Better Sleep DiaryFree download
Printable sleep diary
The questions sleep clinics ask, on one landscape page per week, with an example night filled in. Print it, keep it by your bed, and fill it in each morning.
Download the PDF
A4 for the UK, Europe and most of the world; US Letter for the US and Canada. Print in landscape.
How to fill it in
- Each morning, within an hour of getting up, fill in last night's column. Don't check the clock in the night; a best guess in the morning is what the diary needs.
- Times use the 24-hour clock: 22:40, not 10:40.
- Time to fall asleep counts from when you tried to sleep, not from when you went to bed.
- Time awake in the night adds up every time you woke, from first falling asleep to waking for the last time.
- Yesterday covers the day before the night: coffee, tea and cola, alcohol, exercise, naps and anything else that might matter, such as medication or a stressful day.
- Missed a night? Leave it blank. A guess from days later is less useful than a gap.
Working out the last row
Time in bed runs from going to bed until getting out of bed. Sleep efficiency is the time you slept divided by the time in bed, times 100. In the example, 6h asleep out of 8h 5m in bed is 74%. The sleep efficiency calculator does this for you.
Where the questions come from
The diary follows the Consensus Sleep Diary, which insomnia researchers and patients agreed in 2012 as a standard form, and the two-week sleep log in the American Academy of Sleep Medicine's guideline for chronic insomnia. That guideline suggests a sleep log can also record caffeine, alcohol and medication, which is why the diary asks about yesterday as well as last night.
This diary isn't medical advice. If poor sleep has gone on for months or is making the day hard to cope with, see your doctor and take the diary with you.
Questions
Is this the same as the sleep diary my clinic uses?
It asks the same core questions as the Consensus Sleep Diary, which sleep researchers agreed as a standard, and as the sleep log in the American Academy of Sleep Medicine's insomnia guideline. If your clinic has given you its own form, use theirs.
One week or two?
Two weeks is what the American Academy of Sleep Medicine's insomnia guideline asks for, so the doctor sees a pattern rather than one bad night. Print the 2-week version if you're seeing a doctor.
Should I fill it in during the night?
No. Fill it in once each morning, within an hour of getting up. A best guess in the morning is what a sleep diary is designed for.
How do I work out the efficiency row?
Divide the time you slept by the time from going to bed until getting up, then multiply by 100. The sleep efficiency calculator on this site does it for you.
Can I use it for a child?
The questions are written for adults. For a child, ask your GP or health visitor which diary they'd like you to use.
Sources
- The Consensus Sleep Diary: Standardizing Prospective Sleep Self-Monitoring. Sleep, 2012.The sleep diary as the standard for describing your own sleep, the items it asks, and filling it in each morning. Checked 7 November 2026.
- Clinical Guideline for the Evaluation and Management of Chronic Insomnia in Adults. American Academy of Sleep Medicine, Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 2008.A two-week sleep log before the first visit, what it records, and how total sleep time and sleep efficiency are worked out from it. Checked 7 November 2026.