Many "wakeful" periods - bad sleep or is "sensitive setting" wrong for me?

[andreabrie]

I never thought I got bad sleep until I monitored my sleep with fitbit!  I consistently get sleep efficiencies in the 50-60% range and have over two hours and between 10 and 15 wakeful periods a night.  On the other hand, when I use the "normal" setting, fitbit says I slept all night without waking up and I know that's not true either.  Suggestions?  Do I need to talk to my doctor about this?

[smurphy05]

I've always been a terrible sleep, now I'm starting to see how bad. I'm real lucky if I get 5-6 hrs of sleep.

[Grumpy1]

Hi!  I have only had my Surge for 2 weeks, got it for running & sleep eval......so, it shows exactly how i feel- very little sleep- awake 15-23 times......I am 56yr woman with hot flashes waking me up all night.  What can I do to get better sleep????  I take BHRT, which has helped some (you can only guess how BAD IT was...), sleep in a cool room, restrict electronic before bed, do some yoga, listen to soothing/relaxation music, lavendar oil,......I NEED SLEEP!!!!  any other suggesstions for me??

Thank you....

[DarkScribe]

Forget the calculated percentages. The actual wake/sleep time, when checked against other factors are what you use for analysis. For instance, if you sleep with a partner, you will often react - without neccessarily waking - to their movements. You can respond to many external influences without fully awakeing - dogs barking, a loud vehicle, a slamming door. 

Many people here claim that the tracker determines the sleep/awake state by arm movement. This is NOT so. I often remain fully relaxed, completely unmoving, for an hour or so while listening to music and thinking. The tracking has never registered me as being asleep during such times. It seems to respond to pulse & respiration rates more than simply movement alone. If I am reading, while my wife is asleep beside me, I have noted that if a dream she is experiencing causes her to breathe more rapidly, but not awaken, the next day the device will show her as being briefly awake at that time - whereas I know she wasn't. She tosses and turns quite often, but the device does not indicate that she was awke - however briefly - when that happens. It seems that respiration - which involves muscle movement - is a factor as well as limb movement, body attitude and known resting pulse.

The device is far from useless - if used intelligently. 

[golddustmommy]

Funny thing for me is that the first night I had my fitbit, it registered 53% sleep quality. It was on "normal" because I wasn't aware there was a setting. The next day I changed it to "sensitive."  Since then it has been about the same... Last night it registered 50%... I guess I'm just a crappy sleeper... which I knew LOL

[shorty701s]

Make sure your sleep sensitivity setting is set to "Normal."  I am fortunate enough to have had great sleep patterns my whole life and only when I turned my sensitivity to "High" did I go from sleeping 7+ hours per night to "sleeping" less than 4 hours per night. 

Also, to add on what others have said previously, a Fitbit tracker cannot actually tell you your sleep patterns.  It can only estimate your sleep versus wakefulness by measuring how much you move your arm.  If you sleep with a partner, pet, or in an uncomfortable position, your tracker may be triggered without you moving.  However, I have found the tracker to be highly accurate for my sleep conditions.

[Molo]

I am trying to figure out my sleep patterns.  Have a cpap and I have the same amount of interruptions whether I wear it or not.  Is there a place in the dashboard to note cpap on so I remember when I have collected enough data.  ie when I fly or travel I don't carry the machineand would like to know.

[kellybreauv]

I did not realize there were diff settings. I just got my Fitbit One yesterday and it said my sleep was 89% efficiency. I woke 18x. But everything seemed pretty accurate in regards to when I fell asleep and woke up etc. Although, 18x seems excessive.

[golddustmommy]

I've been paying attention now that I've had it longer, and set it to normal again, and can tell you for me it is more accurate on sensitive. I dont put much stock into the amount of times I was restless or anything, just the quality itself. When it tells me on normal that I had 90% on normal and I feel 1000x less rested than at 50% on sensitive, I am more apt to trust the 50%. Especially when I know that I was awake for an hour during the time the normal told me I was sleeping. I know I move a lot, but the sensitive seems to register when I am actually awake better.

Basically what I'm sayng is that everyone is different, and you just need to do your own research to figure out which is more accurite for you.

