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?

[MusicMan1921]

To put it in sleep mode, you tap rapidly for about 2 seconds or so.  Same to take it out.  When you double tap the fitbit, it should show 2 dots oscillating if you are in sleep mode.  The double taps can be strange sometimes.  Also, you may want to ensure you put your tracker in the correct way after charging, or it will not show the lights.  I've made this mistake quite a few times. 

[Raquel2014]

I double tapped and got the row of flashing lights then ONE light blinked a couple of times.

Is ONE blink in the "awake" mode?

[MusicMan1921]

Yes, the one light shows that you have 20% of your 10,000 steps (if you use the default setting).  To get the sleep mode, you should tap rapidly for 2 seconds or so.  It will vibrate and oscillate the two lights.

[FortuneCookie1]

I am a known sleep walker... have been for as long as I can remember.  I have noticed a significant decline in my sleep walking episodes as I get older and I generally have some evidence of my activities... or so I thought.

I have been tracking my sleep for about a week and my Fitbit One has been seemingly accurate until last night.  It showed 1.5 hours restless with a fairly long stint at one point.  I am wondering if I was sleep walking?  I was thinking of wearing it without putting it into sleep mode to see if it would record steps?  

Any other sleep walkers?

[Dominique]

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@FortuneCookie1 wrote:

I have been tracking my sleep for about a week and my Fitbit One has been seemingly accurate until last night.  It showed 1.5 hours restless with a fairly long stint at one point.  I am wondering if I was sleep walking?  I was thinking of wearing it without putting it into sleep mode to see if it would record steps?

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AFAIK, putting your Fitbit One into sleep mode is just the same as starting any other activity. In fact, if you forget to start and stop your sleep activity, you can log it afterwards and it will look exactly the same as if you had started it.

[flguy]

I'm new here, and just posted a question/experience in a related thread.  But I wanted to let everyone know that to back up what my Flex has been saying, I bought a Dropcam and trained it on my bed.  I've been watching my sleep patterns for the last week (it records audio, as well) and can say with 100% certainty that the Sensitive settings is the most accurate.  Fit bit says I am waking up on average about 10-12 times, and my Dropcam video seems to confirm this.  I can even see when I have my eyes open because the Dropcam night vision mode reflects off my pupils.  It's very interesting.  Dropcam also lets you create time-lapse clips, hilarious to watch how many times I move around.

Anyway, if anyone has ANY question about the validity of what your Fitbit is saying about your sleep patterns, try a Dropcam and analyze your video.  You may be surprised.  Easy to return if you decide it's not worth it.

[Jabrat]

Sounds very interesting to me - I would love to see why I sometimes wake up tired

[Devee]

The question is an important one and had concerned me.  The answer about arm movement (and all content in it) fit my impression, too.  This is a genuine worry for me.

[nlfass]

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@Matthew wrote:

Per our Sleep Help Article:

What is the difference between the normal and sensitive sleep setting?

Your Fitbit tracker's settings can record your sleep in either "sensitive" mode for extremely detailed sleep reporting or "normal" mode for a more basic idea of your sleep patterns. Adjust your sleep mode in device settings.

• The normal setting counts significant movements such as rolling over as being awake, and is appropriate for most users.
• The sensitive setting will cause your tracker to record nearly all movements as time spent awake. This setting may be helpful for users with sleep disorders, or those who wear their tracker somewhere other than the wrist while asleep

If your Fitbit tracker is worn consistently each night with the same setting, the data that it produces should be useful.

 Unless you are specifically attempting to track sleep disorders or something similar, you should use the "normal" sleep tracking setting.

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Sorry Matthew but I think that the information you gave is incorrect. I have mine set at sensitive and it records a lot of restless motion but only records as "awake" when I actually get out of bed. It may be different for others but I know if I have to get out of bed at 1am to take my dogs outside then it records "awake" but if I roll around and end up looking at the clock at 2:17am it records that motion as restless.

[flguy]

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@nlfass wrote:

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Sorry Matthew but I think that the information you gave is incorrect. I have mine set at sensitive and it records a lot of restless motion but only records as "awake" when I actually get out of bed. It may be different for others but I know if I have to get out of bed at 1am to take my dogs outside then it records "awake" but if I roll around and end up looking at the clock at 2:17am it records that motion as restless.

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I agree with this.  I consider "restless" and "awake" as the same thing basically.  Awake is just when I'm actually up and logging steps, which makes sense. There is no way the Fitbit can or will make a 100% perfect record, but based on my experience watching myself sleep in the middle of the night (using my Dropcam video recorder) the Sensitive setting is best, and restless = awake.  If anything, Fitbit is actully UNDER-reporting my restlessness, even on Sensitive setting.  Could just be me, but there's my two cents.  I have been tracking my sleep patterns obsessively for two weeks now.

