What to know about sleep tracking devices

A person holds a pillow over their head while lying in bed in this undated file image. (Ron Lach via Pexels)

Should you be wearing a sleep tracker? According to one expert, they can be helpful lifestyle tools, but their findings should be taken with a grain of salt.

Andrew Holmes, sleep expert and owner of Sleep Efficiency, says sleep trackers can be useful for tracking sleep behaviours over time, but users should be careful not to see them as definitive indicators of their sleep quality.

“If you’re looking at that score, and that score is basically telling you how you’re supposed to feel for the day, that’s probably an issue,” he said. “If you’re saying, ‘the day’s a write off because I got a lousy sleep score,’ that’s becoming a little bit too much.”

Holmes joined CTV Your Morning Ottawa on Thursday to provide some insight into the world of sleep trackers.

What do sleep trackers track?

Holmes says popular sleep trackers like Oura Rings and Apple Watches rely on a variety of metrics to determine the length of your sleep. These metrics include oxygen levels, body temperature, sweat secretion, heart rate, heart rate variability—which is the timing between heart beats—and more.

“So, all of these signals that add up and paint a picture with your sleep,” he said.

As Holmes explains, these metrics are also used to predict how much time you spent in light sleep, deep sleep and rapid eye movement, or REM sleep.

While these wearable trackers can reliably predict how long their wearers have slept, Holmes says they’re less accurate when it comes to providing insights into sleep stages.

According to Holmes, Oura Rings have an 88 to 92 per cent accuracy at determining sleep duration and sleep stages. By contrast, Apple Watches have an approximately 85 per cent accuracy when it comes to predicting whether an individual is asleep or awake but only about a 50 per cent accuracy when it comes to determining sleep stages.

How should they be used?

According to Holmes, these trackers are best used to influence lifestyle habits and changes. Holmes says wearer should use sleep trackers to guide the routines and practices wearers use before sleeping.

“Use it as proper sleep hygiene guiding techniques, that would be the best thing,” he said.

When can sleep data become an issue?

While these tools can be helpful to guide your overall sleep habits, Holmes says it’s best not to worry too much about the data, or sleep scores, they provide. The information the trackers provide shouldn’t affect how people go about their day, Holmes says.

“There’s actually something called orthosomnia now,” Holmes said. “It’s the inability to fall asleep and/or stay asleep due to fear and anxiety of achieving optimal sleep, induced by sleep tracking devices.”

Holmes suggests looking at the data collected by sleep trackers on a weekly rather than daily basis, to avoid getting too hung up on the results.

“When you’re sort of obsessing over it and relying on that device to tell you how you feel throughout the day, that’s probably an issue.”

What about sleep tracking apps?

According to Holmes, most sleep tracking apps are unreliable.

“The apps, you can pretty much dismiss right away,” Holmes said.

“They’re really just recording an audio channel, somewhat gimmicky. It’s going to tell you that it captured some snoring.”

When should I see a professional?

While wearable trackers can provide some insights into sleep quality, Holmes says people suffering from persistent sleep-related issues, including constant fatigue or chronic snoring, may want to consider a clinical diagnostic test.

“If the sleep problems still persist and you’re noticing dips overtime, then maybe a diagnostic test from sleep efficiency would probably be the way to go,” he said.

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