I fall asleep in two minutes flat, literally. A guinea pig in a sleep trial and the subject of a sleep assessment, I have the proof on bright graphs.
If you want to unravel the mysteries of your sleep, particularly if you have chronic sleep problems, doing a sleep check with a scientific lab is easy.
A senior researcher at the University of Cape Town's Division of Exercise Science and Sports Medicine, Dr Dale Rae runs the sleep science lab at the Sports Science Institute of South Africa and she analysed my results. Surprising even to me.
For the sleep check, I wore an activity watch for seven nights. For the trial I was hooked up with electrodes at home to measure brain activity since sleep is a brain state.
I was apprehensive about getting my report since I often cut sleep to five-and-a-half hours, below the recommended seven to nine hours for adults. It felt like getting the results of an exam for which you've studied at the last minute.
But I got lucky: 94% was my average "sleep efficiency", a score that measures the time you are actually asleep while in bed trying to sleep. This is rated very good, while good efficiency is 85%.But it's not all glowing. For example, falling asleep that fast is good and bad. I don't lose any time getting to sleep but the speed suggests I have a sleep debt. Usually people fall asleep in 15 to 20 minutes.
My report shows an average of six hours 37 minutes sleep. Typically, I'm in bed by 11.30pm and wake up at 5.30am, although in sleep jargon I'm more of a night owl than a lark.
Sleep scientists recommend that we try to sync with our biological clocks and the sunlight and follow a sleep routine.
"The key is to be consistent from night to night. This helps your body anticipate sleep," said Rae, reporting that I was pretty consistent.
Looking after a sick child at 4am on a Saturday and falling asleep again until mid-morning (my latest wake-up this year) was the exception. At least it pushed up my average sleep time.
Rae told me the six-and-a-half hours was "probably less than my sweet spot based on the catch-up sleep and the fact you fall asleep so quickly. Your body really could do with more sleep."
She said, however: "Quality counts more than quantity. The true test of whether people are sleeping enough was their daytime functioning and sleepiness."
Mine seems fine, with coffee shots thrown in. People with high work demands or who are training hard need more sleep.
Rae said: "A lot of what is out there about sleep is very pop science."..