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sleep tracking gaps

I cannot understand why my sleep data is showing gaps in time I was asleep.

It shows pretty accurately when I went to bed, if I got up for a couple of minutes (bathroom, drink, pet the cat, etc) and then continues when I went back to sleep.

The problem is that it frequently shows three sleep periods in one night.  One will end with showing me asleep.  Then there will be a time gap of one to three hours (and I was still in bed asleep) but this time is never accounted for; and then begin ANOTHER segment showing me still asleep.  This might once again show me awake for several brief intervals (I am sometimes a restless sleeper) and once again it ends with showing me asleep.

There will be another unaccounted for time gap when I was not awake, then sometimes a third segment is shown beginning with me asleep. 

Why is this happening.  I could even understand beginning a new tracking after I had been out of bed for a few minutes during the night (bathroom, drink seeing if it was snowing, pet the cat, etc) and then went back to bed. 

I cannot get why one segment ends WITH ME ASLEEP and another begins an hour or more later WITH ME STILL ASLEEP. 

I have begun jotting down every time I actually wake up enough to get out of bed and move around for 3-5 minutes and those are shown pretty accurately. I also do tend to wake up briefly more than once each night but not get up; these are depicted nicely as well.

  I have NO idea why there are these long spells of time where nothing is shown--one time ends with me asleep, then there is they mystery segment of an hour or two when apparantly I died and had no heartbeat; then there I am again (asleep) in a new tracking segment.

Any ideas what is going on here?

I have also noticed that even when there is no unaccounted for time, sometimes the tracking seems to be split into two or three strips, one below the other, but at least then there is no lost time; the first will end with me asleep at , oh say 1:50AM and the next, showing below the first, will show me asleep at 1:51AM, etc. Other times it just goes in one continuous line.

Additionally I wonder why the blue perpindicular lines that show you are asleep are very close together sometimes and further apart at others; any reason for that? 

All answers much appreciated.

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90 REPLIES 90
I also experience this nearly every night, and am willing to share my information to assist in reaching a solution. Doesn't Fitbit have access to all tracker's information? Wouldn't that be the place to start as opposed to restarting the tracker constantly and requesting screenshots repeatedly? Had the issue with the Charge and continue to have it on the new Alta - filmed my sleep in time-lapse to be sure I wasn't moving, dreaming, waking, or doing anything other than sleeping.
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@tkcornbred wrote:
No, NugsMom. No answers at all from fitbit. I just keep getting asked the same questions that I have already answered here in the discussion and in private messages. I give up. It is frustrating and like nothing but the current reply is looked at or remembered.
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Is it safe to assume you've tried changing your sleep "Sensitivity to movements" to "Normal" from "Sensitive"?

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@JMiller7 wrote:
I also experience this nearly every night, and am willing to share my information to assist in reaching a solution. Doesn't Fitbit have access to all tracker's information? Wouldn't that be the place to start as opposed to restarting the tracker constantly and requesting screenshots repeatedly? Had the issue with the Charge and continue to have it on the new Alta - filmed my sleep in time-lapse to be sure I wasn't moving, dreaming, waking, or doing anything other than sleeping.

I'm going to guess there are some privacy issues involved with just "looking" at your data, hence the requests for screen shots.

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Thanks for your help and super smart reply!  I was not inferring that FitBit look at my data alone, but every single tracker's data ever sold - seeing a trend like this across various products and people, one might ascertain there is a problem with the software or hardware.  Requesting screenshots as evidence of the problem, then suggesting restarting the device over and over, is an obvious delay tactic.  Did you even read the first page of this thread where we've already discussed switching to Sensitive Mode not working?  

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Could be alien abductions? Smiley Very Happy

 

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@JMiller7 wrote:

Did you even read the first page of this thread where we've already discussed switching to Sensitive Mode not working?  


That isn't what I asked.

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Actually, if you look up about 5 posts, it's EXACTLY what you asked.

 

On a more general note, I don't think it's a sensitivity setting issue, since it's not showing as awake time.  It's gray, which isn't even one of their tracking colors.

