The Sleep I Got Back
Nine months on a GLP-1, and the last thing I expected it to change was my sleep.
For ten years I told anyone who asked that I slept badly. I had the dark room, the supplements, the cooling blankets. What I did not have was any idea that the thing quietly wrecking my sleep might have more to do with my weight than my willpower.
I used to be a champion sleeper. Middle age changed that. Since my mid forties I have woken before I needed to, around 5:30 when the sun starts to rise, whether I liked it or not.
When I got Jax there were jokes about it. “Dogs are alarm clocks, you will never sleep in again.” What they did not know was that I had not slept past 5:30 in years. Because I never had kids, people assumed I was lounging in bed until the last possible minute. The truth was the opposite. Some of it was work, the bosses who texted at 6:30am needing something. But that was not really why. I just could not sleep in anymore. Even on Sundays.
I read every article and every book on sleep. I had a dark, cold bedroom. I turned off my devices an hour before bed. I tried the supplements. All of them. Anything that promised sleep and delivered nothing. I used one of those fancy alarm clocks that played ocean waves to get you to sleep and birds chirping to wake you up.
I tried multiple apps on my Apple Watch to track my sleep, to understand the patterns. Because I love data, that kind of info was exciting to review each morning. Until every morning it said the same thing. A poor sleep score. Tossed and turned. Awake multiple times. Every single morning, the same verdict.
Then perimenopause kicked in and I was sweating off and on all night. I bought the cooling blankets, sheets and pillows. Nothing worked.
I could not fall asleep, or stay asleep, and it was wearing on my life. It was a fight to get up. I needed more coffee to keep going. I wanted to nap every afternoon.
I knew people who had done sleep studies. Some got a clear answer. Others could not sleep during the study at all, so what was the point. I knew I would be one of those. A strange bed, wires, no podcasts. Even in perfect conditions I struggle to sleep. But I knew I needed to do something.
Then I started on a GLP-1. And a few months in, the thing I had blamed on everything else started to make a different kind of sense.
I bought a new Apple Watch around the same time I started on the medication. The newer one has a sleep apnea tracker. It is not a sleep study and it is not a doctor, but it was something. It records breathing disturbances overnight and marks them Elevated or Not Elevated. For those first few months, mine were Elevated. I was not surprised. And for the first time I started to understand why I was not sleeping through the night. I likely had sleep apnea. I read about the causes, and I wondered how much of it came down to my weight.
So I stopped tracking, and I focused on losing weight. And slowly, it started to come off.
I am not a medical doctor. This was only my experience, and the watch itself comes with that same warning. But in all the time I had tracked, I never went more than a couple of nights without an Elevated reading.
A few weeks ago I noticed something. I was sleeping better. Not through the night, I still wake at dawn, I still fight to fall asleep and need podcasts to distract my active brain. But the hours in between were better. I was not crashing at 3pm anymore. I had more energy. I had lost 30 pounds by then, around my chest, my abdomen, my chin, all the places they say contribute to apnea. Could that be it?
So I put the watch back on at night. No Elevated readings. None. A full week of Not Elevated, the first I had ever seen.
I still do not sleep great. But I sleep better. And at 55, after ten years of this, better feels like a small miracle.
As for Jax. It turns out he loves to sleep in. He is the champion sleeper in our home.
The homework: how I checked my own sleep from my own bed
I could not face a sleep study. A strange bed, wires, no podcasts, and I knew I would lie there awake all night proving nothing. If you have ever felt the same, or felt too anxious about a study to book one, I understand. And sleep apnea is not something to shrug off. It is serious, and going undiagnosed is its own risk. I decided I needed to do something.
I am not a doctor. The following is a way to gather your own data, so that when you do talk to a doctor you arrive with something real.
Here is exactly what I did.
Start with an Apple Watch Series 9 or newer, the one with the sleep apnea feature, and your iPhone. If your watch is older, this feature will not be there, so best to check.
On your iPhone, open the Health app, tap Browse, then Respiratory, then Sleep Apnea Notifications, then Set Up. Make sure Track Sleep with Apple Watch is also turned on.
Wear it to bed every night. It needs at least ten nights over a month before it will provide any insights. I wore mine every night for about four weeks, and by the end I had convinced myself I definitely had apnea, because it kept coming back Elevated. I love data but this data was unsettling.
Each morning check your results. In the Health app under Breathing Disturbances it will shows up as Elevated or Not Elevated for the night before. That is the number I watched. For months mine said Elevated. And it said I had possible sleep apnea. Then I took a break from checking, because honestly it was making me anxious.
If you keep seeing Elevated see your doctor. If you don’t sleep well even if not elevated, please see your doctor. There is an Export PDF button right in the app so you can hand them the real data. If it says Not Elevated, that is good news.
I only put the watch back on because I noticed, weeks after, that I was sleeping better. That week it read Not Elevated the whole week and it still does.
Personal experience only. Not medical advice. Always consult with your doctor.
Tell me in the comments: has your sleep changed on the medication, for better or worse? And has anyone else tried tracking their own the way I did? I would love to compare notes, quite literally.
Would be lovely if we learn that GLP comes with some extra benefits. It seems we are learning more and more about it all the time. Glad you are experiencing better sleep!