Ready to start the adventure: Goal 1- Fix Sleep

It’s been like 10 months since I’ve posted to my blog, but I’m now ready to start trying to reduce my jaw pain. I hit a roadblock with finding something to track my teeth clenching or grinding. I was very enthusiastic about SOVN, which is a set of ear buds to track bruxism. Unfortunately, it hasn’t yet been released to the general public and they have not responded to my messages on Reddit.

At this point, I found my old GrindAlert device aka SleepGuard, replaced the batteries, and got a new headband. I will use it to track my bruxism, but not necessarily use the biofeedback portion to help reduce bruxism. I’m more interested to test out different things and see how it affects my bruxism. For example, I might try taking a supplement and see how it affects my overall numbers.

My first goal is to wake up earlier and get my sleep on a regular schedule with approximately the same bedtime and wakeup schedule each day. I have struggled with this for years, with going to bed and waking up at inconsistent times. This regular schedule will help me better track things since the number of clenches or grinds can go up or down depending on length of sleep.

I’ve read some other great sleep tips such as getting early morning sunshine, not having caffeine too late in the day, not using bright lights at night, and more. Andrew Huberman has some great videos on Youtube with tips that I will use.

I estimate I may need a few weeks or so to get some consistency with my sleep. Hopefully, I’ll get some side benefits like more energy and better quality sleep. Maybe this goal will even improve my bruxism itself.

I’ll keep you updated. For now, I’d like to aim to wake up each day at 6:30 am and going to sleep by 11 something pm, but will do so gradually. Here’s my recent sleep data:

08/11/24: Slept 12:45 am- 7:45 am (20 minutes of sun at 9:00 am)
08/12/24: Slept 12:45 am- 7:30 am (15 minutes of sun at 10:00 am)
08/13/24: Slept 12:45 am-7:45 am (no sun)
08/14/24: Slept 12:30 am-7:00 am (15 minutes of sun at 8:30 am)
08/15/24: Slept 12:40 am-7:00 am (10 minutes of sun at 9:50 am)
08/16/24: Slept 12:25 am-6:30 am (15 minutes of sun at 7:30 am)
08/17/24: Slept 12:20 am-7:30 am (15 minutes of sun at 8:30 am)
08/18/24: Slept 12:20 am-7:00 am (15 minutes of sun at 8:00 am)
08/19/24: Slept 12:20 am-6:45 am (15 minutes of sun at 8:00 am)
08/20/24: Slept 12:45 am-7:00 am (6 minutes of sun at 8:30 am)
08/21/24: Slept 1:30 am-7:30 am (no sun)
08/22/24: Slept 12:15 am-6:50 am (10 minutes of sun at 8:00 am)
08/23/24: Slept 12:15 am-6:45 am (15 minutes of sun at 8:20 am)
08/24/24: Slept 12:30 am-7:00 am (10 minutes of sun at 8:50 am)
08/25/24: Slept 12:20 am-7:30 am (15 minutes of sun at 10:00 am)
08/26/24: Slept 12:20 am-6:55 am (15 minutes of sun at 7:30 am)
08/27/24: Slept 12:00 am-6:45 am (15 minutes of sun at 8:12 am)
08/28/24: Slept 12:00 am-6:45 am (15 minutes of sun at 7:36 am)
08/29/24: Slept 11:50 am-6:55 am (15 minutes of sun at 9:00 am)
08/30/24: Slept 11:45 am-6:55 am (15 minutes of sun at 7:30 am)
08/31/24: Slept 11:45 am-7:00 am (Sun at 10:30 am and throughout day- vacation)
09/01/24: Slept 11:45 am-7:30 am (Sporadic sun throughout day- vacation)
09/02/24: Slept 11:00 am-7:00 am (no sun- vacation)
09/03/24: Slept 11:50 am-7:15 am (no sun)
09/04/24: Slept 12:00 am-7:30 am (15 minutes of sun at 7:55 am)
09/05/24: Slept 11:50 pm-7:30 am (10 minutes of sun at 10:00 am)
09/06/24: Slept 11:45 pm-6:49 am (20 minutes of sun at 7:30 am)
09/07/24: Slept 11:45 pm-6:45 am (20 minutes of sun at 8:30 am)
09/08/24: Slept 11:40 pm-6:40 am (5 minutes of sun at 8:30 am)
09/09/24: Slept 11:30 pm-6:30 am (15 minutes of sun at 7:50 am)
09/10/24: Slept 11:30 pm-6:30 am (15 minutes of sun at 8:20 am)
09/11/24: Slept 11:30 pm-6:30 am (10 minutes of sun at 8:00 am)
09/12/24: Slept 11:30 pm-6:30 am (10 minutes of sun at 8:00 am)
09/13/24: Slept 11:40 pm-6:30 am (15 minutes of sun at 7:35 am)
09/14/24: Slept 11:30 pm- 6:30 am (20 minutes of sun at 7:50 am)
09/15/24: Slept 11:40 pm- 6:30 am (10 minutes of sun at 8:15 am)
09/16/24: Slept 11:15 pm-6:40 am (10 minutes of such at 8:15 am)- recovering from cold and 2 hr nap
09/17/24: Slept 11:00 pm-9:30 am – recovering from cold
09/18/24: Slept 11:45 pm-6:30 am (5 minutes of sun at 8:00 am)
09/19/24: Slept 11:45 pm-8:30 am- still recovering from cold
09/20/24: Slept 11:45 pm-8:30 am- still recovering from cold
09/21/24: Slept 11:45 pm-8:30 am- still recovering from cold
09/22/24: Slept 11:45 pm-6:30 am (15 minutes of sun at 8:30 am)
09/23/24: Slept 11:30 pm-6:40 am (15 minutes of sun at 8:00 am)
09/24/24: Slept 11:30 pm-6:30 am (10 minutes of sun at 8:15 am)
09/25/24: Slept 11:30 pm-6:45 am (10 minutes of sun at 8:30 am)
09/26/24: Slept 11:30 pm-6:45 am (10 minutes of sun at 8:30 am)
09/27/24: Slept 11:30 pm-6:45 am (10 minutes of sun at 8:30 am)
09/28/24: Slept 11:30 pm-6:35 am (10 minutes of sun at 8:30 am)
09/29/24: Slept 11:30 pm-6:40 am (10 minutes of sun at 8:00 am)
09/30/24: Slept 11:50 pm-7:00 am (15 minutes of sun at 7:45 am)
10/01/24: Slept 11:30 pm-6:45 am (10 minutes of sun at 11:00 am)
10/02/24: Slept 11:30 pm-7:30 am (10 minutes of sun at 8:30 am)- overslept
10/03/24: Slept 11:30 pm-7:00 am- overslept
10/04/24: Slept 11:40 pm-6:30 am (15 minutes of sun at 8:30 am)
10/05/24: Slept 11:30 pm-6:30 am
10/06/24: Slept 11:30 pm-6:30 am
10/07/24: Slept 11:45 pm-6:30 am
10/08/24: Slept 12:30 pm-6:30 am
10/09/24-10/16/24: Awoke between 6:30-7:00 am