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Sleep tracking apps promise better rest through data. But what happens when you have to stay awake all night in order to get good marks? For a growing number of people, the Apple Watch, Ora Ring, or whatever device is meant to improve the quality of your sleep is doing exactly the opposite. Here’s how Sleep Score actually works, and what you can do to get the most of your sleep tracker.
Benefits (and accuracy) of sleep tracking
Sleep is fundamental to nearly every dimension of health, including “improved mood, heart health, and cognitive function.” Dr. Rebecca RobbinsAssistant Professor in the Division of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Associate Sleep Scientist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. On the other hand, chronic sleep loss is linked to an increased risk of heart disease, metabolic dysfunction, impaired immune response, and mood disorders.
However, for decades people had a surprisingly poor understanding of how much sleep they were actually sleeping. Self-reporting is highly unreliable; We keep moving around, mix up time in bed with sleep time, and forget to stay awake at night altogether. “Consumer sleep tracking has begun to bridge that gap in recent years with significantly increased precision and accuracy, providing more information from home,” Robbins says. Oura rings and Whoop bands dominate the scene, but watches like Fitbit or Apple Watch also work.
According to Robbins, wearables (such as wrist- or ring-based devices) are equipped with several increasingly accurate sensors: a temperature sensor, an accelerometer for movement, light sensors, and photoplethysmography (PPG) technology. (The PPG uses pulses of light to detect blood movement beneath the skin, allowing the device to calculate heart rate and estimated blood oxygen saturation).
Your device tracks how long you were asleep, and estimates how much of that time was spent in light sleep, deep sleep, and REM sleep. Then, it distills it into a single overall score. This is a good number, but it’s important to remember that this number is an estimate, and each company has its own grading system.
There is also the question of what “quality sleep” means. The clinical definition focuses on adequate duration (most adults need between seven and nine hours), adequate continuity, appropriate sleep phase distribution, and, critically, how you actually feel upon waking and throughout the day. That last part is, ultimately, a subjective experience — in other words, something no wearable can measure. A person who feels groggy and restless after being awake for eight straight hours isn’t getting quality sleep, no matter what their app says. And conversely, the person who feels sharp and energetic after getting a 65 grade by their tracker overnight should probably trust their body over the algorithm.
This is why it is impossible for a sleep score to be truly “accurate.” Yes, all the data that goes into your score (like your heart rate) can Be precise, but it is important to understand that the score itself is a made up number. Different companies have different definitions of “good” sleep, which varies from device to device. For example, Oura and Apple both give scores between 0-100, but where ora label A score of 70–84 as “good” Apple has a range 61–80 labeled as “fine”. These scores are not what you would call diagnostic accuracy.
Yet, for most people, diagnostic accuracy is not the issue. If the point is to get some behavioral feedback, your smartwatch or sleep tracker is a great tool.
Wearable devices may be useful in driving habit change
Sleep tracking, at its best, works less like a medical test that you pass or fail, and more as a way to see patterns over time. Maybe you’ll start to notice the increasing effect of a glass of wine late at night on your percentage of deep sleep, or the way your resting heart rate increases after three nights of sleep deprivation, or perhaps several weeks of consistent sleep time make a tangible difference.
“People are highly motivated by their numbers,” says Robbins. “Wearable devices can boost intrinsic motivation for behavior change by providing daily feedback.” In other words, your score (good or bad) can lead you to consider your actions: What did I do yesterday? What can I do differently tonight?
The most important thing here is that you don’t need to “optimize” every little step of your sleep structure to benefit from this type of tracking. “The most powerful use of this data is when people can monitor their progress over time,” says Robbins. Instead of thinking about your score all night long, you should focus on whether you are moving in the right direction or not.
Some of these tools also have a coaching element, such as Ora Consultant. In these cases, wearable devices can move from passive monitoring to actively flagging anomalies, such as alerting you to irregular sleep schedules (which disrupt the body’s circadian rhythm over time). I really can’t help but realize that my weekend schedule is depleting my weekday sleep, and a warning like this would help me make the necessary changes. “These tools are especially powerful for individuals who are away from healthy sleep routines, such as those with inconsistent schedules or inadequate sleep, providing behavioral feedback and personalized recommendations,” says Robbins.
