Inaccurate Sleep Log? Change your settings!

[CallieM]

Hi sleepy Community members!

Does your sleep log look something like this?

If you think your log is inaccurate when it shows this much restlessness, you're not alone! A lot of Fitbit users have sleep logs like this, and many times it's due to the fact that Sleep settings are on "Sensitive" mode instead of "Normal" mode. A little about these two modes:

• The normal setting counts significant movements as being awake (such as rolling over) and is appropriate for most users.
• The sensitive setting will cause your tracker to record nearly all movements as time spent awake. This setting may be helpful for users with sleep disorders, or those who wear their tracker somewhere other than the wrist while asleep.

We strongly suggest that most users use the Normal setting. To change your settings to Normal, follow these steps, or visit our help article!

• To change your setting in the Fitbit iOS app, go to Account > Advanced Settings > Sleep Sensitivity.

• To change your setting in the fitbit.com dashboard, go to Settings > Devices > scroll down to Sleep Tracking.

I hope this helps - let me know if you have any trouble changing this setting or if you have seen a difference in the accuracy of your sleep log after switching!

[Rowmoseley]

I found on normal my Charge HR overestimated my sleep, on sensitive it then recorded that my average nights' "sleep" was 2.5 - 3 hours in 15 - 20 sessions, no evidence of sleep cycles etc. 

This helped me convince my GP that my memory problems, basically a random inability to access previous memories, especially how to find places and people I'd been to many times in the past, might be due to sleep.

Had the overnight session with electrodes everywhere at Papworth, the UK's sleep clinic, was found to be getting less than half the recommended amount of REM sleep which is when the brain does it's "memory filing".

Thought to be due to the brain not getting enough oxygen - trial with a CPAP machine reduced number of low oxygen periods from 16 an hour to a normal 4 an hour.  Interestingly, not only did the Fitbit record my best ever "non moving" sleep (over 5 hours) but also that my heart rate stayed around 60 rather than as usual falling to the low 50's and sometimes even below 50.

[SunsetRunner]

*yawn* Oh hey @CallieM,

My sleep log (when I still used a Fitbit, and had it on Sensitive) looked a lot like that.

17 times awake

23 times awake

3:01 really asleep

^^ A lot of my sleep logs on sensitive looked like THAT

-Kai

[sandlot1959]

Good for you. I got on CPAP in the 90's for the same reasons (plus I was going to sleep everytime I drove) Its well worth the aggrivation of getting used to using it. 🙂 

[Synapz]

My sleep log looks that way in both normal and sensitive modes.  Sometimes it indicates that I do not get to sleep until 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning, which is grossly inaccurate. I routinely go to bed and get to sleep around 10:30pm. However, I do have a problem with sleep-walking.

[SunsetRunner]

But - but - but - How do you actually rule out a sleep disorder? I've got a sleep log that has always looked like that on the sensitive setting. It's probably not a sleep disorder, but I'm wondering what happens when people go to a sleep doctor with a log like that. What are the types of movement in normal sleep that log as restless on the sensitive setting? How do you know if your log is "accurate" - if you knew whether it was accurate or not, you wouldn't need the Fitbit to track your sleep. (In the meantime I'll go back to the normal setting. )

[sandlot1959]

If you suspect you have a "sleep disorder" your doctor can refer you to do a sleep study. This requires at least one over night stay in which they hook you up to several electrodes and they determine if you are having apneas, (breathing lapses) and to what extent, if any. This is pretty conclusive and they will prescribe a cpap machine or some variant which will stop the apneas. They use the numbers gleened from the sleep study to input a certain pressure setting so that you are getting the right level of air to stop the apneas. Hope this helps and hope you are well. 🙂

[sharimah]

my fitbit is set to normal but it still has all the restless lines, does anyone know why?

[NugsMom]

There are chunks of hours missing from my sleep log sometimes each night, so it looks like I only slept 2 hours instead of 8. I have switched from normal to sensitive and back, made sure my fitbit was fully charged each night, tried switching wrists. It seems accurate the times I do wake up to go to the ladies room, and the time I wake up, but the time I went to bed/sleep vs it says when I actually was asleep, can also be hours off.  I think the sleep is monitored by heart rate correct? If its at a low hr its considered sleep? Its not like I am sleep walking, or it would say I am awake right? Or would track additional steps? I believe the "restlessness" times, (too many animals in my bed and can tell by how trashed my bed is in the morning) but I dont understand the missing chunks of time.  Am I transporting myself into another dimension?  lol  Or does my fit bit have a glitch/issue? HELP!!!!!  😉

[NugsMom]

 Sleep

Last night
4 hrs 23 min awake
0 min (0x) restless?
91 min (9x)

FRISATFRISAT

12PM 2 4 6 8 10 12AM 2 4 6 8 10 12PM

Past 7 days

THUFRITHUFRI

WEDTHUWEDTHU

TUEWEDTUEWED

MONTUEMONTUE

SUNMONSUNMON

SATSUNSATSUN

12PM 2 4 6 8 10 12AM 2 4 6 8 10 12PM

Sleep restless awake

[SunsetRunner]

I've given up trying to get information on what exactly Fitbit is measuring. Switching to normal gives me results that correspond more with how I experience the night, but then - why use fitbit at all? At this point it's just a handy log of when I went to bed and got up. But you may have a clue in mentioning animals on the bed. I don't have animals and switching to normal worked; while you have animals and switching to normal doesn't work. Still leaves the question of what it's measuring. Animals shifting? Someone snoring? Someone breathing? Telepathic reception of all dreams going on in the bed?

