CBT-i App Sleep Tracking Instructions

“I just wanted to give you an update. I am currently not taking any medications for sleep or anxiety. I don’t have any trouble falling or staying asleep. I am back to work and enjoying my family. I want to thank you for your compassionate treatment.” – U.G., former client

Please use the CBT-i Coach App to track your sleep once a day. It looks like the picture on this page and a video is below that walks you through how to use it.

Option: If you prefer to use a Google Sheet to track, please let me know through email and I will send one to you.

The App “CBT-i Coach” is purple with a half moon. It’s made by the US Dept of Veterans Affairs (VA) and is under the Health & Fitness category. It’s free and is an easy way to track your sleep.

Please note that I will not accept data from trackers other than CBT-i Coach (i.e., apple watch, Oura ring, or similar devices). The accuracy of wearables is in the range of 40-60% (including the Oura ring). In contrast, the studies done on patient self-report is that accuracy is far higher, in the 80-95% range.

Wake-ups: When you’re entering number of times that you woke up, we do NOT count any wake-up under 10 minutes. For example, you woke up and went to the bathroom at 2am but went back to sleep within about 10 minutes. You would NOT record that as a wake-up as that is considered normal sleep.

Here is a quick video about how to track and how to send the information to me. It’s also written below if you scroll down.

The Morning of your Appointment

The morning of your appointment, email the data from the app. To Email your Sleep Log to me.

Tap Home>Settings (top right . . . three dots)>Export User Data.

Enter my email address: elizabethbonetphd@gmail.com

You must have email set up on your phone to be able to email me the data.

Complete Once a Day

Please complete your Sleep Log in the App only once a day in the morning.

To Enter your daily sleep data, go to My Sleep at the bottom of the screen or from the Home screen. An example of this and more extensive notes are below.

Click on Sleep Diary > Add New Entry

If you’re stuck on the Sleep Data screen, click Back at the top left. Then Add New Entry.

How to use the Sleep Diary / FAQs

What is a Sleep Diary?
A sleep diary is designed to gather information about your daily sleep pattern.

How often and when do I fill out the sleep diary?
It is necessary for you to complete your sleep diary every day. If possible, the sleep diary should be completed within one hour of getting out of bed in the morning.

What should I do if I miss a day?
If you forget to fill in the diary or are unable to finish it, leave the diary blank for that day.

What if something unusual affects my sleep or how I feel in the daytime?
If your sleep or daytime functioning is affected by some unusual event (such as an illness, or an emergency) you may make brief notes on your diary.

What do the words “bed” and “day” mean on the diary?
This diary can be used for people who are awake or asleep at unusual times. In the sleep diary, the word “day” is the time when you choose or are required to be awake. The term “bed” means the place where you usually sleep.

Will answering these questions about my sleep keep me awake?
This is not usually a problem. You should not worry about giving exact times, and you should not watch the clock. Just give your best estimate.

Use the guide below to clarify what is being asked for each item of the Sleep Diary.

Date: The morning you are filling out the diary.
Did you nap or doze?
Tap the button if you did and it will switch to “Yes.”
A nap is a time you decided to sleep during the day, whether in bed or not in bed.
“Dozing” is a time you may have nodded off for a few minutes, without meaning to, such as while watching TV.Count all the times you napped or dozed at any time from when you first got out of bed in the morning until you got into bed again at night.

- If you said yes, in total, how long did you nap or doze? Estimate the total amount of time you spent napping or dozing, in hours and minutes. For instance, if you napped twice, once for 30 minutes and once for 60 minutes, and dozed for 10 minutes, you would answer “ 100 minutes or 1 hour 40 minutes.”

What time did you get into bed?
Write the time that you got into bed. This may not be the time you began “trying” to fall asleep.
What time did you try to go to sleep?
Record the time that you began “trying” to fall asleep.
How long did it take you to fall asleep?
Beginning at the time you wrote in question 2, record how long it took you to fall asleep.
How many times did you wake up, not counting your final awakening? This is the times you wake up between the time you first fell asleep and your final awakening.

- If you entered a number, in total, how long did these awakenings last?
- What was the total time you were awake between the time you first fell asleep and your final awakening. For example, if you woke 3 times for 20 minutes, 35 minutes, and 15 minutes, add them all up (20+35+15= 70 min or 1 hr and 10 min).

What time was your final awakening?
Record the last time you woke up in the morning.
Did you wake up earlier than you planned?
If you woke up or were awakened earlier than you planned, check yes.
If you woke up at your planned time, check no.

- If you checked Yes, record how much earlier. For example, if you woke up 15 minutes before the alarm went off, record 15 minutes here.

What time did you get out of bed for the day with no further attempt at sleeping?
This may be different from your final awakening time (e.g. you may have woken up at 6:35 a.m. but did not get out of bed to start your day until 7:20 a.m.)
How would you rate the quality of your sleep?
“Sleep Quality” is your sense of whether your sleep was good or poor.
How restful or refreshed did you feel when you woke up for the day?
This refers to how you felt after you were done sleeping for the night, during the first few minutes that you were awake.

Put in the Comments, if applicable . . .

If you drink caffeine or alcohol, you’ll enter them in the Comments section. Please enter how many drinks, coffee, or tea and the latest time you had them.

For example, if you drank two glasses of wine. One at 5pm and one at 7pm. You would enter “two glasses of wine, the last one at 7pm.”

For example, you drink two cups of coffee a day. You would enter “two cups of coffee, last one at 3pm.”

If you’re taking sleep medication, you’ll enter the following in the Comments section. If every night is the same, write “same” after the first night. Include medication available over the counter, prescription medications, and herbals (example: “Sleepwell 50 mg 11 pm”).

If you are taking multiple doses of your sleep medication, then enter those times in the Comments section.

The name of the medication.
The dosage you took.
The time you took the medication.

If you have anything else that you would like to say that is relevant to your sleep feel free to write it in the Comments.