A good night’s sleep is essential to one’s health, and according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 1 in 3 American adults don’t get enough sleep. To help learn why sleep is so elusive, many people turn to sleep tracking tools via wearable devices and mobile apps.
Wearable devices include rings, wristbands, headbands and smartwatches that work with a supporting mobile app, while using a mobile app alone relies on a smartphone’s sensors. Gathering data while you sleep, sleep trackers can provide users an analysis and overview of sleep patterns and rhythms, sleep disruptions throughout the night and information on sleep stages – light sleep, deep sleep and REM (rapid eye movement) sleep.
Some apps also monitor breathing rates, blood oxygen levels and body temperature. Many offer additional features such as sleep sounds and meditations, personalized recommendations and strategies, a digital sleep coach, and journal prompts to track how coffee, alcohol, stress and other factors may be affecting sleep quality.
Viral Doshi, M.D., is the medical director of INTEGRIS Health Sleep Medicine in Oklahoma City. He says sleep tracking tools can be very beneficial – “especially when improving regular sleep timings and making sure adults are getting at least seven hours of sleep within 24 hours,” says Doshi. “However, in my opinion, there is not much accuracy regarding sleep stages, and focusing too much on sleep stages isn’t useful.”
He says if you’re not getting good quality sleep and/or experiencing symptoms such as having difficulty falling or staying asleep, excessive sleepiness during the day or disruptive sleep such as snoring, then you should be evaluated by a sleep medicine provider to rule out the possibility of a sleep disorder.
Most sleep trackers come with the disclosure that users should not rely on the tracker for medical advice or diagnosis and/or consider it a replacement or substitute for professional medical care. Instead, it should be used as a reference point and resource for at-home sleep improvement. Some sleep apps allow users to download personalized reports in order to share with a physician, if needed.
Growing in popularity, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine reports that more than one-third of Americans have used an electronic sleep-tracking device, and the majority of those who have tried a sleep tracker found it helpful – with many saying they changed their behavior because of what they learned.
These are encouraging findings, as the CDC considers insufficient sleep a public health concern and links insufficient sleep to an increased risk of anxiety, depression, obesity, heart disease, injury and other serious conditions. Current sleep recommendations by the CDC suggest nine to 12 hours for school-aged children, eight to ten hours for teenagers and seven or more hours for adults.
