Track REM, Light and Deep Sleep

it would be great if the Fitbit app could also give us REM, light sleep and deep sleep.

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129 Comments
brianwestchest
Recovery Runner
Don't fall for the hype. I had the Jawbone. How they even pretend to report on deep sleep versus light sleep or REM based on nothing but an accelerometer (motion detector) as a sensor is beyond me.
Status changed to: Reviewed By Moderator
DerrickS
Premium User
Moderator Alum
Moderator Alum

Great idea, thanks for sharing it with us! I could see a lot of our users benefiting from having more in-depth sleep data.

PhoenixofMT
Base Runner

Great idea, but not as simple as you might think. I've been tracking my sleep with an Android app for several years now. It's only recently been able to even guess at REM, which is very difficult to do with meaningful accuracy using generic actigraphy.

L0uis
Premium User
Jogger
+1 to this. Today i saw how Huawei fitness tracker displays the sleep patterns with monthly/weekly bar charts, total rem/light sleep etc and got jealous. Please improve it. Thanks
SunsetRunner
Not applicable

while you are at it, can you fix the issue where the charge hr (ver:64) thinks I'm asleep while it's plugged in and charging?

beshpeter
First Steps
Just bought the fitbit Charge HR, and though I'm generally impressed with it, you guys can do SO much better in the sleep tracker of the iOS app. It's quite useless today.
 
I have a baby and wake up multiple times per night. Yet the graph (if you actually dare to call it that) shows only one of my sleep segments and not my full sleep in the night.
 
I compare my sleep analytics with friends who use the Jawbone app, and there's is superior. 
 
I think you guys have the technology to amp up this feature in the app.  Do something like the other iPhone apps such as Sleep Cycle. Can you make this fitbit feature better?
soverytired
First Steps

Yes! this is badly needed! fitibt really need to utilize the combination of HR and movement tracking. The sleep recording on fitbit leaves ALOT to be desired, which is a shame because as we all know sleep is as important as anything else for health, particulalry mental health.

laziboi
Jogger

How about implementing it with a 3rd party app such as sleep cycle or sleep as adroid(which track thse ananlytics...except we have to sleep with the phone right next to us....which is inconvenient and drains battery faster/needing it to be constantly charging while in use).

being able to have one of those apps sync with the charge hr would be very useful and make it superior to the jawbone as this has that feature on their stock app...also these 3rd party apps wake u at the optimal time so u dont wake up groggy...

 

should be a main feature of the fitbit app tho...with the alarm going off at optimal sleep phase/time...like with a 30 minute window before the alarm is set to go off.

 

To be honest if the jawbone up3 actually does decide to come onto the market i might actually be ditching the charge hr...but the oled screen and constant HR monitoring were the main reason over the jawbone(was a hard toss up tho because i really wanted that detailed sleep analysis also)

laziboi
Jogger

How about implementing it with a 3rd party app such as sleep cycle or sleep as adroid(which track thse ananlytics...except we have to sleep with the phone right next to us....which is inconvenient and drains battery faster/needing it to be constantly charging while in use and manually turning it on each time).
being able to have one of those apps sync with the charge hr would be very useful and make it superior to the jawbone as this has that feature on their stock app but no the oled screen and constant HR monitoring which were the main reasons over the jawbone ...also these 3rd party apps wake u at the optimal time so u dont wake up groggy...

should be a main feature of the fitbit app tho...with the alarm going off at optimal sleep phase/time(if you are in this phase ofcourse)...like with a 30 minute window before the alarm is set to go off.

To be honest if the jawbone up3 actually does decide to come onto the market i might actually be ditching the charge hr...but the oled screen and constant HR monitoring and auto sleep detection were the main reasons over the jawboneup24(was a hard toss up tho because i really wanted that detailed sleep analysis)

ethical
Recovery Runner

I also prefer to show on the report the full sleep lengh on the main screen, not the actual, then tapping on the record you can show the light and deep.

I enabled sensetive because my Charge HR wasn't tracking many movements and I know that I do move and shake, but now it only records on the main sceen 2 or 3 hours of actual sleep.

I think on the main screen it should show the whole sleep, even if restless you are still sleeping! Then in the details you can show the restless and deep.

GeshVA
Recovery Runner

I almost bought the Basis Peak because it has this sleep functionality.  Would be a tremendous improvement in the Surge.

