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I would love if you guys could create REM sleep detection feature for fitbit products. Also a way to use or sync chest strap heart rate monitor data with fibit via ANT+ or Bluetooth technology.
Thanks for your time and producing a wonderful product.
I just came over from the Jawbone UP3 band and I love the surge for everything it offers except the sleep tracking. I'm not real excited on how the sleep reads. Restless awake etc... However I believe this is an easy fix. If you look up other apps like jawbone, sleep better, sleep cycle alarm cycle, and sleepbot etc it shows you when you're in light, deep, and REM sleep. So that is what I propose having the ability to see what cycles you're in while sleeping.
Been a fitbit user for many years. The main reason being I needed to monitor my sleep and attempt to understand what causes me a bad night.
After much research and reading the results of many tests and reports, the general opinion is the average person gets to REM sleep in about 90 minutes. I am sure you have all discovered that REM sleep is critical, without it we don't recover. You only need to be in REM for seconds to get this benefit, but the damage of not getting there is cumulative.
I rarely get there and sometimes it can be several weeks before it happens. The results are exhaustion.
What I would like from fitbit is the ability to automatically monitor for REM. That is, the graph will show if we get to and beyond 90 minutes. Not sure if this is possible, but I think for people like me who suffer, this would be very useful.
Here's what I'm after in sleep tracking (just voted but wanted to share a quick rundown of issues with Fitbit competition...) - how long it takes me to fall asleep (regardless if it's a nap or for the night), light and deep sleep stages. REM sleep would be nice, but certainly not required as it's considered "newer" technology and, well, this is a new step for Fitbit! 🙂
I've done a lot of comparing of what will track sleep on your wrist - Jawbone Up, Samsung Gear Fit, Misfit Shine, Garmin Vivofit & Vivosmart, Microsoft and I own the Fitbit. (Also Basis, Striiv, Polar, Razer, Withings, Soleus, etc... - not really known ones to own...)
Jawbone up - Up2 has a wrist model that is delicate so I can wear with my G-Shock on my tiny wrist. It tracks light/deep sleep. It doesn't sync online and app isn't compatable with newer phones (such as mine). I wanted REM which I can get with the UP3, but it was thicker and I didn't like it. The app is the same as the UP2.
Samsung Gear Fit - only tracks how long you sleep and I'm after the stages of sleep
Misfit Flash - will provide the light and deep sleep stages but the piece that tracks is easily lost
Garmin - Owners manual states "Sleep statistics include total hours of sleep, periods of movement, and periods of restful sleep." Likely won't track what I'm after.
Microsoft - the only way to get what I want but bad reviews (a lot die after 3 weeks and I can return where I purchase for 30 days but that's a big hassle)
Fitbit has a good reputation which is why it's what I own. I have a charge HR. I chose it for the clock and auto sleep detection. (Though I set sleep to see how long it takes to fall asleep...takes too long!) I started off with a one and it was more to use as a pedodemeter. But now that I know for sure I have a sleep disorder I'm curious about tracking my sleep quality. It's my hope that Fitbit will catch up with others because they have the technology already so I'm not sure why they haven't taken the last step.
I'm aware that no tracking device is 100% accurate and that's fine. But my phone in bed just doesn't work. It falls on the floor too often and does no good, especially when it's my alarm. Here's to hoping!
I used the basis carbon steel model for a while which does sync with a computer.It analyzed sleep into the 3 phases you also want. Overall a better but not perfect result! My fitbit charge shows I get an average of around 3 hrs sleep total for the night.This is way out as I typically get more than double that amount. The basis watch as well as heart rate also measured skin temperature and perspiration rates .The temperature is key to recording when you get to sleep as the body temperature drops in order to sleep. Using my fitbit it seems it fails to record when sleep commences as all sleep recorded is in the small hours probably deep sleep where pulse rate is lowest, or at the coldest time of night? I would have gone for the latest Basis watch except they have done away with computer syncing and i have no need for a 'smart phone' data gobbler! With out doubt fitbit needs to improve sleep recording.Also needs to differentiate between leg and arm accelerometer movement counting for it seems when I rake the garden it thinks I have done a 3 km walk. I am sure that the amount of energy expended is not equal?Or at least have an adjustment factor for proper comparison as I don't want to wear the fitbit around my ankle!
If you get to try out other makes and models please post the information. Thanks
When it comes to sleep tracking, Fitbit definitely is lower on the list. If I went to buy my Fitbit for sleep tracking, I might have reconsidered before purchase.
That type of sleep monitoring requires an ekg. You are not going to get that in a wrist mounted device. What you want is a miracle. Some other companies do claim their tracker have this capability but it's not possible. It requires large and expensive equipment to read your brain activity and you can't expect that from a wrist mounted accelerometer.
Yes I used it tooBasis B1 did give better sleep recording but it did have several other sensors such as skin temperature.The reason for this is that the body cools down when sleepingIn fact a cold shower will help get you to sleep Thanks
This is a great idea. REM is a really important part of being healthy. Rem is one of the most important parts of sleep because it renew and revives us. We need enough REM to be healthy. This will benefit a lot of users, specially to users that can't sleep that well and want to better it. I relate with this as I have problems getting there. I believe it is possible, so let's keep voting for this and hopefully we will see it implemented in the nearest future.
The Jawbone UP series do a much better job of tracking sleep and analysing sleep patterns. It may be all fantasy but the REM/deep/light analysis seems so much better than on the surge. Please update the firmware soon to give us better sleep analysis!
Assuming the patent is help by company 'A', it would not be very appealing for company 'B' to pay royalty. Unless that functionality ends up becoming a deal breaker.
I would certainly like to be able to track REM sleep. When on 'Sensitive ' mode it appeared that I am only getting an average of 3 - 4 hrs sleep per night. However this increases by 1 - 1 1/2 hours per night in normal mode. I'd now like to see how much quality sleep I am getting per night as this is the most important sleep we should all be having.
as a lot of biology papers it seems that sleep is more effective if the wake up is do when a sleep cycle ends it would be a good idea if the fitbit suggest the wake up time to respect the sleep cycle
I would love this. Charting my sleep is extremely interesting to me. I feel like fitbit could do so much more with the data they are getting. They should improve their sleep data... right now, even the sleep data they do have is hard to read/interpret (the chart doesn't show hour by hour).
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