In this week’s Sleep Diaries, a key worker wonders if her clock-watching habit is keeping her up all night.

A little about me:

Age: 50

Occupation: key worker (I organise logistics for a nationwide veg box delivery company)

Number of hours sleep you get each night: 8

Number of hours sleep you wish you got each night: 6

Do you have any sleep conditions: I have sleep apnoea, so I use a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy machine every night

How much water you drink on average per day: 1 litre (and five cups of tea)

How much exercise I do on average per week: it currently depends on weather, but try to get out on a run, cycle or equivalent indoor exercise activity 2-3 times a week

Day 1

It’s Sunday, and a relatively stress-free day. After dinner, I have a bath at 8:30pm and watch telly tucked up in bed.

I know I start work tomorrow at 6am, and so I find it really difficult to get to sleep as I’m worrying I won’t wake up in time. Usually, I listen to my Harry Potter audiobook and fall asleep in 15 minutes, but tonight I’m still awake after my usual 30-minute timer stops the book.

Eventually, I drift off, but I wake up just after midnight. I’m not sure what woke me, but when I turn to put my audiobook back on, I find my phone isn’t there. Turns out my 18-year-old son has borrowed it while he’s in the bathroom as his own phone has run out of battery.

I worry that he will not put it back and I will miss my alarm, so I get out of bed to ask for it back. Then, I have a wee and go back to bed. But I don’t settle until he has brought my phone back some 15 minutes later. Finally, I put my mask back on, my CPAP machine on, and I drift off.

“Is clock-watching bad for my sleep?” A sleep expert answers your questions