Many fitness trackers measure not solely the number of steps you are taking day-after-day and the calories you burn, but additionally your sleep habits, with some trackers even claiming to measure the time you spend in each stage of sleep. Although it could be fun to pore over the data, sleep specialists say they’re skeptical of fitness wristbands’ accuracy in measuring sleep.
Popular trackers, such because the Fitbit Force, embody a sleep mode that aims to offer users with some insight into their shuteye, reminiscent of how lengthy they slept, and how many occasions they have been restless or woke up. Fitness trackers’ means to measure sleep typically comes from sensors called accelerometers, which detect a wearer’s movement, along with the speed and route of that motion. Experts say that whereas most trackers can in concept tell when an individual is awake versus asleep, they’re liable to errors. That’s as a result of although accelerometer screens your movement, “you move the identical amount whether you’re in deep sleep or lighter phases of sleep,” Montgomery-Downs said.
Experts fear there may be a hazard in customers placing too much belief in these gadgets to precisely monitor sleep, especially customers who’ve sleep disorders. The gold standard used to scientifically consider an individual’s sleep is a radical sleep lab test, referred to as polysomnography. Compared with this test, the accelerometer-based fitness trackers are “easy to trick,” Montgomery-Downs stated. In 2011 examine, Montgomery-Downs and colleagues in contrast data from a tracker to that of a … Read more