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@SteppedInIt wrote:

Actually, if you look up about 5 posts, it's EXACTLY what you asked.

 

On a more general note, I don't think it's a sensitivity setting issue, since it's not showing as awake time.  It's gray, which isn't even one of their tracking colors.


I asked if the sleep sensitivity settings have been tried at the "Normal" setting; is English not your first language?

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You are right, even though not at all helpful.  You asked if we tried putting the Sleep Sensitivity Setting back to Normal from Sensitive, and I didn't answer that.  I assumed you would figure out that it was tried and reset based on the fact that it didn't work, sorry about making assumptions.  

 

To answer your question: yes, I had tried that and it didn't work, thus I reverted back to the "Normal" setting.  So, with your question being answered, what would your next steps be?  Please don't tell me to restart the tracker, because just so you know, I've done that several times already.

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Hi everyone -- If you click into the sleep tile and view the individual sleep record in the detailed view is the gap still appearing?

Erick | Community Moderator

It's all about the food! What's Cooking?

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I can only speak for my data, and no it is not showing as a gap.  It shows the gap on the main page's sleep tile, but if I click it to drill down it shows two separate sleep periods logged.  The gap is the period between the first log and second log.

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Bought my Charge 2 for Xmas 2016 and I'm getting this issue too. During the gray gaps my fitbit still records a heartbeat so I'm alive !

This points to a bug in the analysis of the data and not the tracker. Really is daft that this issue still hasn't been looked into and fixed by fitbit. Hardly rocket science to find this solution to this issue.

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Got to love that after all the stalling questions by the community moderator, the last posting by him was in August 2016 and still no answer.  I experienced this gray period for the first time in last nights tracking, did a quick search for answers and this is what it came back with.  Not feeling very hopeful about getting an answer.  

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Check your heart rate during this period, as you could be suffering from periods of rapid heart rate.

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I occassionally get a gap or two. When I know I was not conscious in the gap I edit my sleep record to close the gap. I delete the 2nd record and edit the 1st record to have the end time of the deleted record. The gapless record that results looks like my regular sleep pattern with reslessness interspersed with sleep periods.
Over my first year of tracking, there were 3 occassions where I didn't fix the gaps for over 24 hours and the server closed them without my help.
Most of the time I had to close the gaps manually, even after 24 hours.

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they will get it fixed or refund my **ahem** money. obviously a problem across the different users get your sxxx together fit bit and fix this. its the only reason purchased it.

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Did anyone ever get a proper answer to this?  I got my Fitbit Flex 2 for 2 reasons - to measure steps, and to check out my sleep as I don't seem to get  much of it! 

Trouble is I'm regularly getting a 1-1.5 hour gap in my sleep pattern that is greyed out.  Given that for the rest of the night I'm showing as 3-4 hours sleep with 2+ hours restless I really want to know what happens in the gap that is greyed out.

I'm on the sensitive setting and wear the rubber bracelet at night as it's a snugger fit than my bangle (I'd wondered if the gap was when the bit of bangle with the sensor in just wasn't touching my wrist and hence wasn't picking anything up, but the rubber bracelet makes no difference). 

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Did you try restarting your fitbit?  I kid I kid.  🙂

 

No, we have not received a proper answer from fitbit, and it is still a concern across multiple devices.  I use an Alta, and see sleep gaps (greyed out on dashboard - two separate sleep entries) pretty frequently.  When I changed the sleep setting to "Sensitive" it showed most of the night was restless, so I put it right back to normal.  Some people have recommended deleting the second sleep entry and editing the first to encompass it as a fix/work-around.  I'm too lazy for all that.  Also, without any information to back it up - I still feel like the bangle versus the provided band is not the issue here.   

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@SammyH: Sounds like my kind of sleep quality, or lack thereof. I also need the sensitive setting. For me it usually works to replace the short records and gaps with one long record from time to bed, to last awakening. The server algorithm usually figures out a rational pattern from that long single record. I have never tried it for more than about 12 hours.

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what does the white gap during the sleep cycle mean ?

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