Sleep tracking seems to be inaccurate

[ozrockchick]

Hi everyone

I've only had my fitbit about a week or so, and my sleep settings have been set to normal during this time.  I have been using the fitbit to track my steps and sleeping patterns, and it seems to count me as sleeping when I'm watching tv at night or lying in the bed in the morning, but not necessarily moving etc, because basically I'm trying to fall back asleep.  For instance last night I went to bed late because I was watching a tv series, from 9:30pm-11pm. Fitbit had me recorded as being in the light stage of sleep during this timeframe.  I often wake early in the morning, or in the middle of the night, but I intentionally stay still and breathe slowly and deeply, trying to get myself back to sleep again. On these occasions, the fitbit keeps recording me as being in the light stage of sleep.

Is there a way to get the fitbit to record my sleep more accurately?

[BriannaR]

I would try to change your sleep settings to “sensitive” instead of the normal default, changing that will change the sleep detection on your watch and should pick up your awake times.

To do so you will go to your settings the into “advanced settings” then down the to “sleep sensitivity” 

[Mary.Ray]

I came to the forums tonight (having only had Fitbit Charge 2 for only a few days) concerned about the accuracy of the sleep tracking.  The first couple nights I thought it odd that my percentages of Light, Deep, REM, and Awake seemed to match the Benchmark percentages right off the bat. So I got online and found that you can change the setting from Normal  to Sensitive, so I did.  Now the periods that stages changed were more erratic, but STILL in the end, they ended up with the same "Benchmark" percentages.  This has got me very suspicious. Also, like you, it would start recording light sleep way before I actually fell into any kind of sleep.  In addition, I walk several times a week. Today I used Runkeeper and the Fitbit. Runkeeper which uses GPS said I walked a little over 3 miles and yet, the Fitbit said something like 2.17 miles. How can that be?  I also don't want STEPS walking around the house to be counted, so the only thing I can do that is to take the watch off. That's a pain. I'd like to be able to say when I want STEPS counted and when I don't.  It's also saying I'm burning tons of calories and I don't see how THAT's accurate either!!!  I'm going to give it a few more days, but I'm starting to wonder if this watch is worth the money. 

[Antonis.A]

I am in the same boat. I have the charge 2 for  a few days. When I go to sleep and even if I toss and turn for 30-40 minutes it still registers this as light sleep. Same thing when i wake up in the morning: I am fully alert but not moving too much and it still registers this as light sleep.

This makes me less confident for the results I get the rest of the night.

[Mary.Ray]

I decided to return it. As it turns out, all I really like about it is the large digital display of the date and time. It wasn't comfortable to wear especially during sleep and with it not being all that accurate, what's the point? I had already been using runkeeper for walking which is much more accurate than the Fitbit Charge 2.  And I use MyFitnessPal for my diet and water intake as well as exercising. So there is no  advantage whatsoever to keeping the Fitbit. I can get a nice large digital display for a lot less than $149.