Fitbit Induced Insomnia

[Olana]

I got my Charge 2 last Tuesday, put it on and left it on to explore what it can do. It's my first Fitbit and first fitness tracker ever. I am fit, exercise regularly and lead a healthy life, so I'd never felt a need for help from a gadget, but finally I broke down, interested primarily in keeping track of my heart rate and sleep patterns.

I didn't sleep well on Tuesday night, but didn't make much of it. I generally sleep well, but we all have an occasional bad night. It didn't get better on Wednesday, and went downhill from there. I had difficulty falling asleep, kept waking up about every hour and then was awake at 3 am and unable to go back to sleep for a t least 1.5 hours. By Friday, I was taking a natural supplement supposed to help sleeping, and over the weekend I tried a sleeping pill. Nothing was helping. There had to be a cause for such a dramatic change, but nothing had changed in my life - no extra stress or illness, no change in diet, exercise or medications. The only thing that entered my life on Tuesday was the Fitbit. I took it off my wrist on Monday afternoon and put it away. I slept well Monday night and again last night. 

I am a rational person, not prone to panic; I don't believe that cell phones are causing brain tumors, etc., but  there is no way around it - it was my Fitbit that caused my insomnia. And I don't believe it was just the discomfort from wearing it on my wrist. Considering the dramatic change in my sleep, it must have been something emitted by the device or the wireless communication going on between the tracker and my phone.

I haven't been able to bring myself to put the Fitbit back on my wrist, even during the day, not knowing what it was that was affecting my sleep. I am curious if anyone else has experienced a similar problem.

[Olana]

By the way, I am not a jogger - don't know where that came from. I am a dancer and yogini.

[Rich_Laue]

@Olana you will notice the word Jogger is a hot link, click on it to find out what it is referring to. 

[schmict]

Yea....but how do you know you slept better than previous days without the statistics from the fitbit to compare:) 

It is probably those little green flashing lights pumping energy into your metabolism!

[SocialJoy]

I had surgery about three weeks ago and it was the longest period without wearing my FitBit in years. I didn’t put it back on right when I got home from the hospital, I used it for the first time last night. I’ve been amazed at how well I’ve been sleeping the past few weeks and thought the surgery helped that somehow. Last night was terrible. Was fitful and woke several times. Was sluggish and tired this morning, even overslept. I’m keeping it off for now. Will try it again in a couple of weeks, but I am pretty sure the FitBit is disturbing my sleep. 

[Savanna76]

I agree, I take the fitbit off at night and only wear it during the day. The light on the charge 2 wakes me up so sleep better without it!

[Cw5]

Olana,  yes. I am like you. Never had anything like a fitbit before. 3 nights not sleeping and my husband noticed it started when I got my fitbit. Alta HR. I took it off and then slept normally. Nothing else happened to change my sleep. It must be the fitbit and me. Darn.

[Sockmonkee38]

Yes! I have been having issues ever since I switched to the tracker 2.the older, smaller version didn’t seem to bother me. I am sensitive to light when sleeping and the super bright green light that flashes with every movement was driving me crazy. I took it off a week ago and have slept better ever since. 

[ChrisPAL]

I, too have found that the fitbit was messing with my sleep. Unfortunately, it took months to figure it out, since some other things were going on at the same time, so I didn't attribute the problem was the fitbit. I was waking up every morning thinking every devil in hell was inside me. Of course I didn't think it could be the fitbit. I tried everything to feel better. I finally took it off and now feel so much better! I know a lot of people aren't affected by it, but there are some, and I am one of them.

[LittleL16]

I’ve had a Fitbit for years and recently noticed a friend (who had just got one) has much better sleep than me from comparing sleep analysis. Hers is mainly dark blue whereas I’m usually spending most of the night in light blue. I assumed it was just she’s a better sleeper than me. But when I take it off I have a much deeper more satisfying sleep (sadly just don’t have the analysis to review!). Another colleague visited his chiropractor and was surprised to find he was stronger in his arm when he took them fitbit off?!?!? Very odd but something isn’t going nowhere on with the Bluetooth and the nervous system

[darknight0222]

I couldn't sleep for the first two nights when I had my Charge 2 to monitor my sleep. From third night, I took it off, then the sleep back to normal. Didn't try it again.

[AlexThom]

I was just talking to my wife about.  As I have not slept for more than 6 hours (and I am happy when that happens) for a long, long time.  I am fearing that this may be true. 

[Cherry_noire]

I’m so glad I found this message board. The last two months I was correcting my sleep cycle and was sleeping better than ever. I decided to track it because I just felt that good about how I slept. But every time I sleep with my Fitbit versa, I sleep terribly. I just can’t get comfortable or stay relaxed long enough to sleep. I’m going to skip it tonight and see if that helps.

[Nette2]

I'm experiencing the same thing. My sleep had reached the best it has ever been. I was given a fitbit as a gift. Since the fit bit usage my sleep has declined. I was thinking maybe it's the bright light  it emits at night but now I'm concerned that it's both the light AND the EMF's. I'm not sure but I will experiment.... alternate  a few days of usage.

 I do know that studies show that sleep can be disturbed by bright light even shining Behind the knees on the skin only!. (Studies regarding jet lag, circadian rhythm etc.)

I was wanting to know if other users have discovered a problem with the light by itself?? 

[Callie33021]

I love my Fitbit, but, I too, have been experiencing bouts of insomnia while wearing it at night.  i think what happens is that if it takes too long for me to fall asleep or if I wake a few hours after falling asleep, I become anxious about what the Fitbit stats will say in the morning.  So I have decided that unless I truly need to wake up at a specific time, I will remove the Fitbit at night and alleviate the stress of those "dang" statistics.  I like the gentle wake-up of the vibrating watch but will go without for a few nights and see if my overall sleep improves.

[NancyMM]

I am really glad to have found this link. I just bought myself a fitbit charge 3 about a week and a half ago. I wear this device while sleeping and my sleeps have been terrible every night since. I am interested in tracking not only my activity but my sleep patterns and how they relate to my heart rate. I normally will have one bad, that is restless, night of sleep per week, at the most. Every night is really bad ever since, with little to no deep sleep and waking up several time over the night. I will go to bed tonite not wearing my fitbit to see what happens regarding my sleep, though there will be no data.

[Maxiegirl39]

Olana, I've experienced the same sleep problem while wearing my new Fitbit. Although I loved tracking my REM, Deep and light sleep, it's not worth it. Reluctantly removed the watch last night and had a normal night's sleep.

[Callie33021]

I am having the same results. I sleep better when not wearing the Fitbit.
LOL
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Moderator edit: personal info removed

[Maxiegirl39]

It seems how much you are affected by wearing a Fitbit at night depends on
your personal sleep pattern. Obviously I my sleep is highly impacted.
However, do love the Fitbit to track my exercise as it keeps me moving.
Rebecca

[Callie33021]

Yes...I love my Fitbit, too.
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Moderator edit: personal info removed