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How Somnofy affects my daily training routine

Name: Vital Things
Price range: $

I have long been aware of how important it is to get a good night's sleep. In this blog article I want to share some of my experiences with you.

Awareness around sleep

I have long been aware of how important it is to get a good night's sleep. Through my own curiosity and an increasingly close relationship with the team at VitalThings, I have built up a growing degree of competence and awareness around my own sleep, and its impact on my cognitive and physical abilities. In this blog article I want to share some of my experiences with you.

For me, for example, it is important to have a relatively fixed circadian rhythm in order to get the amount of sleep I need. That means I try to get to bed around 9.45pm every day. In addition, I have gradually developed a very conscious relationship with screen use and lighting in the last hours before I go to bed. Concretely, I adjust the light from 8 o'clock in terms of both type/colour and strength.

Jørgen Graabak
As a top athlete and student, sleep quality is absolutely essential for me to reach my potential. Along with diet and rest, sleep is the most important recovery tools I have. I think sleep is absolutely the most important of the three.

Objective measurements

With Somnofy, I have gained a perfect partner to be able to research what makes my sleep as optimal as possible. Through accurate and objective measurements, I now know which conditions (circadian rhythm, temperature, light, etc.) must be in order for me to get the sleep I need.

I have now come so far that I used Somnofy and sleep as an active part of my fitness peaking towards the Olympics in Beijing 2022. In addition to giving me knowledge about my sleep on a macro level, Somnofy helps me to be more accurate in the small everyday decisions.

My performance in the winter is directly correlated to the quality of my key sessions during the build-up. So when it comes to the quality of these sessions, and eventualities that might detract from it, I am uncompromising.

Early measures lead to higher quality

Here is a very recent example of how Somnofy helps me with my daily assessments of training time and intensity. On 16 June 2022, myself and Johannes Klæbo won the sprint competition during the Kirkebakken Grand Prix in Hamar.

After the victory, we are on our way home and I feel relaxed. Maybe I'm brewing something? I decide that I will let Somnofy "take a check" before doing Friday's planned interval session. This decision turns out to be absolutely correct.

Somnofy gives a clear signal: Take it easy!

When I wake up on Friday morning, Somnofy shows a clear increase in breathing rate. I normally take about 13 breaths per minute when I sleep. This morning, Somnofy shows a whopping 15.7, i.e. an increase of over 20 per cent!

Also, the proportion of deep sleep I got is considerably much lower than I am used to. This shows that I was not quite able to rest well enough after the sprint competition in Hamar the day before. I therefore decide to postpone my planned interval session, and instead do a quieter session at a lower intensity on Friday.

Breathing rate

An increase in the average breathing rate is of great importance for the general state of health. The breath is like the body's fire alarm: it goes off long before other symptoms of a possible cold or other type of infection can be detected.

Thus, the breathing rate measured at night is an important vital parameter to be able to determine whether a person is healthy and fast, or disheveled and tired. Somnofy is used in nursing homes and other health facilities to detect developing infections early, which can potentially become serious, if you do not intervene at an early stage.

Back in top form

After completing a training day at a lower intensity on Friday and getting a good night's sleep until Saturday, Somnofy shows a body that seems to have avoided illness and recovered. I feel bright and full of energy, my breathing rate went back down to 12.9 breaths/minute and I've had more deep sleep this night. I therefore decide to try my hand at the planned interval session now on Saturday.

Of course, I also want to listen to the body's signals, and start the session with good control to see how it responds. Once again, it turns out that Somnofy's measurement is correct, and after a couple of controlled puffs, the body shines and I eventually complete a great session.

An important part of such a process is also the control after the session. Here I get a clue as to whether the body is receptive to the training. Should Somnofy catch a significant jump in breathing rate again on the night of Sunday, I will again take measures to give the body some extra time and peace to recover and absorb the training.

Here I avoid two undesirable scenarios at the same time:

I start training too soon, illness breaks out and I am set back.
I become too cautious, dare not carry out the training, and thus lose an important session.

When I check the results from night to Sunday, I see that everything is in perfect order. I get a confirmation from my own body feeling that the session was of just the right intensity and that it was absolutely crucial to push the session forward by one day.

In this case, with the help of Somnofy, I was able to complete the training I had planned and at the same time made sure not to do anything that would set me back and affect the continuity of the training.

Jørgen Graabak
Somnofy moves me from a subjective to an objective assessment. It increases the accuracy of my decisions, improves the continuity and quality of my training work, while providing mental peace. I don't believe in luck and guesswork.

Sources

Foto: Nrk.no