Sleep Tracking and Pain

[sammymack21]

I have been a Fitbit user for several years. I had the original flex and now I have had the surge for over a year. I am concerned about my sleep patterns because of a chronic pain condition and I’m wanting to know how accurate the sleep tracker actually is on the Fitbit. I know that Fitbit has a disclaimer that it’s not a medical device but I want to try to track my sleep as accurately as possible. And if it is accurate, I am scared for my sleep. I will be in bed for 8-9 hours and only be in deep sleep for 2-5 at most. This has been over the course of years not just a few nights. I’ve talked to doctors but they said I’m still technically getting sleep. Obviously I don’t feel restful but I wanted to ask the community their feelings of this. I also have it set on my non-dominant wrist on the sensitive setting. I want it to be accurate. I also sleep with someone else in bed with me. Advice is greatly appreciated. 

[WavyDavey]

Hi @sammymack21,

I would have to ask you-- what do you mean when you say "accurate"? Really, the only thing we can say is accurate is a full-blown sleep study. Are you wanting to know in comparison to that, or what is your standard for accuracy?

I can't read from your post how much deep sleep you are getting. 2-5 what?

[sammymack21]

I mean that it says I get 2-5 hours of deep sleep. I want to know if I’m actually only getting that many hours of sleep or if Fitbit is just a waste of time and completely guessing. Just last night I was in bed for 12 hours because of health issues and it says I got 5 hours of deep sleep and the rest was restless. I attached a photo I took yesterday when I posted this. This is how my Fitbit information has looked for years. 

[WavyDavey]

That chart looks like the old style sleep tracking. If so, it's not really showing the deep sleep stage. Deep sleep is usually an hour, maybe up to two hours per night.  If you check the Deep Sleep chat thread, a lot of people are getting under an hour or even a half hour per night.

Is it showing deep sleep, REM, light sleep and awake time? Can you post a screenshot of an individual night?

And what model of Fitbit are you using?

[sammymack21]

 This is a screenshot from last night. The screenshot from the previous night is from my Fitbit app on my iPhone that is kept up to date. Last night was unusual for the amount of time I was in bed but this is typical for restless sleep for me. And this is what I want to know if it’s accurate on. Can it actually track the sleep stages or am I wasting my time even reading into my Fitbit. 

[SebWotan]

This is not the detailed sleep chart. One look like this. Notice that I do not have that much deep sleep (a bit over an hour this night) but this is normal.

To get this you need to go to bed without manually going in Sleep mode in the app. When you were going to bed, were you setting your app to Sleep mode ?

In addition, it seems you are really restless. Either something is up with your tracker or you do not sleep very well.

[sammymack21]

That’s is why I posted. And yes you obviously don’t have an iPhone. How did you get to that in depth chart? That is why I posted about the sleep. I wanted to know how accurate this was. You’re insight is no help at all. My app is up to date on my phone and I see nothing different when I log into the website or use my kindle fire to view the information. It is all the same. I do not put my app into sleep mode 

[SebWotan]

This is the iOS App and this is a proper sleep graph showing all stages. How did I get it ? By wearing my Fitbit while sleeping. I was trying to help but it seems you are not appreciative of that. I will stay clear of this topic and will let you troubleshoot on your own. 

[WavyDavey]

@sammymack21, which model of Fitbit do you have?

[sammymack21]

I have the surge. And just to mention again my iOS app is up to date and this is my third replacement because of the band breaking. 

[WavyDavey]

Gotcha. In the settings inside the app, there's a section called Sleep. In there, make sure it's not set to Sensitive, which may cause it to underestimate your sleep.

Also, try a restart and then let us know tomorrow if the sleep reporting improves.

Restart Fitbit Tracker