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?

[nana01]

I typically would have 5 ounces of red wine every night after dinner at
home. I noticed while on a trip my sleep quality seemed to be better. I
started experimenting and found out via the sleep tracking that I do have
much more restless sleep when I do have a glass of wine . Since I work
long shifts and have to get up at 4am I have stopped having that wine on
work nights so I feel much better over all. Sad because I really love my
dark red wines and felt I was being very moderate in my 1 small glass per
night.

[AnneMargar]

nana01 thanks for your reply.  After reading this entire thread,I just purchased the Brain Wave Dream Inducer App ($0.99).  The first review on the app seems to describe my situation to a "t".  I use earplugs to block out my partners snoring and the loud bangs from the radiators, but the earplugs always seem to fall out sometime during the middle of the night.  Tonight I will try the following:

* No caffeine after my early morning two 6oz cups

* No alcohol!!!

* Sleep in guest room (to rule out partners snoring as problem)

* Turn off radiator in room (this will cool down the room - though I will still receive heat from the rest of the house- as well as stop the banging in my immediate room).

* Try to use the Brain Wave Dream Inducer App tonight to see if that helps.

I will let you know how this works for me.

** Thank you to the poster that suggested the Brain Wave Inducer Dream app - I am keeping my fingers crossed that it help 🙂

[MLP1230]

I recommend you talk with your priamry care provider - you may need a slep eval

[GoldaT]

@MLP1230: Thanks for the suggestion --- already done and diagnosed with
sleep apnea; now sleeping with CPAP breathing machine. Issue is whether I
need to reset my Flex to reflect change in my sleeping status --- i.e, I've
changed settings from "sensitive" to "normal" and "non-dominant" to
"dominant" wrist. I was wondering if this would help lessen the "wakeful"
period readings or not. I guess time will tell as I adjust to new sleep
patterns. Thanks again. Golda T.

[jetfish]

Well after I had the same problem I read further and found you tap on it several times in a few seconds then it will vibrate and flash 2 lights on the ends like eyes! Hope this helps

[GoldaT]

Thanks. Seems to be working OK. GoldaT.

[AnneMargar]

After four days of no caffeine, no alcohol, sleeping with ear plugs and a mask over my eyes, I am still only getting 4.5 hours of sleep perp night - waking 13-22 times each night. Tonight I will sleep in the guest room again, but I am seriously thinking that I have restless leg syndrome that is causing me to move at night.  I do get the restless leg syndrome feeling during long meetings and now I am feeling the sensation as I am laying in bed and reading before going to sleep.  I hate the idea of being on medication, but I really need my sleep.  

[colin99]

Hi Anne, I did about a month of limited caffeine in September as a test. Went to decaf coffees with the occassional green tea. It barely budged my sleep numbers.I had expected a big improvement by getting rid of caffeine but it didn't really help as much as I thought. 

Since Jan 1,  I've begun to add in some additional exercise - I have an indoor track that was just built down the road from my home so I'm spending some time there (currently doing an hour and a half 2-3 times a week). It seems to help stabilize the sleep numbers; last weekend I had no time for it and Sunday night I plummeted to 80 minutes of sleep 😞 

On Wednesday I had an EEG with sleep deprivation done so I stayed away from 6AM Tuesday morning until 9PM Wednesday night. Normally after something like this I would have tried to sleep during the day (I used to get called in for work at 2am and would spend lots of the next day in bed) but the suggestions from sleep books I've been reading is to hard code a sleep schedule. Wednesday night I recorded 4:15 which is the max I've had in a couple months. Last night was 3:45 which is decent for me. I think if the fitbit recorded 4:00 every night it would probably mean I was 5ish a night. 

[GoldaT]

Have you discussed this with doctor. Sleep test might clarify cause of
issue --- possible other than restless leg syndrome? Hope you get an
answer that will eliminate sleeping in guest room. Best of luck. GoldaT.

[AnneMargar]

Thanks for the suggestion, I made an appointment with my doctor for tomorrow morning so I will let you know how that works out for me.  

My mother suggested that I try some homeopathy solutions for restless leg syndrome.  The two she recommended (and I was able to find on the web) are to (1) place a bar of soap at the bottom of your bed - they don't know why, but many people have claimed that this helps (2) drink 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar with 1 cup of water before going to bed.  What the heck - I will try them both 🙂

[AnneMargar]

Colin, Thanks for your reply.  Just last night I thought I should add cardio into my daily schedule.  This morning I ran 30 minutes on my treadmill.  I plan to do 30 minutes of cardio at least six days/week to see if that helps me sleep.  I will alternate running, cycling, and elliptical to vary the muscles that I am using.  Fingers crossed!

[AnneMargar]

Hey!!  I actually slept well last night, well....well for me 🙂  I made a lot of changes so not sure which one, or perhaps all of them, were helpful. I read about some homeopathic ways to deal with restless leg syndrome so this is what I did:

I ran 30 min on the treadmill first thing yesterday morning.

(I did drink two cups of 6oz coffee at 6am and I had two beers with dinner -- not part of plan)

I drank 1 tablespoon of Apple Cider Vinegar with a cup of water.

Put a bar of soap at the bottom of my bed (this one sounded really weird, but people swore by it and I figured it couldn't hurt).

