Please show me your sleep pattern (both good and poor sleepers)

[111mastermind]

I got my Fitbit Surge 6 days ago. I set it to sensitive. The sleep pattern confirmed mine, and my husband's suspicions, that I have very poor sleep. Sleep efficiency 61%, and cycle length (also confirmed with a different mobile app) is only 60 mins not the usual 90 mins. I 'need' about 10-11 hours sleep to feel half-way decent. With 10 hrs sleep I get about 6 hrs. With 8-9 hrs sleep (my usual weekday allowance) I get about 5 hrs. My husband always complains that my restless sleep causes him lost sleep too 😞 (I say to him imagine how I feel!). I am usually fatigued all day and have trouble getting up in the morning and am struggling to maintain work function. I'm glad I got my Fitbit so I have proof of what is happening.

I was tested for sleep apnoea some years ago and had borderline/mild apnoea. I lost 70 lbs (30 kg) and then got retested and the apnoea had disappeared (good because I didn't tolerate the CPAP at all).

I would like to know what a 'normal' sleep pattern looks like and what another poor sleeper looks like so I can show my GP and get referred. Is there a specific kind of sleep study she can request other than for sleep apnoea?

I have added 2 screenshots of my usual sleep pattern, if some of you could add yours with a brief comment on if you sleep well or not, that would help me gather evidence for my GP appointment. TIA.

[SazLJ]

Last nights sleep was set to sensitive, the other's were normal. If I set it on sensitive some nights it's saying I'm getting very little sleep.  Once last week it actually told me I only slept for 1 and a half hours for a whole night.  On average when the tracker is set to normal, it's saying I wake up 25 x a night.  I'm very restless at night and that has been confirmed by my hubby too.  I do suffer with Chronic pain in my back and my hips though (unmedicated) and that is what causes my quality of sleep to go down so much.  I always wondered why I was so tired throughout the day and now thanks to Fitbit I do.

This is the last nights in more detail.

As you can see, I'm not getting anywhere near as much sleep as I should be getting.

[Urchin]

Wow, I find your sleep log kind of disturbing. I thought that I was having poor sleep! I sleep in a bed with my hubby and 5 month old baby. I do not sleep well. I am up a lot and always uncomfortable, but my log is not nearly as bad as yours. I wear a flex, also on sensitive.

I would really consider seeing a doctor again if I were you. Sounds like something is going on.. if not apnea, do you drink a lot of coffee or have alcohol before bed? Are there options you can look into for your pain? Physiotherapy? Massage? Yoga?

[HopeGraceLove]

I'm very fortunate in that I have no difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep. There are nights where the entire length of the graph is blue until I wake up. I'm sorry if this makes you envious. 😕

[Fred14]

I to have been to the sleep ap clinic a ouple of times overthe last 10 years and they say origionally said that I have mild sleep apnea then the second time they said I was ok.

My family got me the fitbit for my 52nd birthday and I have just started using it.

My wife complains that she gets poor slep becouse of me olso.

My stats for last night are below which it has broken into 4 sections. I couls only just fit them onto the screen capture.

I don't know if this helps you or not but they do seem to be very similar to yours.

I also work 8 to 9 hrs per day and drive for 2 hrs per day on top of that.

[111mastermind]

Thanks to everyone who posted. I see that my pattern is definitely not good and I will see my GP about this. I also see mine is not the worst (31% sleep efficiency - I'd be dead in 3 days!). I have taken screenshots to print and show her.

[friendo]

This was last night. Pretty typical for me - the sleep efficiency, not the "to bed" time - with my Surge set to Sensitive. 62% is about the norm.

I couldn't say how accurate the device is though, since I have nothing to complare it to, but I rarely feel as if I've had a good night sleep. Last night I even took a shot and a half of Nyquil (I'm coming down with a cold).

Does it matter that I don't recall being awake fo all of that "red" area?

[Rashboots]

Here's mine...

I usually feel 'OK' when I wake up... I seriously feel for you guys getting less sleep than me 😞

I might set mine to sensitive and see what happens! 

[friendo]

So, here was last night's sleep with the device sensitivity set to "Normal."

95%?  I don't think so.  I was up half the night, and that's no exaggeration.

So, "Sensitive" is too..."sensitive" and "Normal" barely registers any disturbance.

Is there a "Baby Bear" setting?  You know..."Just right"?

