We all know that sleep is a mysterious phenomenon. However, as technology constantly improves, there are many devices which can help people track their sleep. You might not be aware, but a fitness tracker can actually help you improve sleep. On the other hand, sleep trackers might provide some valuable insight into people’s well-being, they can sometimes be very useless.
Fitness trackers are wearables which triggered a number of questions, such as how accurate are their measurements, how can they help improve sleep and reduce insomnia symptoms, and how are they different from medical sleep studies.
Most of the wearables track movements and are variations of actigraphy. Hence, they measure movement velocity and direction with an accelerometer. So, the stillness equates with sleep, and movement corresponds to activity and wakefulness.
Many wearable devices can be used for both sleep and fitness goals, including the FitBit, Apple Watch, smart phone apps, mattress pads, smart beds, and stand-alone products. Moreover, some of the devices are also made to detect heart rate, breathing patterns, or oxygen levels. There are many wearables which are able to detect sounds, such as snoring.
The fitness trackers can also gather information and provide guide posts, such as your wake time, bed time, or even naps. Such data are usually collected via sleep logs and can identify circadian rhythm disorders. Some of these devices can also detect a number of environmental characteristics, such as lighting, temperature, and noise.
Ways to Define, Calculate, and Improve Sleep Efficiency
If you are wondering how accurate sleep trackers are in measuring sleep quality and characteristics. However, sleep isn’t just lying still as sometimes movements occur during sleep. So, many awakenings which are detected by the device be unnoticed by a person and it can take more than 5 minutes of wakefulness before memory is generated.
The accuracy can be strengthen with other measurements, such as when the breathing becomes regular in deep, slow-wave sleep. Additionally, other biometric measurements, such as oxygen levels and heart rate patterns, may help improve accuracy. Nevertheless, most of the sleep trackers aren’t scientifically validated and the measurements can be inaccurate. Likewise, the movement of your bed partner can also hinder the measurements.
Wearables vs. Sleep Studies
When a sleep study is performed in a diagnostic polysomnogram in a sleep center, plenty of important characteristics are measured by numerous sensors. Imagine that it takes about 45 minutes to only apply the wires. The measurements include brain wave activity, body movements, eye movements, heart rate, oxygen levels, and other additional data.
On the other hand, wearable devices provide nightly sleep patterns and show light, deep, and even REM sleep. However, this data isn’t as accurate as of the data gathered with formal sleep testing. In fact, sleep trackers are quite similar to a simple actigraph, a small wrist watch-like device which measures movement to give a rough pattern of sleep and wakefulness. Interpreting this data can be a challenging task, even for expert researchers.
Nevertheless, the data collected via a wearable sleep tracker can be still useful. So, you should trust your own senses and experiences. You can also keep a regular sleep-wake schedule to help you reinforce good sleep habits. Make sure you get at least 7 hours of sleep a day and avoid naps. You shouldn’t feel stressed by the evidence collected by sleep trackers because insomnia can make things worse. Last but not least, if you find in explicable findings from your sleep tracker data, you can verify the reports by questioning your sleep partner.