Is Your Sleep Tracker Ruining Your Rest?

Sleep has become a hot topic in recent years, in part due to the rising popularity of tracking technologies. Ten percent of American adults now use devices to ensure a quality night’s sleep, according to the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine. However, using these monitoring devices can trigger or worsen sleeplessness, and has even given rise to a new term, orthosomnia, an obsession with attaining the “perfect sleep.” In these cases, patients report feelings of failure, anxiety and insomnia if tracking benchmarks are not met. 

But one size does not fit all when it comes to sleep. Wellness tracking devices have many flaws. For instance, they often can’t tell the difference if a person is sitting in bed or sleeping! 

Create Your Own Path to Better Sleep

You don’t need a wellness tracking device or app to obtain better sleep, and you may be better off without one. Instead, focus on improving sleep habits before bed through healthy sleep hygiene. 

Some tips from the National Sleep Foundation include: 

• Keep the room dark and quiet.

• Turn off screens at least 30 minutes before bedtime. 

• Check your thermostat. Make sure the room isn’t too warm or too cold. Aim for between 60-67F. 

• Go to bed at the same time when possible.

• Avoid high-energy activities before bed, such as exercise. 

• Set up a relaxing pre-bedtime routine (showering or reading).

• Try meditation. 

• Avoid caffeinated beverages and nicotine within four to six hours of bedtime.

• Avoid alcohol within three hours of retiring.  

• Limit your overall alcohol consumption (one drink a day for women, two for men).

Wellness Trackers — Keep or Put Away? 

Although these trackers can be helpful tools for some people, they are not medical devices and can sometimes paint an inaccurate or incomplete picture of your overall sleep quality. To determine whether continued use of a sleep tracker is helpful for you, ask yourself whether you felt well rested before you began tracking your sleep, but have experienced poor sleep quality since you started monitoring. If that is the case, then you may benefit from taking a break from your tracker. Try putting less emphasis on the metrics being tracked.

The bottom line is that anxiety of any kind is one of the most common causes of insomnia. If you are constantly worrying about your sleep quality, it could worsen your sleep.

Find Ways to Keep Anxiety at Bay

Sleep hygiene and moderating the environmental conditions for obtaining quality sleep are vital. Many people find meditation before bed to be helpful. A regular exercise regimen is incredibly important, not only for mental health and reducing stress, but also for the added benefit of making your body feel tired when it’s time to go to sleep. If you are noticing frequent anxiety, can’t fall asleep or stay asleep because your mind is racing with worries, ask yourself if therapy or seeing a psychiatrist may be helpful, in addition to a sleep physician.

Sleep Apnea and Other Factors

Most people who have difficulty sleeping at night can significantly improve the quality of their sleep by focusing on better sleep hygiene and addressing any underlying mental health issues, such as anxiety or depression. 

However, obstructive sleep apnea is incredibly common and underdiagnosed. If you have been told that you snore, are finding yourself feeling constantly tired or falling asleep during the day, and/or are overweight or obese, discuss with your doctor whether you should be tested.