I fell asleep fairly quickly and I slept fairly well. As we turned out the lights, I put the wristband into sleep mode by holding down the status button. I got to bed around 11 pm with the UPs SmartSleep alarm set for 7:15 am, hoping to get near my target sleep of 8h. I was amazed at the information about my sleep I saw after plugging in the smartband when I awoke. Overall, It considered that I met 94% of sleep goal with 7h 34min of sleep, 3h 4min in light sleep and 4h 29min in deep sleep. It reported that I took 23 min to fall asleep. My longest periods of deep sleep recorded were in the early morning (5:30-6:30 am) and right after falling asleep (11:30pm-~1am). I had three very short periods of deep sleep (5-10min) throughout the night and two medium periods of deep sleep (~30min). This was all pretty amazingly detailed information about my sleep patterns, if accurate. One inaccuracy I am sure of is that it reported that I woke up zero times. In fact, I was woken once by my partner, who had some shoulder pain and I rubbed her neck shoulder for a few minutes before falling back asleep..
When the wristband buzzed I was not aware of any dreaming as is often the case with my radio alarm clock. I did feel refreshed and like it was a reasonable time to wake up. According to the software analysis, my waketime was during a period of light sleep at 7:11 am, within 4 min of my scheduled alarm.
A lot more on about my interpretation of this part of this later, as I read up more on sleep and how the UP reflects what is known about typical sleep patterns.
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Day 1 - December 26th, 2012
I don't plan to give a detailed background on my seizure history right at the start. Instead, since this is primarily a journal, I plan to fill in a little detail throughout my entries. I would like to primarily illustrate the present by recording how the UP wristband has helped me to control my seizures. I will say that I had a right frontal lobe brain injury (hemotoma) at the age of 15. I did not start having seizures until I was almost 30. I was very hard on my body in between. I worked hard and played hard. I enjoyed my academic pursuits leading to my doctoral degree as much I enjoyed partying. Both led to sometimes long periods without sleep. Over the course of the last few years, I've done most things recommended by my neurologists. Admittedly, I had a hard time making lifestyle changes necessary and the adjustments in my behavior were made gradually, every event an indicator that I needed to take the doctor's advice more seriously. At this point in time I don't drink any alcohol or use any recreational drugs except caffeine. When I drink caffeine, I try to do so moderately (not more than a single cup per day). I am currently taking 750 mg of leviteracetam (Keppra) twice a day (once when waking, once before bed) as an anticonvulsant.
I first saw wristbands tracking personal health at the apple store. The Nike Fuel band didn't appeal to me, since sleep is one of the primary factors affecting my seizure threshold and that product seemed mostly aimed at those specifically interested in exercise. The Lark smartband was also appealing, but there were two attributes that attracted me to the UP instead. First, the Lark seemed bulkier. Since I plan to be pretty serious about this, I wanted a band I can wear all the time. Second, I really liked the idea of an alarm tuned to the stage of my sleep cycle, which one of the features of the UP wristband.
Today was my first day using the Jawbone UP. It was simple (5 min max) to initially set up and came fully charged. So far the software has been completely intuitive. I was able to log my meals, exercise ect. without any hiccups. Using the band today I have noticed that I am more conscientious of my actions, which is exactly what I had hoped. I have been more aware of the content of what I am eating, and abstained from junk food today. I also drank more water and exercised at the gym for the first time in a long time. The real test will be for how long it will all last... Time to figure out how to set it up for sleep and set an alarm!
I first saw wristbands tracking personal health at the apple store. The Nike Fuel band didn't appeal to me, since sleep is one of the primary factors affecting my seizure threshold and that product seemed mostly aimed at those specifically interested in exercise. The Lark smartband was also appealing, but there were two attributes that attracted me to the UP instead. First, the Lark seemed bulkier. Since I plan to be pretty serious about this, I wanted a band I can wear all the time. Second, I really liked the idea of an alarm tuned to the stage of my sleep cycle, which one of the features of the UP wristband.
Today was my first day using the Jawbone UP. It was simple (5 min max) to initially set up and came fully charged. So far the software has been completely intuitive. I was able to log my meals, exercise ect. without any hiccups. Using the band today I have noticed that I am more conscientious of my actions, which is exactly what I had hoped. I have been more aware of the content of what I am eating, and abstained from junk food today. I also drank more water and exercised at the gym for the first time in a long time. The real test will be for how long it will all last... Time to figure out how to set it up for sleep and set an alarm!
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