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.

[ErickFitbit]

@Kenn.Sanchez I am in the same boat as you but I find it hard to make myself fall asleep before 11 PM - 12 AM usually. 

@Roessie Wow, that sounds like you experienced a tough time during sleep. Hope that getting proper sleep is getting easier for you now that you've replaced your hip. 

[Kenn.Sanchez]

I actually don't have issues laying down and falling asleep. Its just the
discipline to get to bed around that time.

[SanaS]

I am having the same issue. I thought it was only me until I saw this thread. Any ideas why we are lacking sleep?

[ErickFitbit]

@Kenn.Sanchez Having the discipline to fall asleep no later than a specific hour is something that I also battle with. Some nights I feel like I'm tired but am still unable to make myself fall asleep, if that makes any sense.

@SanaS I recommend adjusting your device's sleep sensitivity setting by following the instructions provided here. Adjust that and then go to sleep with it tonight and see what results you get.

[EastPerthBob]

Show you my sleep pattern? Well, it looks like this ...

[Jaschultz]

I'm jealous! Mine always says around 3 hours asleep at best with 30-40 times restless on a good night... Darn sleep disorder!

[tiffsterr]

Hey SanaS,

On another thread I recommended Robb Wolf's Paleo podcast (free) which has a huge number of episodes to sift thru but many of them discuss sleep issues.  He has medical and research PhDs come on as guests to discuss sleep issues.  Some of the most common reasons people aren't sleeping well are

1) lack of regular sleep routine

2) need darkness (shut out all light and distracting gadgets that cast a light

3) vitamin deficiency

4) hormone imbalances

5) need to sleep more!  (7-8 hours minimum per night, more if you need it)

But of course there are other real medical issues that could affect your sleep so I would highly recommend you go get a sleep study done.  There are sleep centers all over the place so ask your doctor or find one yourself and ask your insurance company if any in your area are covered with or without a DR referral. 

Here is my sleep (graph below) and this is sort of typical, though even if I am restless 20-30x per night I still get plenty of sleep.  If I do wake in the night and can't get back to sleep I learned a long time ago to not fight it, I get up and read a book or do a sudoku puzzle and then go back to sleep when my body is ready to.

[Anjanas]

Because of my Charge HR thinking typing is walking, I wear it on my secondary but say in the app it's my dominant hand.

This lead to not great records of sleep - however, as your standard data nerd, I realised why and now swap hands before bed to get the best sleep records.  (Yes, I am sad)

This night isn't a great example because I woke up thanks to toothache sooooo many times 

[TLSouza63]

I am super jealous.

[TLSouza63]

This is my most recent.  I noticed this week that my sleep goes off the chart, but my heart rate remains at a resting range.  I don't really understand that.

[Anjanas]

How do you get that view, @TLSouza63 ?
Is it the web client?

[TLSouza63]

I don't really know.  It is the view that came on my Dashboard when I set the sleep setting to sensitive in the settings for my Charge HR

[jantom]

I was given the FitBit charge for Christmas from my son and prior to that had the Body Media Band. The FitBit is so much better having the watch and more comfortable than the armband on the upper arm of the Body Media.   My poor sleep results have been the same for almost five years due to spinal trauma.  After four sleep studies, I have mild apnea and tried the CPAP at the request of my doctor but it doesn't help because it is so cumbersome even with the new DreamWare.  I found both devices to be on target with the sleep information since I had the Body Media prior to the accident and able to compare data.  After having a neurological test this past week, we are hoping to find out if the central nervous system is the culprit.  I am fortunate that although my sleep is inadequate I and unable to take naps in the afternoon because I don't feel tired.  As you can see from last night, getting comfortable is problematic due to pain and it is normal for me to have to readjust my position about every hour.   fyi -- this is also taking a sedative prior to going to bed.

[tiffsterr]

@ jantom  Have you tried exercising late in the day?  I find that I sleep more soundly than usual if I exercise late in the day / evening and take a shower which further relaxes me.  And supposedly doing strength training during the day will cause your body to release GHB while you are sleeping (repairing torn muscles) which might further help you with a better night's sleep. 

[jantom]

It's a constant struggle.  I slept 5 hours 53 minutes last night but in bed 12 hours 15 minutes and took to sedatives during that time.  My body is wearing out after fours years of poor sleep.  I will try to exercise at night and keep track if it helps. 

Thanks

[Roessie]

Anjanas, to get the view, double click on the sleep report in your dashboard.  

[Roessie]

The recent screen shots posted here having me fuming--again--over the lack of thought that's gone into a couple of the most important functions of the FB HR--continuous tracking of heart rate and tracking sleep.  I swim, row, ride a stationary bike or use a stair climber or elliptical machine, so I don't care about the step counter.  All I want to do is measure resting heart rate, especially at night, and sleep.  And yet, there's no way of combining the heart rate and sleep reports for a more informative picture.  

But to get back to the sleep data sets shown here:  there's no indication on those reports whether the watch was set to "sensitive" or "normal."  If you haven't tried switching, do!  Because the report will look radically different depending on which setting you are using.  

The other source of frustration for me is that the reports also don't include nighttime "blanks" between recorded sleep periods in the sleep efficiency calculation.  After years of chronic pain, so I have many periods of restlessness (light blue) and wakefulness (red) so at best my efficiency is about 50% on the sensitive setting and 60-something on "normal," for those periods of time that the HR considers me to be sleeping, or trying to.  The problem is, my sleep report invariably shows that after an initial period of sleep that lasted from one to two hours, I wake up.  Then for a period of time, from one to several hours long, I am not sleeping (dark blue), restless (light blue) or awake (red).   Then the report says that I feel asleep again. So, every sleep report I get is actually two sleep reports (sometimes more), each overstating "sleep efficiency" because it doesn't factor in the long period of time when I was awake (but not red).  What's weird is that I don't recall being awake for significant periods of time most nights.

BTW, during those "blanks" between periods of recognized sleep, the Charge HR continues to track myheart rate.  And the heart rate reported during those blank periods is a steady resting pulse of 50 to 60 BPM, with no spikes to suggest increased activity.

Does this happen to anyone else?  And if you want Fitbit's reports to reflect which sleep setting you were using on your sleep reports, please say so.

[Carrieos]

I have a sleep disorder where my arms and legs move when I'm asleep. It's called PLMD (periodic limb movement disorder.) It's related to restless leg but it's not the same thing because my limbs move while I'm sleeping. I take Neurontin for it. Do you have restless legs? (Urge to move your legs when you are at rest?) This can be an indicator. Find a sleep doctor or neurologist to work with. Good luck!

[SunsetRunner]

it looks like the main problem for people is the fitbit sleep tracking sensitivity, when i have my sensitivity set to sensitive it said i slept 2 hours when in reality i know that i slept longer cause my parents put a camera in my room. i suggest that someone email fitbit requesting that they fix this problem.

[Filsgreen]

Here is my sleep pattern, which I think you'll agree, is pretty soon.