My first day (and night) using the Fitbit (Quantified Self) tracker

Yesterday, I used the Fitbit tracker to track my daily activity. I started wearing it after I got to Baltimore and it recorded 1500 steps from 6 pm to 11 pm. I got my Fitbit at the e-Patient Connections 2011 thanks to the fact that Klick Pharma handed these out to all the attendees.

I also used the Fitbit when I was sleeping and I found that I had 84% sleep efficiency (based on my level of movement/activity during sleep). The Fitbit recorded 23 times awakened during my sleep. This is my first time using the Fitbit during my sleep, so I'll have to see if this trend continues. Furthermore, I don't have any scientific data regarding the accuracy, reliability, and relevance of this type of sleep information that is collected by an accelerometer-based device worn on the wrist. Maybe I need to get a sleep study and compare those findings with the data I'm collecting using the Fitbit. Next week, I hope to use the Zeo Personal Sleep Coach to see how I'm sleeping.

I'm wearing the Fitbit today while I attend the AMA Task Force conference (22nd Annual Conference of the National Task Force on CME Provider/Industry Collaboration). How many steps will I walk today?

When babies don't sleep...

When babies don't sleep, parents don't sleep. That's been the story of our lives for the past few years as we've been raising young children. When babies sleep well, it's a wonderful thing! Some babies are natural sleepers while others seem to struggle with insomnia. Proper sleep hygiene can make a big difference when it comes to sleeping babies. Many of these same sleep hygiene principles also apply to toddlers, kids, and even adults. I hardly ever have trouble falling asleep, but I know many people who seem to always struggle with insomnia (including our kids). 

Sometimes, we use a sound machine in our baby room to produce white noise. We don't live in a large city where you have street noise entering the home. We also don't live near large busy streets, so it's actually fairly quiet inside every room. We're surrounded by woods, so it actually feels like you're in the forest and it can get pretty loud because of all the insects singing at night. I don't know that any white noise machine can effectively drown out the symphony of humming insects on a summer night. Maybe we need to get a few different a few different sound machine devices. You'd think that with all the advances in technology we've seen over the past few decades, we'd have some really efficient baby sleeping machines out there.

There are many books out there on the topic of infant sleeping. These books offer contrasting views on sleep training methods and we probably read all of them when we had our first baby. If you're a parent, how did you sleep train your baby? I know a handful of really lucky parents who had babies that didn't need much sleep training because they naturally fell asleep and stayed asleep effortlessly.

Doctor's can't say "no"

It's strange, but true. Doctors have such a difficult time saying "no" to patients. Look at our famous deceased celebrity. CNN is reporting that some physicians simply couldn't say no to him. As a result, he had an anesthesiologist put him to sleep each night and then wake him up each morning. Talk about an interesting moonlighting gig! Can you imagine the conversation the next morning?

Q: "So, what did you do last night?"
A: "Oh, I put Michael Jackson to sleep..."

Why do doctors have such a hard time saying no? Whether it's about antibiotics or controlled substances, so many physicians don't wish to spend extra time to explain why the answer is no. Instead, it's so much easier (and much faster) to say yes. If you want to increase your revenues and see more patients, then you're going to say yes more often than no. Read the CNN story here.

Do You Sweat at Night?

As the summer approaches (wait, is it already here?), I think about days in my past when I used be so hot at night. I couldn't afford to run the AC, and even when I ran the AC it didn't work very well. I was always Sleeping Hot. As a result, I had fans blowing everywhere. Fortunately, those days are gone and now I'm able to sleep in relative luxury. I say "relative" because there are nights when I'm still too hot, but I don't want my wife to be freezing.

Many people suffer from various types of Night Sweats. They could be due to hormonal changes or even serious diseases like cancer. If you've experienced menopause, then you probably know what I'm referring to when I talk about "night sweats." They're not pleasant. Some people have gotten relief by using a ceiling fan or even by installing a fan into the bed (yes, there are some systems that will do this such as the "bed fan"). If you sleep alone, then you have the flexibility to change the temperature or run multiple fans. However, if you sleep with someone else in the bed, then you may face some challenges - especially if that person doesn't share the same body thermal regulation that you do. So, if you frequently encounter problems Sweating at Night, then make sure to speak with your doctor about solutions that may be help you relieve those symptoms. This blog post is brought to you by your friends at bedfan.com. Image source: Zimbio