[colin99]

I wish there a slider mode where we could  control how 'sensitive' it is. For me, if I set it to Normal mode I'm always 95-98% sleep efficiency. The sensitive mode is closer to reality but likely too low. I've had sleep issues pretty much since I was 13 years old.  

This is last night which I would consider a good night. 

A bad night from a couple of weeks ago looked like this. This was definitely a bad night and I felt it the next day. 

I'm typically alright if I come in over 3 hours per night. If it gets below 2 then it's a problem. I started seriously working on this issue middle of last year when the two hour (and less!) nights seemed to happen quite often. Now I'm trending higher - the sleep latency seems to be better (used to lie awake an hour before falling asleep). The good sample above doesn't show this but I typically tend to sleep well in the first half of the night then poorly in the second half. 

[Daggnar]

I take it everyone uses sensitive tracker ?

When I use this mode, I get between 55% an 65%... I take it I should be worried about that ?

[lordgoata]

I recently got a Sleepace RestOn from IndieGoGo, which uses a strap under the bedsheet to monitor your sleep. It monitors movement, breathing, heartrate etc.

These are the results from last night:

You can see comparing the Fitbit graph with the one from the Sleepace app, that the Deep and Mid sleep are roughly in line with the gaps in the Fitbit readings (ie. when I was asleep). So most of my movement appears to happen during the light sleep periods.

I know its not exactly scientific, but I thought it was interesting to see the correlation at least.

PS. Sorry for the funny colours in the screengrabs, thats from the Twilight app on my phone!

[111mastermind]

Lordgoata that gadget looks really good. It would help me to know about light, mid and deep stages of sleep. I almost always remember my dreams, sometimes several dreams, every night, so I think I am stuck in REM a lot and don't get into deep often. I know my cycle is 60 mins instead of the normal 90 mins. I will chat with my GP and see if I can get a referral, if not, I will get the Sleepace Reston and get some more evidence of my abnormal sleep pattern.

Thanks!

[Rashboots]

I've been using the normal setting. About to go to sleep with it set to sensitive so ill report back in the morning with how it's done.

I usually get around 93-97% on normal

[Rashboots]

OK, so I tried it with the sensitive setting and this is what I got.

I KNOW I had a rough sleep last night because I remember tossing and turning and feeling exhausted this morning, so the results seem pretty accurate to me, but it's the first rough night I've had since using my Charge HR, so I'm not sure how it would've looked on Normal!

[colin99]

Hi Rashboots, you should be able to view the data in either mode after the record is stored (it took me forever to figure out it would let me do this). Here is my sensitive version from last night:

If you click on the "edit data" you can select Normal mode then save the record. It'll update it to a "normal" view. I normally pop it back to sensitive when I'm done so the charts are consistent. 

[Rashboots]

Interesting!

I didn't know you could do that! After looking at the normal version, I'm torn... I KNOW I had a rough sleep last night and tossed and turned, so an intermediate sensitivity is what I need I think. Sensitive is a tad bit too sensitive for me.

or I could just be tired because I've had less sleep than i normally do. My usual is about 7.5 hours.

I think I need to do some more testing.

[agatha23]

Hi my sleep pattern is more like yours all these others look really disturbing...I thought mine was bad until I saw everyone elses...which still isnt good...I still wake up feeling not well rested and I am always exhausted not really sure what my problem is....plus i saw on a blog that you are suppose to drink half your weight in ounces of water daily...omg i cant even drink half of that....any suggestion from anyone???  I have blood pressure problems so I really need to figure something out thanks

[Namyeknom]

I've got similar results to the above.

Normal = 98% sleep efficiency

Sensitive = 52% sleep efficiency

(on Charge HR)

Last night I was restless (the log above is last night), but log wise it was not any different other other nights that I'd of said I slept OK on. All I've looked at are 98/50ish% depending on sensitivity.

[FsuNole]

I am having the same concern.  My husband and I both just got Fitbit and we love it, overall.  Although, the past couple of nights we have been experimenting with the sleep settings.  The first night we set them on sensative and both ours said we only got 4 and 5 hours of sleep.  The next night I changed mine to "normal" and mine said I got 7 hours and 45 min.  Last night, back to sensative and said I got 3 hours and 36 min. out of 9 hours.  I really think that the sensative setting has to be really sensative, possible tracking my body movement due to my husband moving in the bed while I am still sleeping, which doesn't make is that accurate for me.  I would love to believe that the "normal" setting was more accurate, but the extreme difference in the two are a little concerning.

Any advice?