Yuriy
Base Runner

I like this idea

SunsetRunner
Not applicable

I'd be interested to see all of the sleep history overlapped, so as to create a single view of when you are most likely to be sleeping, and awake.  While some might say that sleep is too random, I think the chart might be insightful.  Perhaps some folks take naps during the day.  Perhaps someone else is always up at 3 AM.

 

So if a user has 30 days of sleep data, use that count of 30 to build a gradient for the chart.  Each layer would be 1/30 opaque of the filled in color.

jgray
Jogger

Well I used a basis carbon steel for a while and it differentiates sleep phases by also measuring skin temperature and sweat rate together with heart rate which they say it is easier to decide whether sleep is light, REM or deep!. It had 4 flashing green lights to acheive this.

But still the device missed periods of sleep during the night, although not as much as fitbit charge HR does. Hr only shows my sleep after about 2 am when I know that i went to sleep about 11.30pm. From the Basis when it did get my sleep right I am usually in light sleep until after 1 am.

 

So it seems HR has trouble in detecting light sleep initiation  from awake states so simply decides you are awake until a deeper sleep phase occurs!

 

With the Basis it confused meditation states with light sleep so a way to go I suspect with all of these devices. I would like more sensitive detection. The HR can be set to sensitive sleep but all this did was to increase the number of awake times it reported during the night !!!

 

I generally know when I awaken during the night and say pull on more blankets but no where near the number being repoted by HR so it seems the HR again confuses light sleep with awake states, that is the weakness with all these devices?.

I have read that we go thru cycles of sleep on about 3 hour intervals but do not see this pattern in what HR is reporting.

By all means push for better sleep reporting but be realistic about what can be acheived.

SunsetRunner
Not applicable

@jgray hey this "basis peek" watch sounds almost like what I want. the full sleep tracking sounds appealing.  Does it do alarms based on the sleep information?

jgray
Jogger

I beleive it does but I lost interest when I found it only connects via a smart phone. So cannot connect to your home computer, unlike the previous version carbon steel which I used.

In summary it has more sensors but still missed some sleep time with me.

Theodi
Jogger
I love my Fitbit Surge it's nearly perfect but a big thing that needs improving and I think puts people off buying fitbit is the lack of good sleep data of how you have slept, REM, light sleep, deep sleep. My Surge has a HR monitor so should be able to show me even better data. For something that costs so much the sleep data is not good enough at the moment. Jawbone and others have done it really well, please update this soon!

Also with the alarms it would be good if it woke you up when it thought you were in light sleep, like the Jawbone Up24 does, this is great.
Sfrose74
Jogger
& a way to tag sleep & sort that data - I like to say 'Benadryl' to sort out those nights as wow I sleep like a baby those nights!
Theodi
Jogger

 

Haha yes!  Definitely better sleep tracking all round!  How often do fibit upgrade things?

RichardCollins
Sprinter

I am using the Charge HR.  The heart rate graph shows my 24 hour activity already.  Perhaps that could be superimposed.  There are already other suggestions for improving sleep tracking.  Perhaps they all need to be merged and the best ideas pulled together.

Smithnotes
First Steps
It would be great if there were more *landmark* times on the sleep visual...perhaps include tick marks for midnight and 4am instead of just beginning and end.
Proximity
Stepping Up

Most sleeping applications have deep sleep feature. Just wondering if this is something patent protected so you cannot integrate it on yours? Also you have heart rate - could you use this to increase the accuracy of the sleep pattern?

 

Thanks

SunsetRunner
Not applicable
It would be great if sleep could be categorised into zones so you know how deep or light your sleep is during parts of the night. I wonder if it's possible for Fitbit hr to work out when the body is potentially in REM state.

Add to this function a smart alarm function designed to wake you when the body is in the best zone (lightest sleep) to be smoothly woken in something like a 15 minute period either side of the time I want to be woken.
jinxy
Premium User
Jogger

Definitely need better sleep reporting! This is the only reason i'm NOT getting a fitbit - I need sleep tracking that I can actually use to see a more genuine view of my sleep patterns and cycles. Not to mention if fitbit can track my sleep cycles, then it will be in a much better position to match competitors on a wakeup-phase alarm to wake you at the optimum time in the sleep cycle.

 

 

jgray
Jogger

I agree my fitbit charge HR does not seem able to detect light sleep and so does not report full sleep each night.

Also shown as not recording properly when I naturally awaken, as I can lie awake for 15-20 min without moving and it will record I am still asleep until I get up.

Probably need more detectors such as skin temperature and sweat rates to better discern different phases.

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