Up front caveat: I don’t get enough sleep and I know it. Ok, with that out of the way …
I track my sleep using both my watch (Suunto Spartan Trainer) and the Sleep Cycle app (free version) using the sound feature, not the accelerometer. The wife’s bed time is later than mine so her coming into the room and getting settled skews the Sleep Cycle metrics a little, even when I remain asleep. Sometimes the watch doesn’t recognize that I’ve gone back to sleep after briefly getting up in the middle of the night (bathroom, kid, etc). I cross check the numbers against each other and based on how I feel have a good sense of how much sleep I actually got and the quality. I’m a bit of a data junkie so I record my wake up time, sleep hours, sleep quality, and morning weight in TrainingPeaks daily.
My primary alarm is the Suunto watch that I wear to bed. My wife is a light sleeper and I can usually turn the alarm off before she even stirs. I have a backup alarm on the night stand.
I try to be in bed by 9pm and asleep before 10. Kids activities and helping with homework make that difficult some nights. I’m up at 4 to get my workouts in before work, averaging six hours of sleep per night. Depending on kids activities on the weekends I may sleep in an hour later, but I prefer to end my workouts around the time they are waking up to maximize time together and give the wife a break (she homeschools them and gets plenty of quality time together).
I’m hot natured where’s my wife is cold natured, so our house and bedroom are at a comfortable middle temperature, but I would definitely sleep a little better if it were cooler. I sometimes have a small 6-inch fan blowing on just me to help. Too hot for a weighted blanket (unless they make one with water cooling).
I usually check work emails, this forum, and other sites on the phone before bed. Even with night mode on the phone, I’d sleep better if I read a magazine or book instead (no excuse not to as I have plenty on the night stand).
Anyway, not sure if that helps or not, but that’s what I do.