Smart Alarms that Wake You More Naturally (eg. in Light Sleep Stage)

I just got my Fitbit flex and I think it's fantastic.  If it monitors your sleep though it will have a good idea of when you're in deep (REM) sleep and when you're in lighter sleep.  You cycle between these two during the night on a pretty reliable pattern, and they're easy to tell apart as you don't move around while you're in REM sleep.  At least not as I understand things.

 

Could an update for the Fitbit modify the alarm feature please to wake you up as close as possible to your chosen time, but NOT during REM sleep?

 

This will allow you to wake more naturally, feeling refreshed, rather than how unpleasant it is when your alarm goes off in REM sleep.

 

Thanks, please all vote for this :smileyhappy:

 

Moderator edit: labels.

1,221 Comments
MikeHalsey
Jogger

I just got my Fitbit flex and I think it's fantastic.  If it monitors your sleep though it will have a good idea of when you're in deep (REM) sleep and when you're in lighter sleep.  You cycle between these two during the night on a pretty reliable pattern, and they're easy to tell apart as you don't move around while you're in REM sleep.  At least not as I understand things.

 

Could an update for the Fitbit modify the alarm feature please to wake you up as close as possible to your chosen time, but NOT during REM sleep?

 

This will allow you to wake more naturally, feeling refreshed, rather than how unpleasant it is when your alarm goes off in REM sleep.

 

Thanks, please all vote for this Smiley Happy

sharebear
Base Runner

Agree. It would be a nice integration. Currently I reset the alarm each night, using sleepyti.me as an indicator of the best time to wake up. But I fall asleep faster than 14 minutes, sometimes longer... Maybe give a range 'I need to be up by 6:30, please wake me up between 5:00-6:30' and you shoule have your cycle end within that 1.5 hrs (cycles are normally 90 minutes).

Collin1000
Premium User
Veteran Runner

I would love this feature. If it's R&D heavy could even be a premium only "sleep enhancements" type deal 

jamal
First Steps

Very much needed feature to start the day off right. Jawbone Up has this feature and many smart phone apps will do the same thing. The phone app I've used would have you set a time to wake up by, and it would wake you up before then while you were in light sleep prior to when you were going to go back into REM slee, works very well.

crash365
First Steps

Add a sleep alarm to wake me at the perfect time i.e. at the end of a REM cycle.

crash365
First Steps

think this is by far the best idea yet that should make the Fitbit a compeling purchase for anyone.

 

h365

 

Moderator Edit: Format

Ckiff
First Steps

I second this. I used a sleep cycle alarm on my phone, I would like this retire as part of my fitbit Force since it tracks sleep cycles anyways.

Nosilla928
First Steps

YES, please! I use the Sleep Cycle app on iPhone and would love to see this feature on the Fitbit!

Bnm1209
First Steps
The jawbone features a smart alarm that wakes you up at your ideal time based on your sleep cycle. When Wil fitbit be adding this? It seems like the technology is there, the app/website just needs an update! I'm considering switching to jawbone for this.
Sunriserun36
Jogger

I would love to have that feature too.
I friend told me that he feel a lot more rested since it started using this with his Jawbone.
I am evalationg if buying the Fitbit or Jawbone and the lack of this feature make think that I will go with Jawbone. 
A few other people requested it too here: https://www.facebook.com/fitbit/posts/579649365392585

I wonder if there are any plans to have this feature implemented



Sunriserun36
Jogger

I would love to have that feature too.
I friend told me that he feel a lot more rested since it started using this with his Jawbone.
I am evaluating if buying the Fitbit or Jawbone and the lack of this feature is orienting me to buy the Jawbone. 


A few other people requested it too here: here: https://www.facebook.com/fitbit/posts/579649365392585

I
 would also wonder if it is possible to autodetect when somebody start sleeping and automatically set the sleep mode.

Sunriserun36
Jogger

BTW, this is a duplicate of https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Product-Features/Alarms-that-wake-you-more-naturally/idi-p/4609 that has already more votes. I would add there your vote.

Sunriserun36
Jogger

BTW, this is a duplicate of https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Product-Features/Alarms-that-wake-you-more-naturally/idi-p/4609 that has already more votes. I would add there your vote.

Bnm1209
First Steps

YES YES YES!!!

Bnm1209
First Steps

Thanks, I have voted on this other one, too!

baz8080
First Steps
This would be a killer feature.
rcohlhepp
Base Runner

I just moved to the Force from a Jawbone and not having this feature stinks.  I had really gotten used to it on my Jawbone.  Jawbone is programmed to wake you up as much as 30 minutes prior to your set alarm if it judges it to be ideal with your sleep pattern.  I usually set mine to 20 minutes prior and found that I woke up more rested.  Maybe it is placebo effect but it worked for me.

SunsetRunner
Not applicable

I've switched from Jawbone Up too and would love this feature

chris-bit
Runner

If this feature is really something that you want you may consider this: http://techcrunch.com/2014/01/05/withings-aura
 Apparently it would be more accurate than any other devidce that use wrist movement detection.

lsarrat
First Steps

I wish the flex or force could wake me up using the analysis of my sleep cycle as available for the jawbone up for exemple. Is there any firmware upgrade to add this functionality ?

Dominique
Marathon Racer

I'm not aware of any Fitbit device that would analyze sleep cycles. I'm quite skeptical about the ability of any tracker to analyze sleep cycles based on arm movements.

 

FWIW, I made some experiments of my own with a heart rate monitor and I wrote a post about it.

giuseppemastrod
First Steps

This is a must-have feature.
Please develop it!

bobekdj
First Steps

I have used sleep cycle on my bed (when single) for over a year... i think it did a great job... maybe integrating the fitbit and their app, then vibrate fitbit when time to get up?

nismor
Jogger

Yes, this is what I thought I was getting when I bought it... seems obvious. The features are already in the wristband.. seems simple enough.

laxNsurf
First Steps

There are already iphone apps that do this. "This" being track you're rem cycle through movement tracking and then sound the alarm just as you're coming out of REM for an easier wake up. It seems like it would be easy to make this happen for fitbit

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