I also purhcased a new eye mask made of silk and covered my ears so it gave me extra sound proofing over my ear plugs.

I woke this morning feeling as though I slept thru the night!!  Fitbit said I was awake 10x and got 77% sleep quality with 5:23 minutes of sleep!!   I actually think I only woke 6x and the extra movement was me getting out of bed in the morning.  This is HUGE!! Keeping my fingers crossed that the same plan (minus the alcohol) will help me sleep well tonight!!

Oh, I also have a doctor appointment this morning, so I will see what he has to say.  There is hope!!

[AnneMargar]

Well.....the doctor diagnosed me with anxiety and depression.  This diagnosis really rocked my world!  I thought my blah feelings were due to lack of sleep, not the other way around.  Well, I have enough life events taking place right now that could be causing me to be depressed. So I will take the Prozac and see if that helps any.  The docor did give me Xanax for anxiety at night to see if that would help me sleep.  Interesting, I took the pill last night.  I thought I slept through the night, but when I checked my Fitbit rating, I tossed and turned just as much as the night before - I was just not aware of it.  So....did I sleep better or just the same?

[GoldaT]

At least you now have a diagnosis. I also suffer from anxiety and
depression; I see a psychiatrist who has me on wellbutrin cipralex and
abilify. As long as I take them I'm stable. I also use ativan on a prn
basis to help me sleep. Was your Prozac prescribed by gp or psychiatrist?
The main thing is are you feeling rested? I hope things will improve for
you.

[123High5]

As much as I love my Charge HR I find the sleep-tracking app completely useless. As many have reported here I constantly get a sleep efficiency rating in the high 90's when tracking in normal mode but one in the low 60's when tracking in sensitive mode. Reading the 'Sleep Help Article' I still find no answer to my apparently very common question: why is there such a discrepancy between the normal & sensitive setting?

60% vs 90% is a huge difference. One signals crappy sleep, the other great one.

Fitbit says that the sensitive mode gives you a "more detailed report" about your sleeping. I just don't see that, sorry. As a physician I must say the following: Great job on the rest but either get rid of the sleep tracker or improve it to a point where it actually produces data that is at least somewhat reliable.

[123High5]

s much as I love my Charge HR I find the sleep-tracking app completely useless. As many have reported here I constantly get a sleep efficiency rating in the high 90's when tracking in normal mode but one in the low 60's when tracking in sensitive mode. Reading the 'Sleep Help Article' I still find no answer to my apparently very common question: why is there such a discrepancy between the normal & sensitive setting?

60% vs 90% is a huge difference. One signals crappy sleep, the other great one.

Fitbit says that the sensitive mode gives you a "more detailed report" about your sleeping. I just don't see that, sorry. As a physician I must say the following: Great job on the rest but either get rid of the sleep tracker or improve it to a point where it actually produces data that is at least somewhat reliable.

[AnneMargar]

I have been taking the Prozac for a little over a week now. My mood is definiely a little better, but I am still tossing and turning all night long. I am back to trying to cut out my caffeine and alcohol and getting more exercise to see if that helps. I really think meditation and yoga help me - so I have to get them both back into my schedule. So....I know the doctor is going to say that he needs to up my Prozac to lower my anxiety to help me sleep. Not sure I like taking the medication....decisions...decisions.

I will say, I was thinking of not looking at my Fitbit sleep tracker any longer. Do I really need to know that I was tossing and turning all night? I guess if I can find something that helps me sleep better it will be worth it. What are your thoughts on this? Is it good to track your sleep in an effort to improve your sleep quality or does it just lead to more stress knowing that you had an awful night's sleep?

[JavaGypsy]

Fitbit's sleep tracker is dead on for me.  Improving sleep quality is definitely high on my priority list, so I would prefer to track it - even if my results aren't so great.  At the least, those not so great sleep nights explain why I'm so dang tired and lose my "oomph" during the work day.  I choose to not stress about it but do make a point to "recover" by making myself go to bed a little earlier the next night.  My recommendation is to do something like this.. use it as sort of a reminder to indulge in that thing some call sleep.  😉

I have noticed a difference now that I'm taking melatonin in the evenings and vitamin D & high potency B-complex gel caps in the mornings.  I'm not where I want/need to be, but it's definitely helping.  Google these things and speak to your doctor before taking them, especially if you are currently taking prescriptions of any kind.

[colin99]

Hi Anne, unfortunately I can completely relate to the medication question. I was diagnosed a number of years ago with anxiety/depression symptoms and spent a couple of years moving from medication to medication. Some were better than others but I found I always built up a tolerance to them - I have the same issue with sleeping pills; they only work for a day or two at the most every couple of months. The specialist weaned me off pretty much everything in 2013. I have very little idea if I'm better with or without the meds! The sleep did take a tumble after getting off the pills.

I do wonder at times if the tracking improves sleep or if it adds an extra level of anxiety. Overall I think it helps more than it hurts, in that I can look the data and realize that there are some good days rather than thinking they are all bad (even if the good days are really not that many hours!) and that the very bad days usually have an anxiety/stress basis behind them.  It has also forced me to finally realize that my level of exercise decreased markedly after 2012 or so (my job used to be very active but became more of an office role).

[GreyDandino]

You have to tap it rapidly for a couple of seconds till two lights flash in the middle