Free Sleep Diary — 7-Night Sleep Log That Works Out Your Sleep Efficiency

This is a free seven-night sleep diary that adds the numbers up for you. Most printable sleep diaries give you a grid and leave you to work out what it means. This one calculates your sleep efficiency, your total sleep time, how long you take to fall asleep and how long you are awake in the night — then prints a single page you can hand to a doctor. It runs entirely in your browser. There is no sign-up, no email address, and nothing you type reaches Sleep Align.

Fill in your week

Fill this in each morning, as soon as you can after getting up. Estimates are fine — in fact they are better than exact figures, because checking the clock in the night makes sleep worse and the numbers no more accurate. Your week saves itself in this browser as you type.

Nothing you type here leaves your device. The diary is stored in your own browser only — no account, no email address, no cookies, and Sleep Align cannot see it. Clearing your browser data erases it, so print or download the week if you want to keep it.
This is a record-keeping tool, not a diagnosis. If your sleep is disrupted most nights, take the printed summary to your doctor.

');w.document.close();setTimeout(function(){w.focus();w.print()},350)} root.addEventListener('input',function(e){var t=e.target,k=t.getAttribute&&t.getAttribute('data-k');if(!k)return;var card=t.closest('.sad-night');if(!card)return;var i=parseInt(card.getAttribute('data-i'),10);data[i][k]=t.value;var c=calc(data[i]),meta=card.querySelector('.sad-nmeta');if(meta)meta.innerHTML=(c.tst!=null?''+hm(c.tst)+' asleep':'not filled in')+(c.se!=null?' · '+c.se+'% efficiency':'');var lab=card.querySelector('.sad-nlabel');if(lab&&k==='date')lab.textContent='Night '+(i+1)+(data[i].date?' · '+data[i].date:'');summary();save(!0)});root.addEventListener('change',function(e){if(e.target.getAttribute&&e.target.getAttribute('data-k')){summary();save(!0)}});root.addEventListener('click',function(e){var tog=e.target.closest&&e.target.closest('[data-sad="toggle"]');if(tog){tog.parentNode.classList.toggle('closed');return} var b=e.target.closest&&e.target.closest('[data-sad]');if(!b||b.tagName!=='BUTTON')return;var a=b.getAttribute('data-sad');if(a==='save')save();else if(a==='print')window.print();else if(a==='blank')blankSheet();else if(a==='csv')csv();else if(a==='copy')copySummary();else if(a==='clear'){if(window.confirm('Clear all seven nights? This cannot be undone.')){data=blank();try{localStorage.removeItem(KEY)}catch(e2){}render();msg('Cleared.')}}});render()})()

What the numbers actually mean

Four numbers do most of the work in a sleep diary, and they are the four that clinicians look at.

NumberHow it is worked outWhy it matters
Time in bedLights out to out of bed.The denominator for everything else. Long time in bed with poor sleep is the pattern sleep restriction therapy targets.
Time asleepLights out to final wake, minus the minutes it took you to fall asleep and the minutes you were awake in the night.The figure people usually guess at, and usually guess wrong.
Sleep efficiencyTime asleep ÷ time in bed × 100.In sleep restriction therapy, 85% or higher is the point at which time in bed is extended again, and below 80% is where it is restricted further.
Falling asleep and night-time wakefulnessMinutes to fall asleep; minutes awake after falling asleep, added up across the night.The American Academy of Sleep Medicine notes that in adults, onset latencies and periods of wakefulness during sleep over 30 minutes typically carry clinical significance.

Chronic insomnia disorder, as the AASM defines it, needs the sleep disturbance and its daytime effects to occur at least three times a week and to have been present for at least three months. That is why a diary matters more than a bad night: one week of real numbers tells you whether you are looking at a rough patch or a pattern. It is also why this tool counts your nights over each threshold rather than just averaging them.

None of this is a diagnosis, and this page is not medical advice. A sleep diary is a record. What it is genuinely good for is walking into an appointment with seven nights of data instead of “I think I sleep badly”.

Prefer paper? Download the printable version

A one-page A4 sheet with the same seven rows, the formulas printed on it, and room to write. Keep it on the bedside table where a phone should not be.

Download the printable sleep diary (PDF, one page)

Free to use, free to hand out, free to embed

If you are a physiotherapist, osteopath, chiropractor, GP, sleep coach or occupational therapist: print the PDF and give it to patients. Put it in a waiting room. Put it on your own website. You do not need to ask us. Both the diary and the tool are published under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence, which means you can copy, redistribute and adapt it, including commercially, as long as you credit Sleep Align.

We have no product to sell you here, no lead capture and no tracking on this tool. The only thing we ask is the attribution, because links are how a small independent site gets found at all.

Copy what you need

Link

Embed the working diary on your own page

<iframe src="https://sleepalign.org/sleep-diary-embed/" width="100%" height="1200" style="border:1px solid #e1e0d9;border-radius:8px" title="Sleep diary by Sleep Align" loading="lazy"></iframe>
<p><a href="https://sleepalign.org/sleep-diary/">Sleep diary</a> by Sleep Align, CC BY 4.0</p>

Citation

Questions people ask

Is my diary stored anywhere?

No. It is saved in your own browser using local storage, on the device you are using. It never leaves that device, we cannot see it, and there is no account to create. The flip side is that clearing your browser data deletes it, and it will not follow you to your phone — so print or download the week if you want to keep it.

What is a good sleep efficiency?

85% or above is the figure used in sleep restriction therapy as the point at which time in bed is extended rather than cut. Healthy sleepers are often above 90%. One night below 85% means very little; several nights a week, for weeks, is the thing worth taking to a clinician.

How many nights should I record?

Seven is the usual minimum, because it captures both working nights and days off, which often sleep very differently. Two consecutive weeks is better if you can manage it — print the sheet twice.

Should I check the clock during the night?

No. Estimate in the morning. Clock-watching raises the arousal that keeps people awake, and it does not make the diary more accurate — the numbers that matter are patterns across a week, not minutes on any one night.

Why does it ask about pain and sleeping position?

Because that is what Sleep Align covers. If your diary shows you waking with neck or shoulder pain on most mornings, the fix is often mechanical — pillow height, position, mattress — rather than anything to do with sleep itself. Recording it alongside the sleep numbers is how you tell those apart.

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