, and NiteLog does not promise to improve sleep or diagnose the cause of a problem.
Sleep diary vs sleep tracker app — what’s the difference?
A diary records what you remember and how your sleep felt. A wearable or passive tracker estimates sleep from signals such as movement. The two can disagree, and neither provides a complete picture. A diary can add context that a sensor misses, but NiteLog does not claim to be more accurate than a device.
Do I need to sign up?
No. You can use the diary without an account, password, or email address. Your records are saved in this browser on this device. They do not sync to another phone or computer. The optional email course card is separate from the diary and currently saves an email locally; it does not enroll you in a mailing list.
Is my data private?
Your diary entries and any email entered here are stored locally and are not sent to NiteLog. Use Clear all data to remove both. Other people using the same browser profile may see them, and clearing site data also erases them. No third-party analytics are currently installed. Buying the book opens an external provider with its own privacy policy.
Can a sleep diary replace a sleep study?
No. A sleep diary is a personal record, not a test for sleep apnea or other sleep disorders. It cannot measure breathing, oxygen levels, or brain activity. A clinician can decide whether a sleep study or another assessment is appropriate. Bring your notes as background information rather than using the score to rule out a condition.
What is a good sleep efficiency score?
NiteLog labels estimates of 85% or above Great, 75% to below 85% Fair, and below 75% Needs attention. These are reference bands, not a diagnosis or a target you must reach. The estimate assumes 15 awake minutes per awakening, so actual efficiency can differ. Total sleep time and daytime wellbeing still matter.