For people who respond to positive reinforcement, gamification built into many platforms—streak counters, badges—can also help them resist small choices that impair sleep quality. Of course, there is A dark side of gamification. What happens when your obsession with sleep is what keeps you up at night?
Orthosomnia and sleep tracking concerns
Not everyone responds to data feedback with motivation. For some people, the daily sleep score approaches fear.
Researchers have given this phenomenon a name: orthosomnia. The term was coined in a paper published in 2017 Journal of Clinical Sleep MedicineDescribes a preoccupation with obtaining accurate sleep data that paradoxically makes sleep worse. (To be clear, this term is not actually a formal clinical diagnosis.)
“This phenomenon typically affects individuals who already suffer from anxiety about judgment, where receiving daily feedback can trigger a cycle of rumination and worry that ultimately limits their ability to get good sleep the next night,” says Robbins. You sleep poorly, your score reflects it, anxiety about the score increases, that anxiety disrupts the next night, which produces another poor score, and so on. The stress of getting bad marks creates a snowball effect of getting more bad marks.
What do you think so far?
This is compounded by another problem I see again and again in the wellness sector: information overload. It’s natural to feel overwhelmed if you’re presented with sleep stages, respiratory rates, HRV, skin temperature deviations, body battery, readiness scores, and more. Instead, “the most beneficial metrics for most people are often the most (simple) ones, such as total amount of sleep and a summary score indicating whether it was a good night,” says Robbins.
How to actually track your sleep
If you’re going to use a sleep tracker, the goal is to look at broader patterns rather than just focusing on nightly scores. Well, sleep is inherently variable, and even healthy sleepers have bad nights. What matters is whether your weekly average is moving in the right direction or not. Use monthly views, not daily views, as your primary frame of reference.
Second, identify the metrics that are actually actionable for you. If you know that drinking alcohol makes you sleep deeper, this is helpful. If you’re anxiously refreshing your HRV trends without knowing what to do with it, you’re probably stressing yourself out for no real reason. Robbins recommends keeping it simple: Total sleep time and an overall score to know if the night was good are often enough for most people. Another data point to start tracking: Are you sluggish throughout the day? This may be subjective, but it’s a clear indication of whether you’re getting enough quality sleep.
Finally, know when to put the device down. “If tracking causes anxiety, take a break from the device, or avoid looking at the data,” says Robbins. Maybe taking a week or two away from your sleep score, or simply not checking the app first thing in the morning, can break the anxiety cycle and get you to sleep with less psychological warfare.
Some tips to get better sleep
If you find yourself relying too heavily on sleep scores in your quest for more restful sleep, try some other techniques instead. Basic principles of sleep hygiene Are classic for a reason.
avoid screens before sleeping
We all know this by now, but still, it’s a hard habit to break. Blue light from phones and laptops suppresses melatonin production; Beyond light, the mental load of scrolling or responding to messages keeps the nervous system in an overactive state, making it harder to fall asleep.
Replace the screen with something actually comfortable
Instead of simply eliminating behaviors, adding one or two new habits may help. Robbins suggests, “Soothing activities such as reading a book, taking a warm bath, or practicing mindfulness exercises.”
build active rest
You don’t have to wait until you feel tired and hope sleep comes. Instead, try to intentionally create ways to reduce power. breathing exercisesLight stretching, or perhaps a simple body scan meditation can all work wonders.
Stick to your sleep schedule
Consistency in sleep and wake times is one of the strongest predictors of sleep quality, as it keeps circadian rhythms running smoothly.
Be honest with yourself about stimulants
It’s hard for me, but 3pm coffee can significantly disrupt your 10pm sleep. Meanwhile, alcohol may help you fall asleep faster in the beginning, but it can cause harm in the second half of the night.