Not even 12.5mg of Ambien CR combined with 1mg of Xanax XR keep me asleep all night.  I have no problem falling asleep, ever, with or without the medication.  I think they call it "middle of the night insomnia".  I have also started using the "Brain Wave Dream Inducer" app https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/brain-wave-dream-inducer-5/id383185215  Not sure if it's working yet.  Btw, all of this is at my doctor's advice.

[flguy]

Here is my definitive proof of the sensitive setting.  The graph on the top is Fitbit, on the bottom is Dropcam.  They both start off with movement because I was just getting into bed.

The only discrepancy was around 3:30am, when my Dropcam recorded movement but it was only my legs, not my arm.  Then a little later I did briefly move my arm, and Fitbit recorded it, but it was not enough motion to trigger the Dropcam.

I am 100% positive that I was restless, if not fully "awake" during these times.  They are not false-positives.  You can even see the blips where I got up to go to the bathroom.  I only feel the need to go AFTER I wake up for no reason.

Here is the full Fitbit graph and sleep efficiency number for context.  I was able to zoom in on the graph to get all the detail above.

I hope this is insightful.  It is to me!  It puts to rest any doubt I had that Fitbit may not be tracking sleep correctly.  Your results may vary.

[mobley001]

I have looked at both normal tracking and sensitive tracking. I got to bed from 10 pm to 6 am most weekdays. I almost everyday struggle gettting out of bed, feeling rest, and barely get through the day without feeling like I can not keep my eyes open. My question is...

1. I have read some people don't need 8 hours of sleep. What is a good time frame to test the throry?

2. Any suggestions on how to feel more rested and wake up easier each more?

Please help this is a real struggle for me.

[Dougsf]

Let's see. The way you tell if a "sleep monitor" like Fitbit is working is to assess on arising that you feel rested, and note that during the day you do not fall asleep. If a person feels rested when arising and is not falling asleep during the day, what additional information is Fitbit sleep mode providing? Or, if a person is tired in the morning and can hardly make it through the day, what additional information is Fitbit sleep mode going to provide? Maybe just exercise tracking is enough. 

[Hjane26]

I reset mine to sensitive and it seems to more accurately depict how I feel when I wake up each day (like I haven't slept at all).  Sometimes even on sensitive, it still doesn't pick up the zillion times I get up to go to the bathroom as "awake."  I am also wondering if SOME of the restlessness could be picked up by a partner's movement in the bed?  Has anyone felt like their partner's movements contribute to the restlessness shown on your fitbit?

[Eyagoz]

I have a fitbit one--where do I change the sleep setting?  Is that on the dashboard?

[MatthewFitbit]

@Eyagoz You will find the Sleep Sensitivity configuration in your account Settings, under "Devices". You can get there by clicking the gear icon at the top-right of your website Dashboard, and then choosing "Devices" from the menu at left.

You can read more about this setting here.

[rosewein]

Got my Flex for Mother's Day so still new at this but hope my info helps. I started on the normal setting but read that if you have sleep issues you should try the sensitive setting for a better record so I switched it after the first night. I've had a sleep study done in the past and was diagnosed with mild to moderate sleep apnea. I go into deep sleep easily but wake on average 1 or 2 times per hour. By their terms that means I have come out of a deep, restful sleep and although I may not be fully awake I am restless and therefore the quality of my sleep is down. This fairly well matches what the Flex has recorded for the last couple of weeks. I generally show "awake" for 6 -10 mins when I go to bed and then asleep for 1-2 hours before the restless periods begin and usually are worst from 1-4 AM. If I get out of the bed during the night to get water or go to the bathroom the Flex will record that time as "awake" instead of "restless". Comparing the Flex data to my previous sleep study, I feel the Flex is fairly accurate in what it is recording because most of the time I am awake enough to know that I am tossing and turning or I can tell in the morning that I had a restless night because I'm still tired. I do not use my CPAP because it bothers my hubby and freaks out my dogs but mostly I just hate the thing. I'm hoping to use the fitbit sleep data to help find something else to increase my sleep quality.

[graciado]

I too found that the 'normal' setting sometimes didn't pick up when I went to the bathroom during the night, or even when I was having trouble falling asleep and deliberately moving my arm to let the FitBit know! I have changed the setting to 'sensitive'. What a huge difference in the graphs! I'm going to try this setting for a few weeks and see whether it feels like a more accurate reflection of my sleep, or whether it feels overly sensitive. It's interesting to see from others' experiences how the FitBit matches up with other methods of tracking, like DropCam, Jawbones, etc.

[camrrt]

Not to be offensive but a couple of other questions... You may have sleep apnea,  Are you heavy? Have a large neck? Do you snore? Do you get tired during the day? Google sleep apnea and read about it.

[MarieA]

My fitbit kept reporting that I was waking many times in the night.  I began to suspect that I had sleep apnea.  I bugged my doctor until he sent me to a sleep clinic.  I was diagnosed with sleep apnea.  Now I sleep with a breathing machine, and do not have the middle of the night non-sleep activity.