Time spent awake during sleep

[Katelynfarley]

Every morning when I check how long I slept, my dashboard always tells me how many minutes I spent 'awake' during the night (usually around 45 minutes sometimes and hour). What does 'awake' mean? Does that mean times I moved or times I've actually woken up, and if so how can my Fitbit tell I've woken up? AND also how do I bring that number of minutes down? I really want to get more solid sleep.

Thanks

-Katelyn

[WavyDavey]

Awake only means there was a certain amount of movement detected. I prefer the old term restless, but the new one is awake.

It's not uncommon to have dozens of small periods of awakeness per night without being conscious of it.

[lionsroar]

WavyDavey is right. It's based on motion. I often watch the news from my bed at night and my Fitbit thinks I'm asleep, because I'm not moving. It also says that I'm still asleep when I lay in my bed for a while after waking on the weekends. It does not understand the idea of "soaking up the silence." 😉

[john-is-my-name]

As part of my pre-sleep-ritual, I like to get in bed, read  ink-on-paper, turn out the light and go to sleep.  Fitbit never thinks I'm asleep as I read.  I would contend that the motions that my hands make as I adjust my book and turn its pages is enough to convince it that I am awake. If you watch TV in bed, consider habitualizing hand movements to show fibit you are awake.

[WavyDavey]

I got an idea about this last night. In that hour before bed, where I'm still awake but not moving much, take the tracker off and set by the bedside. Then when I get into bed for sleep, put the tracker back on.

Going to try this tonight and see if it works.

[john-is-my-name]

Dave; I got an idea from your idea; My pre-bed read-and-relax is a great time to charge my FitBit. Thanks!

[nabriggs]

I do this also! it's the best time to charge your fit bit !

[WavyDavey]

I've been doing this too, and it's been working well. I don't charge it every night, because it doesn't need it that often and I don't want to put too much wear on the battery by constantly topping it off. But certainly taking it off an hour or so before bedtime has made a big difference in getting good sleep tracking.

Hooray for the Fitbit Community!

[benny0777]

Then let’s change it!!!  Or have 2 numbers one for total hours of bed time the other for Fitbit fancy, everyone is sleep deprive, erroneous number!!!

[john-is-my-name]

"how do I bring that number of minutes down? I really want to get more solid sleep." -Katelyn

I had sleep problems.  These are the two most signfiancat thin gs anyone can do to have better sleep for a shoerter overall sleep duration.

1. Set your alarm clock to go off the same time everyday. When it goes off, get out of bed and start your day.  If you have 'sleep in days' (i.e Saturday and Sunday)  set your alarm for no more than an hour later than your normal wake-up time. (You can program this into your FitBit 🙂

2. Get the same amount of sleep-time every night.  

Beyond that, my techniques are more complex and are distant in effectiveness to #1 and #2. Once you get into a routine with #1 and #2, you can slowly reduce the duration of #2. According to FitBit, my average total sleep time per night is 5.3 hours. I rarely need my alarm to wake me up nor do I need my sleep in days.

[benny0777]

Are you okay with your average sleep time being 5.3 hours. Just thinking about it gives me a headache and my body feels sleep deprived. Lol

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[john-is-my-name]

Hello Benny; Yes, 5.3 hrs sleep is all my body needs. This is pure sleep. When I hit the pillow, I'm asleep in a few minutes. So don't get a headache thinking about how little I sleep. Try for yourself regulating your wake-up time first and your going to sleep time. As your body gets use to this consistency, you can start to slowly push back your bedtime later and later.

[SunsetRunner]

I can vouch for what @john-is-my-name says re little sleep, but I did it the other way around.

I've never been a good sleeper, and the common idea that you need to wake up early to push the body towards a certain rhythm never really worked, I always ended up tired during the day without benefit.

What has worked for me is that, instead of pushing the mornings to be shorter, I set up a time to go to bed and create a routing that helps you do that (whatever works for you: reading, meditation, exercise at a certain time before, whatever works) and make a conscious decision to end the day at that time.

Personally, increasing exercise levels in the early days of this experiment helped me be tired enough to sleep easily and create a virtuous circle.

I also started putting my silent alarm 30 earlier, with the intention of having a little snooze time in case I need it, but after a very short time what started to happen is that the body just takes the sleep it needs and wakes way before the alarm. I'm usually preparing breakfast when the alarm goes off.

Also the total wake time during sleep is reduced and the proportion of REM/Deep/Light started to converge towards the benchmark.

Each body is different and has different patters but my take away from this practice is that the time old belief is true: if you go to bed early, you'll be fine in the morning and you'll have sustainable better sleep.

[SunsetRunner]

I have had habitulized hand movements whilst in bed 

but my mum said it would send me blind 🤣