ZQ Defined
- ZQ is a measure of one night of sleep that takes into account Total Z, Restorative sleep, and Disrupted sleep
- ZQ can range from 0 to 120 or more depending on factors like age, gender, stress level, etc.
- Getting a higher ZQ doesn’t always mean that you’re better off as ZQ doesn’t take into account accumulated sleep debt or factors that could affect daily life.
What is ZQ?
ZQ is an objective measure of the quality of a single night of sleep. Using the data collected over the course of a night, Zeo summarizes how you slept by combining information about your Total Z (total sleep time), Restorative sleep (Deep and REM), and Disrupted sleep (Time in Wake and Times Woken). The formula takes these three components and adds them in a way such that your Total Z provides a baseline score, and you receive bonus points for Restorative sleep and get deductions for Disrupted sleep. You may notice that your ZQ is greatly influenced by Total Z, and this is by design – getting more sleep (increasing Total Z) is the best way to get a higher ZQ and work off any sleep debt you may have.
The ZQ Scale
The ZQ scale can range anywhere from 0 to 120 or more depending on many factors. Age, gender, the environment, stress levels, and dozens of other things can affect sleep and therefore affect ZQ. A forty-five year old man who sleeps very well may get a ZQ of 75 on a fairly consistent basis, whereas a new mother of about 35 years could find that a ZQ of 50 is great. The key to understanding ZQ and making it work for you is to understand how you feel during the day. If you consistently get a ZQ of 60 and you feel great when you do, then that may very well be your optimal ZQ, but if you feel lousy after getting a 60, then you may consider trying to find a better night of sleep. Keep in mind that the optimal night of sleep is the one that will leave you in a position to take the most advantage of your day.
ZQ Over Time
Since ZQ is a measure of only a single night of sleep, there are some important things to keep in mind. There are ways to cheat your way into a better ZQ that are not necessarily good habits. If you sleep deprive yourself for a few days and then crash on Friday night, you may very well find that you get your highest ZQ. This may seem great, but your average ZQ over those few nights may not be any better than normal or may be even lower. In the meantime, you could have put yourself at risk for making many sleep related mistakes and lower productivity and performance during those days when you were depriving yourself of sleep. ZQ is not built to keep track of your sleep debt over time, but it can be helpful to look at your ZQ over different periods of time (say a week or a month at a time) to see if you’ve made lasting improvements to the way you sleep. Use your ZQ to act as one of the many aids available from Zeo that help you track your data and find a better night of sleep.