How do sleeping trackers work?

Digital fitness and sleep trackers are very popular and are considered a simple tool for analyzing and improving one's sleep habits. How exactly Sleep Here we explain how trackers work, what values ​​are actually measured and whether they can really help improve sleep.

Table of contents

1. What are sleep trackers?
2. How do sleep trackers work?
3. What do sleep trackers measure?
4. Can sleep trackers improve sleep?
5. Conclusion

1. What are sleep trackers?

Like small digital laboratories for the home – more and more people are wearing fitness watches and sleep trackers to closely monitor their own body functions and sleep behavior. Sleep trackers are mobile or permanently installed technical devices that measure and record certain body functions while sleeping, which, in combination with a Softsoftware or app. The results should provide information about sleep patterns and help to identify irregularities or Sleep problems to identify.

2. How do sleep trackers work?

Sleep trackers typically have multiple sensors to measure movement and vital signs. The exact functionality also depends on the tracker model. Wearable devices, such as the Apple Watch, are particularly popular. Smartwatches or fitness/activity bracelets. There are also trackers that are permanently installed and integrated, for example, as a sensor pad under the mattress.

Wearables such as the popular Apple Watch or the Oura Ring are worn directly on the body and typically feature a 3-axis accelerometer, a gyroscope, and an optical sensor. They detect movement, measure heart rate and respiration, and can also determine blood flow or oxygen saturation in our blood. This data is recorded during sleep and stored in a Software or app processed and evaluated in order to draw conclusions about sleeping behavior.

3. What exactly do sleep trackers show?

Sleep trackers can provide us with information about the time it takes to fall asleep, sleep duration, sleep cycles, Sleep phases or even heart and breathing pauses. During sleep, we go through several sleep cycles, in which our bodies behave in different ways. You can learn exactly how sleep works in this Article. Based on our heart rate or the intensity of our movement, a pre-programmed algorithm should be able to determine, for example, how much time we spent in deep or REM sleep.

4. Can sleep trackers improve sleep?

Whether a sleep tracker can really help you improve your sleep depends largely on how you deal with the results of the analysis. From a scientific point of view, the Heart rate, breathing, and movement during the night are not decisive enough to make an accurate statement about the quality and structure of sleep. While our breathing, heart rate, and physical activity change throughout the night, sleep primarily occurs in our brain and can be measured primarily by changes in the activity patterns in our neural networks. Therefore, sleep research studies sleep behavior based on brain activity, eye movement, Body temperature and muscle tension in combination with the bioparameters measurable by sleep trackers.

In addition, the tracker's measurement accuracy can easily be affected, for example, if the sensors are not positioned correctly on the skin or if other people are in the bed. And even if our bodily functions and vital parameters deviate from the known "normal values," for example due to an illness, a sleep tracker cannot provide a truly reliable assessment of our sleep.

Sleep trackers are practical and are well suited to get a rough overview of your own sleep-wake behavior and especially the Sleep duration or to point out possible breathing irregularities. However, it is important not to rely too heavily on details such as the sequence of sleep phases or deep and REM sleep, because the measured data may not exactly match our actual sleep behavior. If we feel fresh and rested the next morning, we should still trust our personal feelings and not be too influenced by a Sleep Score or Recovery Score of our sleep tracker. In combination with a good Sleep hygiene However, the popular trackers can be very helpful in taking a closer look at your own sleeping habits and finding out how you can improve your sleep.

Our tip: Relaxing evening routines and healthy sleep hygiene are the most important foundation for ensuring good sleep in the long term. With a sleep tracker, you can then check how your body parameters look after a restful night and whether any abnormalities in your personal feelings are reflected in the measured parameters.

5. Conclusion

• Sleep trackers are wearable or permanently installed devices that use various sensors to measure and record heart rate, movement, breathing and other vital parameters during sleep.

• Sleep trackers can provide information about the time it takes to fall asleep, the length of time you sleep, sleep cycles, sleep phases, or even heart and breathing pauses.

• The measurement accuracy and evaluation function of sleep trackers can be easily influenced, which is why the devices are recommended as a guide, but not for the reliable evaluation of sleep.