[darjea]

I also have terrible sleep record. Sometimes i feel great and it recorded  3 hours sleep.  I heard a lecture on sleep and learned something.  You can awake several times a night and still have a good sleep. Most ppl know we have stages of sleep.  The Dr said, at the end of the "dream" cycle , you can awake, then start the cycle over again, through end of dream cycle; it is a 90 min cycle. So every 90 mins or so you repeat the pattern.  The dream or deep sleep time is the repair time ,very important. You know you were in it if you are hard to wake up or feel disoriented  when you wake. First dream cycle last about 10 mins then gets longer as you continue sleep through the night.  

[Jerlyn]

Good information. Thanks.

[IrishNan]

2 things that helped my sleep: I used to wake up several times during the night and felt I had to go to the bathroom. I read that if you just roll over and try to go back to sleep you can retrain yourself  to NOT wake up & feel you have to pee. You tell yourslf that if you still have to go in a bit, you will get up. (You do also have to not drink too much in the evening). After a while, I found I could sleep through the night without getting up.Getting up can become a habit. (At times I will get up and go to the bathroom but it is usually because my "internal heater" clicks on and I get up to cool off.) The same way with looking at the clock. I sleep better if i turn the clock so i cannot see it if i wake up. When I first used the fitbit charge for sleep, I started checking the clock whenever I woke up and I started waking up MORE often. TURN THE CLOCK AWAY AND DON'T CHECK THE TIME IF YOU WAKE UP!

[glustaman]

as an older man i think most have this problem,, i read that when you lay done all water in arns, legs etc. cause this.doesn't help sleeping,,but they want us to drink lots of water.

[Sleepybob]

Assuming you have your fitbit sleep report on hand each morning, you should be able to correlate events that precede wakeups during the day (e. g., high water intake) with your sleep record.  Keep a pad handy with all time slots for the night on which you can record you trips to the John or otherwise (time and event).  Then look at each record over time to search out the probable cause (s), e. g., ate a heabvy meal after 7:00 PM.

Sleepy Bob  Make sure you get at least 7 hrs.

[dawncherie]

When I was doing Herbalife religiously I was told while trying to lose weight, you need to drink a gallon of water a day. When I stop doing that, I gain weight. So I am back on a gallon a day.

I appreciate this SLEEP discussion as I am new to Fitbit and it shows my sleep as being awake on normal setting at 24 times a night. I have only had my fitbit for a couple days, so I dont have a real pattern yet. I have changed it to sensitive sleep mode to monitor for the next week.

[Antolini123]

How do I make my Fitbit wake me up

[Sleepybob]

A gallon of water a day can be lethal.  Fitbit is desigtned to monitor your calorie intake, calories used as

a function of exercise, and the number of wakeups.  Poor sleep leads to over-eating and hormonal imbalances. e. g., leptin and ghrelin and in the extreme to diabetes.  Used as designed, your should be able to bring your weight under control.  Press the windows symbol and prt scr to obtain a record of results for each day.  Goog luck, Sleepy Bob

[Sleepybob]

Irish; sounds like you are on your way to managing your sleep.  You might want to look at the topic, sleep hygiene yo get a full account of how to arrange your sleep terrain effectively.  Second, you might save your sleep record (W 8.1:windows symbol + Prt Scr) to obtain a continuing record of your sleep pattern over time.  One wakeup is normal, by the way.  Finally, your body temperature moves through a typical pattern over the course of the night, corresponding to your sleep stages.  A hot period probably corresponds to your sleep environment, including your clothes.   

Sleepy Bob

[SantaCruzMts]

I am new to the FitBit as well, but my FitBit One works for sleep tracking when I HOLD the button down for two seconds, not hit it twice.  Hope this helps.

[louwala]

I agree that the FitBit is extremely inaccurate on sleep, but like others have said, if you use it regularly on the same setting it at least helps monitor trends.  The Flex is totally worthless, but upgrading to the HR Charge is better - it adds heart rate to the algorithym.  I had a Bodybug in the past and that was extremely accurate - even had a friend wear one during a sleep study session and even the doctor was impressed that it matched minute for minute with the results.

[oboist]

I actually filmed myself during sleep and matched it with FitBit stats. When it shows 20-30 minutes of unrest all it is is just a single change of position and then I seem to be sleeping peacefully without moving any parts.

So I don't really know what fitbit is showing to me.