How to test if you’re sleep deprived.

by

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Crack of Dawn Carla.

To know me is to know I’m a lark.

  • I never set an alarm (I am Kramer & yet also believe if I don’t wake-up I’m not mean to be up. I’m always up.).

I’m the woman who, if faced with choosing between SCHVITZ or SLEEP, always chooses the schvitz.

I think I don’t “value” sleep as much as many because I’m a lifelong poor sleeper (light sleeper. no napper. I received the child I deserved.).

All that said, I rarely walk around Austin feeling sleep deprived.

I’m early to bed. Early to rise. And feel pretty damn good all day doing it.

Recently Ive realized the rare occasions I find myself saying “I’m sooo exhausted!” stem more from emotional exhaustion or allergies than true sleepiness.

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sleep is literally and figuratively BOTTOM of my list.

The other day as I labored through traditional cardio I do not love I turned on a TV show for distraction.

The theme of the show was SLEEP (how to get more etc) & the most fascinating segment offered a quick way to assess if the sleep you’re getting is enough for *you.*

A way to evaluate if you’re living a sleep deprived life based on ability to LOOK and REACT.

I seized the excuse to cut short that morning’s thirty minute routine finished my workout, grabbed a ruler, & readied to evaluate my reaction time.

Here’s the exercise:

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  • Snag a ruler & a partner.
  • Have partner hold ruler at top while you LOOSELY hold with thumb/index finger at bottom.
  • Ask partner to spontaneously release ruler while you attempt to GRAB with thumb/index fingers as quickly as possible.
  • Record number “grabbed” and compare to norms below.

40 mm EXCELLENT.

80 mm GOOD.

100 mm AVERAGE.

140 mm SLOW.

180 mm GO TO BED! GO TO BED!

 

Here’s where I reveal I’m a little afraid to do the rular-snatch assessment.

I’m busy (ooh the B-WORD!) with positive, priority things.

I may be Ben(jamina) Franklin, but I’m convinced it works for me.

Here’s also where I reveal I’d be sad if the ruler indicated I’m sleepy…because overall I feel pretty great!

As a result, I’m dragging you in *with* me.

Wanna grab a partner, a ruler & join in the sleep deprivation test?

Pinky swear I’ll hit you up with my number-results in the comments below.

Let’s do this thing…

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Comments

  1. Oh boy. I’m intrigued. I’ve always been an early to bed, early to rise but lately it’s become later to bed yet still early to rise. I’m slacking on sleep. Off to find a ruler…and wake up someone to do the test with me. 🙂

  4. Hmmm I think I feel a bit like you about this.. although I go to bed early I don’t always sleep. I always set an alarm but I never need it. 3:45 is a normal wakeup time for me the last couple of years. and I looked up schvitz. I like to do that in the morning too

  5. I have a sister who needs so little sleep.
    Around 5 hours a night and she’s ok!
    I need more than that.
    And I hate it 🙂

  8. yeahhhh this is probably my biggest weakness as a runner. I am told I should get 8-10 hours plus naps….I am lucky if I get 7, no naps. I am an early riser too, which I think is fantastic, but sometimes it means you can’t do some of the other things as well as you would have if you were well rested. I have been trying so hard to get in bed by 9:50pm these last few weeks, so I will keep trying hard if you do! 🙂

  9. My sleep deprivation barometer is being able to think clearly. The fog settles on the mind! I’m a happy riser too and haven’t used an alarm clock in years. True story. I wake up in the middle of the night, look at the clock and I’m disappointed if it’s not time to get up.

  10. I think I’m afraid to find out! The other test I have always heard about is if you pass out as soon as your head hits the pillow–that would be me.

  11. Interesting! Although right now with a new puppy in the house I don’t even need to do the test to tell you that I am sleep deprived. He sleeps like a well…like a puppy and now I am too.

  14. This is so interesting! I never related reaction time to sleepiness but it makes sense! Sort of scary to think about all the sleep deprived people out there DRIVING!!! Off to find a ruler!

  15. Sorry, but the RV is too small to have a ruler. I did try dropping a pug and trying to catch it, but in the ensuing squawking made me forget what I was doing and what number of M&M’s I was supposed to eat.

    So to be sure to get enough sleep, I ate the whole bag. LOVE the metric system.

