Sleep recording when watching TV

[grmabrta]

My Fitbit says I'm sleeping when I sit in my power recliner with feet up and very engrossed in a TV program.  Anybody else have this issue?

Moderator edit: updated subject for clarity

[AlvaroFitbit · Accepted solution]

@grmabrta Welcome! Thanks for being part of our Community! Sorry to hear about your tracker recording sleep when you are watching TV. Your device will start recording sleep after it detects an hour of inactivity. If you don't move then this may confuse your sleep detection. Additionally you can try wearing your device on your dominant hand to increase the amount of movement it is subjected to. Finally you can restart your device. You can also delete your sleep logs.

Let me know how it goes.

[Lurfit]

So what does this really say about the reliability of the sleep tracker? I've suffered from insomnia my entire life, but after i began wearing a fitbit it tells me that I sleep a whole lot more than I think I do. I've been trusting the information it gives me, telling everyone that my insomnia has gotten so much better, even though I never feel rested after a nights "sleep". I've long suspected that it tracks sleep even when I'm awake. Last night I went to the cinemas, I really enjoyed the movie, but the fitbit said I slept through the entire thing. I did not. I was very immersed in the movie and did not fall asleep for a second. So does this mean that most of the sleep it logs during the night is just from me not moving my hands? I always try to lie still while sleeping. I imagine most people do. Because it certainly seems to me that I am awake for most of the night, but the fitbit tells me I'm sleeping like a baby. Is there a sleeptracker out there that one can actually trust?

[grmabrta]

I so agree with you. I've started just deleting all my time in recliner (with fitbit on my ankle) that says I was asleep. I thought that the actual sleep was going to be based on more HR during my regular sleep hrs and not on my arm movements.

[Lyjo78]

Lurfit, I have the exact same problem as you. I wake in the night/very early morning and look at my Fitbit to see what time it is. Generally I don’t go back to sleep but of course stay still trying to sleep. Fitbit records me as asleep Aside from the 30secs to look at my watch. It’s infuriating. I’ve taken to editing my sleep logs in the morning so they are more accurate...not ideal I know as you can only edit start and end times, but it gives a little bit more true picture. 

[Dlong79]

I got up at 9:15, did my daily rituals of making the bed, the coffee, put away some laundry. Sat down with my coffee, was not totally unmoving, and I looked again at my sleep analysis and it said I had been in a deep sleep. This is garbage. 

[SunsetRunner]

This is not a good reply. I have the same problem. I don’t even keep that still when watching TV. I am usually typing on my iPad or petting my dog. Does anyone know if Apple Watch or other device more accurately monitors sleep?

[Martijn_tH]

Same here. Was watching tv, made some tea, walked to the pc, still “deep sleep” recorded in that period.

[grmabrta]

So frustrating!