Checking Sleep tracking

[Greythorp]

The sleep tracking function in the Ionic has always 'worked' for me, in that it displays a trace for my night's sleep.  However I don't have a way to check that the readings it gives are in anyway accurate. If I had two Ionics I could wear both at night and at least I could check if the readings are consistent. Has anyone got two sleep tracking fitbits and done this experiment?

[WavyDavey]

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@Greythorp wrote:

The sleep tracking function in the Ionic has always 'worked' for me, in that it displays a trace for my night's sleep.  However I don't have a way to check that the readings it gives are in anyway accurate. If I had two Ionics I could wear both at night and at least I could check if the readings are consistent. Has anyone got two sleep tracking fitbits and done this experiment?

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Hi @Greythorp,

That's an interesting idea. It would be pretty involved to try that. It's more complicated than just wearing two trackers to sleep. You'd have to have two separate Fitbit apps, two separate Fitbit accounts. And the apps would have to be configured so the handedness is opposite on both.

But if you have two fitbits, two phones, two apps (configured correctly) and two Fitbit accounts, give it a try.

[SunsetRunner]

I have an Ionic and a Surge, but they don't provide the same level of detail. 

[bbarrera · Accepted solution]

@Greythorp Its been done with Ionic and Charge 2:

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Ionic/Ionic-vs-Charge-2-heartrate-and-sleep-inaccuracy/m-p/2264496/h...

Not consistent.

On the second page of that thread, you'll see that a 2012 study found:

- Fitbit Flex was 98% accurate at detected sleep (vs wake), and 20% accurate at detecting waking up

and a 2017 Fitbit study found:

- 69% accuracy at identifying sleep states (wake/light/deep/REM), and a Cohen's kappa score putting accuracy between "poor/fair" at low-end, and "fair-to-good/substantial" at high-end.

Fitbit's sleep state study leads us to the conclusion that estimation is "hit or miss" and that clearly agrees with the graph comparing Ionic and Charge 2.

[Greythorp]

Thanks bbarrera

This is what I suspected.  I don't think that the sleep tracking gives much data that you could draw any meaningful conclusions from.

[bbarrera]

Recommended sleep is 7-8 hours, and I do everything possible to get 7 hours of sleep during the work week. Sometimes life interferes and its not possible to get 7-8 hours, and I get 5-6 hours. 

Lets do a little thought experiment. Suppose sleep stages was accurate. Despite the positive spin of Fitbit website I can't think of how it would change my behavior. A pessimistic view - having sleep data might cause me to obsess and worry about something I realistically can't do anything about. I'm not going to quit my job, divorce my wife, or leave my family just so I can optimize my sleep stages chart 

[JTION]

based on other empirical data, in my own sleep tracking comparison, I would definitely rate my Ionic as poor. I also rate the confusing reports dividing a typical sleep period into "last night" and "today" (for no apparent reason other than crappy software design) as stupid.

Because of the obvious faults in sleep data and the non-existent O2 sensor data (which was supposed to provide meaning full data about possible sleep apnea, etc), plus other inaccurate counts (stairs, steps, etc), I have little trust in the Ionic. Fitbit needs to make corrections or stop overselling the benefits.