Oct. 15, 2024 – When Sydney Stern bought an Apple Watch 4 years ago, she was excited to check out all the brand new features, especially the sleep tracker.
The 27-year-old Maryland resident, a health scientist, was well aware of the connection between sleep and disease prevention. But what Stern thought can be a blessing to her health became a detriment, resulting in anxiety and ultimately less sleep.
“I focused on getting seven hours of sleep every night because I knew there were illnesses that came with fewer hours of sleep,” Stern said. “I checked the tracker constantly, even at 4 a.m., to see how I was doing.”
After a few month, Stern decided to ditch the device.
“I consciously take the clock off at night and even put it in another room,” she said. “Since I gave it up, the only way I can measure my sleep is when I put my head on the pillow and how I feel when I wake up.”
Stern's experience highlights the growing concern in recent times as wearable sleep trackers turn out to be more popular. Sleep experts see more “Orthosomnia” amongst her patients – an unofficial diagnosis that describes a hyperfixation on perfect sleep.
People turn out to be overly focused on logging not only the correct amount of overall sleep, but additionally specific sorts of sleep. This can increase anxiety and affect sleep – paradoxically making it tougher to realize restful sleep. Much of this fixation relies on the supply of information about their wrists due to sleep trackers.
“I have patients who trust their sleep trackers 100 percent, and if they don't get the exact recommended readings, they worry they're harming their health,” said Robert Oexman, DC, chief science officer at mattress maker iSense. “There can be any number of events that lead to a poor night's sleep, and if you're already prone to perfectionism and anxiety, a sleep tracker will only exacerbate this.”
The flip side of this trend, in fact, is a crisis of sleep “self-regulation” — trusting yourself (not technology) to understand how well you’re sleeping and assessing your body’s needs. If you're focused on sleep, it could be time to relearn this skill, like Stern did.
Problems tracking spells
Modern sleep trackers collect a wide range of data points, akin to your respiration rate, heart rate and body movements. All in all, the trackers then report how long you were asleep, awake and in several sleep phases, akin to deep sleep and REM sleep (rapid eye movement sleep).
However, it will be important to grasp that the trackers are based on averages and will report misinformation. “The trackers do a good job, but often provide inaccurate measurements,” said Nicole Short, PhD, a clinical psychologist on the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. “We need to provide context around tracking.”
This context also includes the undeniable fact that temporary awakenings throughout the night will be normal – they sometimes occur as we move from one stage of sleep to the subsequent – and that they don't necessarily affect the standard or quantity of sleep. And the trackers use averages for his or her measurements when sleep needs are highly individual.
“The tracker selects the ideal amount of sleep, about eight hours, and if you don't get it, it takes a hit,” said Dr. Chris Winter, a neurologist and sleep specialist in Charlottesville, Virginia. “Maybe you only need seven hours of sleep. So take the reviews with a grain of salt.”
All of this becomes problematic when the knowledge makes you overly anxious and also you deal with what your tracker is telling you. Certain personality types are more liable to this phenomenon, particularly those with existing anxiety or perfectionistic tendencies.
“I’m competitive, so I wanted to hit all the numbers,” Stern said. “I have already over-planned my life. So when I planned my sleep and didn’t meet my goals, it triggered anxiety.”
Return to self-regulation
If any of this is applicable to you, perhaps it's time to relearn how one can self-regulate your sleep—a skill that's helpful for everybody, not only the sleep tracker obsessive. “Step one is to put the tracker aside, at least for a while,” Oexman said. He suggests 4 to six weeks as a place to begin.
“It doesn't have to take forever, but you need to rely on how you feel after a night's sleep, not how your tracker tells you to feel,” he said.
Rather than delving into the main points of the info, deal with the consistency of sleep over time. Keeping an easy, old-fashioned sleep diary is a very good, straightforward approach to self-report and reflect on your personal sleep quality over time.
“When I use cognitive behavioral therapy with patients who suffer from insomnia, I have them monitor sleep by self-reporting in the morning,” Short said. “Sleep is quite subjective and not objective as the trackers suggest.”
Also listen to how you're feeling throughout the day, Oexman said. “Trust yourself. If you have enough energy and feel good, you will get enough good rest.”
And what matters most is quality, not quantity, he said. If you're consciously spending more time in bed to get more sleep, it's possible you'll be doing yourself a disservice. Instead, Oexman says, it's possible you'll want to cut back your quantity to see if it improves your quality. Whether you go to bed later or stand up earlier is as much as you, he said. However, experiment with the period of time you should spend in bed until good sleep returns.
Also do not forget that a lack of energy within the afternoon is normal, regardless of how much or how well you sleep. While a nap could also be tempting, if it's too long or too late within the day, it could leave you groggy and disrupt your night's sleep. Rather, a brief walk outside can boost energy through exercise, increased oxygen levels, and exposure to natural sunlight – all of which help combat fatigue without the danger of post-nap sleepiness.
Going back to the fundamentals of sleep hygiene also helps. Keep your bedroom cool and dark, use it just for sleeping – not working or watching TV in bed – and go to bed and stand up at a consistent time, whatever your individual needs. These can all aid you get quality sleep.
Once you've returned to a healthy sleep routine and let go of any anxiety attributable to the tracker, you may slowly reintroduce the device into your life for those who wish, Winter said. Otherwise, follow in Stern's footsteps and hand over on the tracker for good.
“Do things that promote sleep, and if the tracker meets the requirements, that’s fine,” he said. “But if you’re annoyed by the data and it’s becoming a barrier to sleep from providing insights, it’s time to get rid of it.”