Sleep Stages and "Begin Sleep Now"

[ZiaSab]

Friends: I'm new to the Fitbit community and have a simple goal of getting healthy. Losing weight is part of the journey to my goal.  Couple questions, (iPhone)hopefully you can help. 1) sleep stages no longer showing up on app, is there is setting to adjust or has it been disabled? 2) do I have have to manually start "begin sleep now" on the app on my iPhone before I go to sleep or will/can the Ionic detect my sleep and automatically turn on? B) Or can I Start sleep on the ionic  itself instead of physically on the phone as it's not always by my bedside... can you imagine? Ha. Thank you all and Happy New Year 2019! -z

[SteveH]

You certainly don't want to use the "begin sleep now" as that rules out getting stages reported. There are a few other reasons too why you may not get them. Fitbit say:

"There are a few scenarios where you might see your sleep pattern (which shows your time asleep, restless, and awake) instead of sleep stages:

• If you slept in a position that prevented your device from getting a consistent heart-rate reading or wore it too loosely. For best results, wear your device higher on your wrist (about 2-3 finger widths above your wrist bone). The band should feel secure but not too tight.
• If you used the Begin Sleep Now option in the Fitbit app (instead of simply wearing your device to bed). For more information on automatic sleep tracking, see How do I track my sleep?
• If you slept for less than 3 hours.
• If your device’s battery is critically low.

For more information about why you see your sleep pattern, tap or click the sleep record that shows your sleep pattern."

taken from: https://help.fitbit.com/articles/en_US/Help_article/2163/

[ZiaSab]

Thank you greatly Steve. Everything you mentioned makes perfect sense. I shall test and provide feedback in the coming days. 

[ZiaSab]

Thank you sir, your suggestions on checking to see if watch was too loose and high enough on my wrist were perfect. I also didn't use "begin sleep now" tab on ipone and everything worked well.  Thx again 

[JB2011]

It is certainly not intuitive that selecting "start slerp" on the phone precludes sleep logging, partially because the phone and fitbit are paired. Also, the lower limit of 3 hours leaves me clueless about a good portion of my long term, fractured sleep hygiene. I am.older. sleep needs change in older age. I would rather not wake up often, but I do. In a chunk of sleep on any night that is 2:59 hours or less, I get no clue if in that period I was able to get any deep or restorative sleep at all, because I need all I can get. 

[Rlene4]

i am having the same issue on my charge 4, where all of a sudden it is not tracking my sleep.  Where do I go to make sure I am Not using the begin now sleep option.  Ive never had a issue until about 4 days ago, so I must have changed something- Thank you