How does Sleep score work?

[IKICan]

Can someone please explain Sleep Score to me

Moderator edit: Updated subject for clarity.

[Dominique]

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@Tizib wrote:

I have been loving the score because it does factor in several variables and not just sleep duration. In fact, at least to me, the sleep duration average is not very useful as it does not account for the quality of sleep. This is where the sleep score shines....

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I fully agree! One variable taken into account in the sleep score is what Fitbit calls "restoration", about which I wrote separately here.

[SleplssElsewher]

One poster has said she likes the sleep score because it gives information other than duration. But the old system had information other than duration, too. It provides information on the amount of time spent in REM, light and deep sleep, and you could compare that to your own averages and the averages of those in our own age/sex group. That's the information that was/is of greatest interest to me. It allowed me to evaluate how I was feeling in relation to the quality of my sleep. I suppose I was internally generating my own sleep score but the score I was creating myself wasn't just a number it was a complex assessment. In comparison the number from Fitbit just seems judgemental. 

Having said all that I want to say that I understand now why Fitbit has gone to the Sleep Score. When I logged in today I found I could now subscribe to a Premium Service - which would explain my particular score to me on a daily basis. But of course I would have to pay for it. I have my Fibit for one reason only and that is to track my sleep. Most often I don't even wear it during the day. I will continue to use the Fitbit and I will continue to monitor my sleep with it and I will just over time I suppose learn to, as much as possible, ignore the sleep score. I was hopeful they would get rid of the Sleep Score due to large number of posters against it, but now that I see the purpose of the score is really just to increase sales of the Premium Service my assumption is that this will not happen. Everyone is always forever just trying to make a buck. 

[Panther888]

Regarding your Premium Sales comment - if indeed that's Fitbit's play then as a consumer I'd react with the only 'voice' that'll have any impact, which is using the power of choice and going with another brand. I've used Fitbit going on 5 years (along with recommending their products to friends and clients), and feel a bit disheartened  they feel this is necessary. I know others will disagree, but again I understand my voice is only n = sample size 1.

[SleplssElsewher]

Regarding your own personal experience, a sample size of 1 is all you need to attain statistical validity. 😊

Sent from Mail for Windows 10

[Tizib]

Where do I see the restoration score Dominique?

[Tizib]

What was missing from just the raw data (REM and Deep sleep) is the interpretation of such data and the creation of the algorhythm. Comparing your score to others your age won't do a thing to improve your sleep quality since we are a nation of sleep deprived individuals. In fact, with inflammatory processes closely linked to quality of sleep it makes sense that we are now trying to learn more and improve ways to keep track of sleep.

[Tizib]

Hello there,

Not sure if Fitbit is going to attach some premium product for sale to improve sleep quality. And, your voice DOES count. In fact, we should have more of these discussions because the way I look at it...we pay their salaries 🙂

[SunsetRunner]

Why are sleep scores on the app for people with Inspire, though? Because it doesn't record sleep stages/heart rate, the sleep score is always 0. Sleep averages should have stayed for those of us with Inspire.

[SunsetRunner]

Amen, jsnbrooks! Averages make sense. Sleep scores do not (though I do appreciate the explanation by SteveH, and don't fault him in the least for this annoying and useless change). And a continual sleep score of 0 is nonsensical, which is what you get if you have a watch that doesn't measure heart rates.

[SunsetRunner]

I won't stop using my watch (it cost too much as it's only a couple of months old), but I definitely won't be buying anything else Fitbit after my Inspire stops working. This is one unwanted change too many.

[irakez]

Your voice has better chances to be heard on App Store/Google Play than on these forums. Leave a 1-star review and let other people who haven't yet purchased a Fitbit know how this company treats their customers and their feedback.

[RWF]

Yeah, I see their logic but it’s very unfortunate that the path they’ve
chosen to monetize means degrading the standard user experience rather than
being able to offer more than that. Guess they’ve decided it’s worth the
risk to alienate some current users.

[pastimz]

Charge HR also

Get Outlook for Android

[SunsetRunner]

Thank you, SlepIssElwher. Now I know the motive is to make money with their premium service. Now they've just lost a potential premium member forever (me).

[Diane968]

What they don’t like is that I told them that I was going to every website including theirs and giving a 1 start review for the 2 of their fitness trackers I own.   They reply I got back was to keep watching this page because their engineers are watching the comments.  

I m don’t believe that so I continued to leave 1 star everywhere.  Everyone should do the same. Warn people about their products.  

[JLHumbert]

@RWF  You are so, so right!  They hold back the data from the expensive trackers (and dumb smart watches) that we paid good money for...  and then try to charge us a "Premium" subscription fee to see the data they should have been providing all along.  Fitbit doesn't have a clue how to treat its customers and their earnings and stock price reflect it.

Now to add injury to insult, they are going to spam us in the app, with annoying space-wasting promotions, to try to entice us to pay a "Premium" subscription fee (see screenshots from my app). So now I have to scroll past LOCKED features just to see my data. Makes me sick!  

And so it begins....

[Olly_91]

It's because they are intentionally obfuscating it to sell us Fitbit premium subscriptions. If you look at the FAQ it says sleep scores cannot be turned off at this time. It also "mentions" Fitbit premium subscription like 5 times in the article. 

Fitbit please try and keep your company afloat by designing better products rather than pushing these subscription based models on us. 

[WendyKos]

I totally agree. I have flex 2 and itsit's not possible to see stages of sleep even if I wanted to. I just looked seeing my average hours off of sleep. Really frustrated

[SleplssElsewher]

Today, my Fitbit tells me what time I went to sleep and what time I got out of bed. No information at all about my sleep, and the Fitbit website accessed through my computer has no information about the night at all: "Today" is completely blank. This morning the first thing my Fitbit did was ask if I wanted to do a one week free trial of Premium to get more information about my sleep. I declined because my budget is completely maxed out and I could not afford a subscription to anything. I am hoping this lack of information about sleep is only temporary. The only reason I have the Fitbit is to track my sleep. It seems wrong to me that I would need to pay a monthly subscription to get information about my sleep because that is a significant change to my "contractual understanding" of the watch that Fitbit sold to me. 

[SleplssElsewher]

Ah, my sleep information: deep, light, REM and awake has shown up on the website. Thanks Fitbit.