  17. I’m a late to bed get up without a clock person. I find the older I get the less I consciously feel the effects of sleep deprivation

  18. I suspect I’m sleep deprived. Like you, I’m not a great sleeper and can’t nap, I also naturally wake up early. I feel fine, most of the time at least, but I do believe that we don’t always “feel” our sleep deprivation!

  21. You know my sleep has been amazing since starting the Whole30. But I have also found that for me, I have to be in bed by a certain time, even on the weekends or vacation. Otherwise I wake up at the same time in the morning, just with a lot less hours logged.

  22. I’m scared to do this – I DO get 8 to 9 hours sleep every night, but never wake feeling rested. I’d actually rather be awake so I’d hate to know that my routine isn’t working 🙂

  23. Since I’m a teacher there is an abundance of rulers…off to find a partner!!! I fear I may be in the GO TO BED category after administering state testing for the past few weeks!!

  24. 1) Do you work for a living?
    2) Do you have a child?

    If you circled 1, the answer is yes, you are sleep-deprived.

    If you circled 2, the answer is yes, you are sleep-deprived.

    %-)

  25. I’ve changed my schedule a couple of months ago to going to bed early and getting up early (4am) and I have to say that I’ve never felt better in my life. The days I feel exhausted tend to be if I stay up late or sleep late. I have found that if I sleep over 6 hours I feel sluggish and slow.

  26. I have seen this a couple times on shows. I never tried it, I know I am sleep deprived! 🙂 I seem to do OK for the most part… when it catches up, I crash or like now, I am sick but that more likely came from interaction with others…

  27. My test would show i’m sleep deprived because of my low thyroid that my doctor will not treat properly. Not much i can do, but i get through it.

  28. This is so interesting! Now I’m curious and want to try it. I often find that I’m not sleep deprived in terms of hours (7-8 per night) but that I don’t typically feel very refreshed when I wake up….like the quality of my sleep is no bueno. But I suppose the everyday translation would be the same!

  29. I don’t need the test – I know I’m at 180. Someday I’ll get my schedule in order? Maybe?

    It’s hard to be a night owl in a lark’s world.

  30. I don’t need to take the test. I know when I’m sleep deprived by whether or not I remember which route I took to get dear daughter to early morning band practice. Thankfully, most days I remember… And what’s your score???

  31. I AM NOT sleep deprived! I am a HUGE MORNING PERSON and I get up with the sun. I get exhausted come the evening, but in the morning, I AM RARING TO GOOOO!!!

  32. It’s funny because I know that I don’t really sleep enough. On the weeknights I get about 6 hours of broken sleep. I am tired but I do have enough energy to workout in the morning and after work. I would like it better if it were solid 6 of course.

  33. This test is quite intriguing! I’m sure that I’m sleep deprived…I should be in bed by 8:30 during the week (5am wake-ups for personal training clients), but never really make it in till at least 9:30 or 10.

  34. Now I’m waiting impatiently for Mr. Science to finish his workday so I can test this out 😉

    Also, this says it all: “Here’s also where I reveal I’d be sad if the ruler indicated I’m sleepy…because overall I feel pretty great!” That’s the important thing!

    To be honest, being sleep deprived has just become the norm for me. Although I DEFINITELY notice it when I’m EMOTIONALLY tired. (Like this week :))

  35. I was once a night person, but I changed to a morning person by running in the early morning. I think I’m glad I did 🙂

  36. I’ve always been a morning person. As a teenager, slumber parties were hard for me, in some ways, because I’d sack out early and earn the Frito Bandito mustache trick (eyeliner painted on upper lip), and then I’d be awake at dark-thirty while the others slept ’til noon.

    I’m still an early riser, but I do set an alarm if I have an appointment. You never know when I might go random and sleep until 6 a.m. 🙂

  37. I’ve tried so many of the “tried and true” tips to get a better night of sleep – it doesn’t work for me!!! One thing that helps is reading when I wake up at night instead of laying in bed getting more and more stressed about how little sleep I’m going to get again. Reading helps my brain shut down enough to doze off – sometimes it is just for 30 minutes and then I read some more but….
    I do set an alarm but mostly because if I tell myself that I will just wake up naturally I sleep worse because I feel like I have to constantly check the clock.
    I think I did the ruler test once awhile back (or maybe it was something similar) – yep, a bit sleep deprived but I think for the most part I cope OK with it.

  38. This is the most interesting thing I’ve read today. I’ve never heard of this type of test before. I need to try this out. I’ve definitely been so tired lately. Really a good post. thanks so much.

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