You woke up with a bounce in your step, feeling energized and well rested. But wait: Your sleep tracker says otherwise. Does data change your plans for the day and the way you approach bedtime that night? Are you fearful now if you were feeling calm?
The rise of sleep-tracking devices — which monitor physiological aspects related to sleep — has made this issue increasingly relevant. A 2023 survey by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine found that greater than one-third of Americans have used electronic sleep-tracking devices.
“Many people still don't respect the importance of sleep, but the use of sleep trackers adds to some people's worries,” he says. “Anxiety and psychological arousal are the opposite of what we need during sleep.”
Effective data
Quite a lot of sleep tracking devices are marketed, from watches and rings to smartphone apps and mattress monitors. Some measure whether you are asleep by recording elements like movement, heart rate, body temperature, and respiration patterns, all of which change during different stages of sleep.
The data these devices generate also can have a huge effect on how people feel on daily basis. A brief study of 2018 Journal of Sleep Research demonstrated this trend. It involved 63 adults with insomnia who got wrist-worn sleep trackers. In the morning, half of them reported that they slept poorly, while the others reported that they slept well — regardless of the particular quality of their sleep. All reported experiencing mood and application several times in the course of the day.
The 32 participants who were told they'd poor sleep reported less alertness in the course of the day and more sleepiness within the evening. And individuals who reported their restful sleep reported significantly higher levels of positive mood and application.
“In fact, there was no meaningful difference in sleep quality between the two groups,” says Dr. Winkelman. “I'm a little addicted to my Fitbit, but I don't use it to tell me how I feel during the day. I just want to know the data and think about how the data relates to how I think and how I sleep. But understand: these two things are not synonymous.”
Advantages and drawbacks
- They can let you know more about your sleep patterns.
- They can offer affirmations in the event you're attempting to create higher sleep habits. “Trackers allow people to see if their sleep times and wake times aren't as consistent as they should be,” says Dr. Winkleman. “We actually sleep better when we're on a regular schedule.”
- They can indicate a possible sleep problem by highlighting symptoms resembling waking up several times in the course of the night. “Some trackers provide information about your oxygen variability,” says Dr. Winkelman. “They can be very helpful in identifying sleep-related breathing disorders, such as sleep apnea.”
But devices also can result in an unhealthy preoccupation with sleep, which may fuel insomnia, says Dr. Winkleman. Here are another downsides:
- Interpretation and use of knowledge may be confusing. For example, your tracker may let you know that you just aren't getting very deep sleep, but it's possible you'll not know learn how to change that.
- Focusing on sleep data could cause some people to overlook how they feel after they sleep. “Can you wake up without an alarm clock? Go through the day without feeling exhausted or drinking five cups of coffee?” asks Dr. Elizabeth Kellerman, professor of neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital and division of sleep medicine at Harvard Medical School. “To me, those are probably much more useful metrics.”
Lack of precision
Sleep trackers are only as useful as the info they generate – which is not all the time accurate. A small study of 2019 within the journal Sensor compared several sorts of sleep trackers to the sleep standard of measuring sleep, a sleep study called polysomnography. After comparing 27 nights of sleep study recordings in 19 participants (66% female) aged 19 to 64 with sleep tracker data from the identical nights, the researchers found that the trackers lacked
In particular, the devices had difficulty detecting participants' wakefulness periods, which hindered their ability to estimate total sleep time and sleep quality. However, the sleep trackers accurately tracked probably the most basic parameter of sleep – the actual period of time participants spent in bed.
“They're not accurately reflecting how much sleep people are getting, or the depth or type of sleep,” says Dr. Kellerman. “I think they're more accurate now than they used to be. On the other hand, they haven't been tested on all kinds of people who wear them.”
What color is your sleep noise?It could seem counterintuitive that a loud environment can promote sleep. But some people prefer to sleep in complete silence – as a substitute, they add background noise to the bedroom to sleep more soundly. Recent years have seen the proliferation of sleep machines and apps that emit various audio frequencies that sound like static from an uninterrupted radio or TV. Some people claim that listening to those soothing sounds before or during sleep may also help them go to sleep easier and stay asleep longer, helping them calm down and drown out background noise like traffic or creaky pipes. Each sound in these sounds is assigned a color based on its strength and frequency: white noise Perhaps probably the most well-known of all noise colours and includes all audio frequencies. It may be intense and loud, resembling a fan, air conditioner, or vacuum. pink noise is lower than white noise. It looks like a gentle rain, the wind blowing through the trees, or the waves on the beach. Brown noise Sounds more bass, like rushing rivers, rushing winds |
Measures to extend sleep
“The cognitive part is working on anxious thoughts, while the behavioral part is actually reducing the time you spend in bed so that when you do get there, you're actually sleepy,” says Dr. Winkleman.
Here are another suggestions to enhance your sleep:
Set consistent bedtimes and wake-up times. You can use a tracker to enable you to do that or simply depend on the watch. But either way, the practice will force you to wind down calmly before bed.
Don't check sleep data very first thing within the morning. Start your day, resolve how you are feeling, after which check your sleep tracker.
Monitor substance use around sleep. Pay attention to if you last consumed caffeine, alcohol, and tobacco, which may affect sleep quality.
Consider your medication use. Ask your doctor if any prescriptions or supplements you are taking could make it harder to fall or sleep. Modify using these medications if possible.
Be alert for respiratory problems. If your bed partner says you snore or gasp incessantly when you sleep, tell your doctor. Likewise, in the event you cannot lie down and wish to rise up, that typically indicates trouble respiration. “A tracker can't catch that,” says Dr. Kellerman. “This is really good evidence that you should see a health professional.”
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