How well are you sleeping?

It's been raining a lot lately, which is a bummer because it's too cold and wet for my spring clothes and open-toe sandals. But the one good thing it's done is wash away the pollen that was giving me such a hard time.

Just to show you how much health damage - including lack of sleep - the pretty flowers and trees were doing, I thought I would share my graphs from the Sleep Cycle app on the iPhone. I'm still fascinated with the app and use it every night - just out of curiosity, really. Three graphs from the worst week are in the column on the left. And on the right I've included the 'after' graphs.

And here's what I had to do. I went to see my doctor, who prescribed me some drugs and a nasal spray that cost a whopping EUR 60 / GBP 51 / USD 76! For a tiny 6ml bottle! Absurd. (but who's the fool? Me, for buying it?!)

Spring cleaning also helped. My cleaner happened to bring someone (to be her substitute whilst on holiday) and I got both of them to stay for four hours. That's eight hour's worth of cleaning! I felt so much better afterwards :-) And the substitute (who has come again on her own since) does a better job - she doesn't just clean, she also tidies up. Hmm I feel bad about getting rid of the usual cleaner and employing someone she introduced but...? I'm still thinking about it. Should I do it?

And those nose plugs... I tried some one weekend when I had a terribly runny nose and I quickly discovered that they can't replace tissues. But they weren't as uncomfortable (or visible!) as I'd imagined them to be.

One other thing I'd started taking were homeopathic tablets but I kept on forgetting (three times a day is such a hassle) so I've now given up. I'm not sure they do anything, anyway... Do you believe in homeopathy?

iPhone app: Sleep Cycle

Sleep Cycle is one of the best selling iPhone apps at the moment. You put it on your mattress at night and it will record your sleep patterns.

I am aware that it is not completely accurate (apparently) but I am still fascinated with it. I use it every night and the first thing I do when I wake up in the morning, even when I'm still groggy, is check my sleep chart!

Here are some examples (you can email these sleep charts).

And on this night I seem to have slept better:

It monitors your movement in bed (apparently we move differently according to the sleep phase we are in). It has an alarm function that will wake you up in your lightest sleep phase within a half hour time frame (so if you need to be up by 7:15, it will go off anytime between 6:45-7:15).

The alarm sounds are soothing - no more hideous beeps - but it doesn't have a snooze function (yet?) so I need to set a second alarm if I must get up at a certain time. I also wish it would give a weekly summary.

If anything, it records how much sleep you get. And going by these charts, I know why I'm so tired. I usually need 8 hours of sleep and I'm not even getting 7. You know, this app could do with a 'go to bed now!' alarm...