Fitbit Tracker integration with CPAP (sleep apnea) machines

[JJ_the_Saint]

Hello,

I am one of those estimated 50 million people who's been diagnosed with Sleep Apnea and use a CPAP machine for therapy.  I consider myself healthy and in shape. However, Sleep Apnea does not discriminate ones health, lifestyle age or sex.

Since using my ResMed CPAP device, I am sleeping much better, well so I thought. That is until I started using my Charge 2 to track my sleep.  To my surprise, it appears I am not getting deep sleep nor REM as much as my body requires it. 

I am inquiring about Fitbit trackers integrating with Sleep Apnea devices.  The tracker is good for monitoring Heart Rate and the CPAP monitors breathing and head movement.  It would be awesome if these devices can be integrated since both now include BlueTooth technology. Even if the data from both gadgets can be exported into Apple's Health App would be useful for analysis. 

I see from the community that Fitbit is constantly improving the data from the Sleep insights module.

I'm hoping they can find ways to integrate with third party of CPAP devices. 50 million sleep Apnea sufferers is a lot of potential customers.

Thanks,

Jason

[RobertoME]

Hello @JJ_the_Saint, it's nice to see new faces around in the Fitbit Community. I can understand why you are interested in a integration with sleep apnea machines. However it's important to keep in mind the Fitbti tracker is not designed as medical device, as it's is oriented for fitness purposes.

If this is something in which you're interested, please visit our Feature Suggestion board and contribute with your ideas and comments. This is a great way to let our developers know what you'd like to see in the future!

I appreciate your interest to improve this experience. Hope to see you again!

[nEVeRmOre0069]

@RobertoME As a moderator, you should have moved this to the appropriate board. It's obvious that this user interested in this feature. I am also interested in this feature, but because you relied upon this user to make the same posting again in a different board (which the user did not), I now cannot vote for this idea in any way that matters.

[RobertoME]

Hello @nEVeRmOre0069, let me give you a warm welcome to the Fitbit Community. I can understand your point and thank you for your feedback. There were reasons that explain why I do not took that action back then, however rest assure I will rely your comments to our team to keep in consideration future scenarios.

In fact there was an idea, but it did not have a big popularity, so it was archived due to inactivity. This is the reason you don't see any idea now where you can vote.

See you later and once again thank you so much for your feedback.

[KBHSTRICK]

I have charge 2 which helped me make the decision to get a sleep study done. Now I have a CPAP machine and Fitbit is recording almost no deep sleep. Worse than before my CPAP. I've got to think that the CPAP is interrupting the normal fit bit sleep stage readings. Is that true?

[AuntJulie]

I too have a feeling this is occurring (less deep sleep using CAPA). If I could export Fitbit data to sync with CAPA data it would then be worth the investment. 

[nEVeRmOre0069]

The reduced deep sleep seems to be a side effect of using my CPAP as well (see comments after your reply to my last comment). The only way to know for certain is if a way to integrate the readings from the two devices could be added. I don't understand how any lack of popularity could be involved in there not being a way to vote for this feature, nor do I understand the need for it to be archived: your site doesn't incur the type of traffic which would require archiving community suggestions. I still do not see a way to vote for this feature. Did you relay my comments to your team for consideration of future scenarios?

[RobertoME]

Welcome aboard to the Fitbit Community @AuntJulie and @KBHSTRICK. Nice to see you around too @nEVeRmOre0069,

Rest assured your comments has been forwarded to our teams for future consideration.

I understand this will be a very helpful integration, however note that this updates or changes in the Fitbit Dashboard are not immediate and sometimes may take longer time to be implemented and not always is guarantee.

In this case, I'm seeing there is great interest on this integration to use CPAP machines. So, I would like to invite you post your feedback in our Feature suggestion board and start a new idea. I was looking around and at the moment still there is no feedback similar from what you are requesting to have the attention of other users. Perhaps the first idea was not popular enough, but this doesn't mean the new one would be overlooked. 

At this time, is only possible to export your sleep data using your Fitbit dashboard through XLS file (Microsoft Excel) or CSV, which can be opened by many paid, free or shareware applications. If this helps in the meantime, the following article will provide you more help: How do I export Fitbit data?

See you later and I'll be around in case I received new updates.

[castle98]

Ditto!!!