In the meantime, grinding my manual coffee grinder (circular motion with arm) gives me steps so maybe that's what FB is: something that saves us from carrying pencil and paper around.

In normal, pre-FB life, I can tell if I'm getting adequate sleep (what sleep deficit has accumulated) by how long weekend naps are and how necessary a nap feels when I'm home and it's a real possibility.

[djbarker]

Hello,

I have a problem with Sleep monitoring - my Fitbit assumes that I am asleep, when I am awake.

I have the fitbit charge HR on my dnon-dominant hand, and I have the sleep setting on Normal and wrist placement on dominant. 

I usually lie in bed for about half an hour in the morning, listening to the radio and using my phone, however this is still seen as sleep -sometimes I can even go to the loo and still be classed as asleep.

I tried using sensitive and had incredibly innacurate sleep reading and if I set the wrist placement to non-dominant, Fitbit overestimates my steps by about 20%.

It would be nice to modestly increase the sensitivity of the device during sleep, but not wakefulness, so it becomes more accurate.

[CallieM]

@Rowmoseley thanks for chiming in with your experience. I'm glad your tracker was able to mimic what the CPAP machine was helping with. @Synapz are you still having an issue with this? 

@SunsetRunner Fitbit provides services to help you live a healthier life, but please keep in mind that our trackers and services are not intended to provide medical data. Please see your doctor if you're concerned with being diagnosed with a sleep disorder. Also, as the original post mentions, the "normal" setting is going to be the most accurate setting for almost everyone, and we strongly suggest most everyone use the normal setting.

@sharimah it's normal to still have restless lines in your sleep log, even if it's set to "normal." I'd be a little concerned if there weren't any (or a little jealous, because it means you sleep like a log and don't move at all during the night!) 

@NugsMom hmm, that sounds odd. Sleep is monitored by movement, so if you have a lot of animals in your bed, and you're moving a lot during the night, your tracker might actually think you're awake. That being said, can you please try a restart of your tracker? Let me know if this helps at all. 

@djbarker thanks for your question. Since your tracker determines "sleep" by how much movement you make during the night, if you're laying in bed in the morning being relatively still, your tracker may still 'think' you are asleep. If you're concerned about your awake time being inaccurate, you can go into your sleep log and edit your awake time. Hope this helps!

[Lunasash]

I have found that even on sensitive setting, it does not record when I am up walking around in the middle of the night!  I will have nights that I am restless, or need to let the dogs out, or go to the bathroom.  I will be up and walking around and check the time on my fitbit.  In the morning I check the log to see how I supposedly slept, and it will say restless, but not awake.  It is overestimating my sleep time.

[Lunasash]

Hi ConnieDee, the only way to rule out a sleep disorder truly is to have a sleep study done.

[SunsetRunner]

Actually I was just wanting to know HOW fitbit measures these things (under that proprietary hood,) how that affects the difference is between sensitive and normal, why it differs for people etc. What kinds of things is Fitbit measuring that turn out to be irrelevant to actual sleep in a portion of the population using it? Are there physical factors that correlate roughly to actual sleep but that aren’t actual artifacts of sleep?(Kind of like the way grinding coffee on my manual coffee grinder with my Fitbit arm adds up steps.) Curious minds want to know - but they aren’t going to tell us! (Of course I wouldn’t use a Fitbit to rule out a sleep disorder if I really thought I had one.)

[MarjieHughes]

How often do you sleep? My kids just recently told me they have found me sleep walking. I need to look into my insurance to see if a sleep study is covered.

[oontan]

Wonder why my fitbit is always recording 30 mins lesser when tracking my sleep. For example, I slept from 21:57 to 04:03, theorectically, it should show 6 hr 06 min. However, the tracking is showing 5 hr 33 min only. This tracking became inaccurate only last 2 weeks. Earlier, it was accurately tracked.

Any idea where went wrong and how should i correct this?

Regards

[MauriceHaynes]

I just cannot understand how it works - have just this min changed to normal -- and hope to get a better understanding. I am a man of a certain age who does get up several times a night to go to the toilet. I am usually unaware of the times etc. However fitbit records them as red lines -awake- the other bits I dont understand I try to go to bed at about 11 and possibly read for about an hour. However my records show that I don't go to sleep till 2am even though I have done steps and been awake prior to that . It generaly has my wakening up time as about right but then it says I have only had 1 3/4 hour's of sleep. Am I sleep deprived?.
I do admit that I do feel tired during the day but put this down to age (75)

[Sandman00747]

It subtracts all your restless and awake minutes from your total sleep.