Sleep monitoring - It isn't accurate for me

[u1nita]

I love my new Fitbit for exercise routines and everything else, but for me the sleep score seems almost randomly wrong.

I have had it for about a month. During that time I have had a few good nights of sleep and it tells me my REM time, light sleep time, time awake etc and it seems to make sense on those nights. But I have also had a few nights where I sleep for a few hours and know I am totally awake for hours. It's a problem for me - sometimes I struggle with sleep, but that's for another post.

But on these nights where I know I was wide awake, it shows a regular pattern. I am not restless and moving around, I am just laying there wishing I could get to sleep. The Fitbit is not recognizing that I am awake. I guess my heartrate is low and if I am not restless it can't tell the difference, but why does it continue to report REM and light sleep just as it does on a night where I did sleep normally. Is the sleep number a little bit bogus?

Is there anything I can do to make it more accurate?

[RiekoC]

Hello & welcome @u1nita 

This help article has information on how does Fitbit detect sleep stages (<-- click link).

Basically, our Fitbits use our Heart Rate Variability to determine our sleep stages. Since HRV isn't something we have control over, I don't think there's anything we can do to improve the accuracy of Fitbit sleep stage tracking.

I often wake up earlier than my intended get-up time and just lay in bed with my eyes closed. Like you, I notice that this time is often tracked as REM or Light sleep. Since it's often less than an hour, I don't bother to edit the sleep end time in the app.

Regarding your bouts of insomnia, have you tried any type of meditation to help quiet your mind to let you sleep? Another option is playing soothing music or environmental sounds (e.g., waves, rain).

Melatonin might be something else to try. Just make sure to use the right dosage and not exceed using it nightly for more than 2 months.
https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/melatonin-for-sleep-does-it-work

[vee]

It seems something has changed in the sleep tracking just within the past week or two that has made it less accurate. I’m having the same issue, it not recording awake time accurately, it used to do much better knowing when I was awake.  I came here to see if anything had changed. 

[BoskyDell]

Same with my Fitbit sleep tracking.  Lately it is missing data for my sleep before midnight or spanning midnight.  I usually sleep in two segments, and it misses the first one especially if before midnight.  Very annoying for someone that has a tracker primarily for sleep tracking.  Tried all the restarts, fully charged,etc. Sadly, I will have to start looking for alternatives if this continues.   

[RiekoC]

Hello @BoskyDell 

Have you tried editing your sleep log in the Fitbit app when it doesn't track all your sleep? This is what I do when my sleep log in the Fitbit app doesn't have the correct start or end time or breaks my sleep into 2 logs.

This article has the instructions on how to edit your sleep log: How do I track my sleep with my Fitbit? (<-- click link)

[Guy_]

Hi @u1nita @BoskyDell @vee , just in case, try logout of the Fitbit App before bed. This will alleviate the watch getting confused if there are syncing issues in the night.

Also set watch Sleep mode which spans your expected sleep period.

But as @RiekoC has provided there are some conditions which the watch needs in order to show sleep stages etc.