[Ryinca]

Hi I've been using Cpap for about a week now and have also noticed a major reduction in the amount of deep sleep that is recorded by fitbit - as I'm feeling more rested than prior to using the cpap machine, I can only surmise that it is indeed somehow interfering with the fitbit's ability to accurately record sleep. Has anyone spoken to their doctor regarding this?

[cjo582]

For everyone concerned about the lack of REM, talk to your pulmonologist or sleep clinician. Also, stop to think about the sensors attached to you during a sleep study..... do you really expect something attached to a single spot on your wrist to give you the same caliber of results? No, because the fitbit isn't reading brain activity. 

My pulmonologist literally said not to trust one fitness tracking device. 

This would be like an insulin dependent person complaining that the fitbit didn't accurately reading glucose levels.

There's more to it than what it can read.

[Ryinca]

I dont think anyone is arguing that fitbit should considered the bible as
it relates to sleep accuracy. I was only pointing out that the FB readings
vastly changed once incorporated a c-pap machine.

[pdeblieck]

Not an expert, but I think because of the way the FitBit registers the way you sleep and the way the CPAP reduces your movement and stabilizes your Heart rate (the 2 indicators the FitBit uses to measure your sleep stages), it sees you hit the first sleep state and stays there.  I'm no expert though.

[Washrick]

This is my second round of cpap machine usage. The machines disturb my sleep also. I have complex. I have complex apnea and the  integration of fitbit and pap machine data would provide almost as much information as another stinking sleep study. 

Complex apnea is a combination of obstructive apneas and central apnea, which a machine can recognize somehow and differentiate. I would love to have that apnea data integrated with fitbit sleep reports.

[Lauren789]

I sought out this board because I've also noticed that on the nights I forget to wear my CPAP, my Fitbit Versa indicates more deep sleep. Like you, I suspect this may be related to how the Fitbit records deep sleep, since I feel more rested with CPap. On the bright side, if this is true, I'm getting more deep sleep than is recorded. 

Has the maker ever offered an explanation regarding this?

Thank you. 

[Tbknobloch]

 Amen to your answer. That is my exact thought. I’m pretty sure I move around a lot more with my CPAP mask on them without it. I have not been using it because I lost a considerable amount of weight, but I did it last night as a test, and had very little room sleep according to Fitbit. I feel much more rested today though. When they say that the Fitbit is not meant to be a medical device, I understand why. It can be helpful in detecting apnea but then you need to go to your doctor if you suspect it. .

[heffm28]

I've been wearing a CPAP Mask for 5 years now. It has definitely helped me to get more sleep. I just got a Versa 2 and started wearing it to bed. The Sleep readings are all over the place and it loses sleep time. I went to bed last night at 10:00 pm, got up at 5:30 am (as usual) and it says I only got 3 hrs and 41 mns of time asleep with no deep sleep! And it shows that I went to sleep at 12:47 am! So I lost almost 3 hrs of sleep!? What gives? I'm not going to wear it to bed anymore!

[GJLFBuser]

I wear my fitbit 24/7 and focus on steps and sleep. Although there are some nights where the fitbit is off several hours, for most nights it seems quite accurate in terms of total sleep and the breakdown of REM, Deep, and Lighter sleep. I am very happy to get level of feedback. 

Because of my positive experience with my fitbit (first a Charge 2 and now a Charge 3), I bought my wife a fitbit. She has been using a CPAP machine for years and has greatly benefitted from the improved sleep it has provided. But, as was stated by this earlier message, I am convinced that the fitbit does not measure CPAP sleep. My wife's fitbit often said she got no sleep, or when it did register sleep it would say she had no REM or deep sleep. Her fitbit now stays in a drawer and she won't even wear it to measure steps and exercise. According to her, the fitbit is totally inaccurate and she gives me trouble for trusting mine.

[phlipp]

Is anything further happening on the idea of incorporating Fitbit sleep data with CPAP machine data? Perhaps it may be better to address with the CPAP machine manufacturer )Philips, Resmed etc) than with Fitbit - recognising that Fitbit is not a medical device and is a far cry from all the electrodes and processing in a sleep test. All too hard and meaningless? As a separate issue, does/could Fitbit note when I am having a snooze during the day and observe whether anything it can see might be associated with me being sleepy - lots of enjoyable naps, but maybe too many for good health

Phil_is_tyne