How do sleeping trackers ? work

Digital fitness and sleep trackers are very popular and are considered a simple tool to analyse and improve your own sleep behaviour. How exactly Sleep Here we explain how trackers work, what values ​​are actually measured and whether they can really help to 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 take a closer look at their own body functions and sleeping behavior. Sleep trackers are mobile or permanently installed technical devices that measure and record certain body functions while you sleep in order to use them in combination with a Software or app. The results should provide an insight into sleep patterns and help to identify irregularities or sleep problems to identify.

2. How do sleep trackers work?

Sleep trackers usually have several sensors to measure movements and vital parameters. The exact functionality also depends on the type of tracker. Portable devices, so-called wearables, are particularly popular, for example 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 well-known Apple Watch or the Oura Ring are worn directly on the body and usually have a 3-axis acceleration sensor, a gyroscope and an optical sensor. They record movements, measure heart rate and breathing 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, with different sleep phases in which our body behaves in different ways. You can find out exactly how sleep works in this Article. A pre-programmed algorithm should then be able to determine, for example, how much time we have spent in deep or REM sleep based on our heart rate or the intensity of our movement.

4. Can sleep trackers improve sleep?

Whether a sleep tracker can really help you improve your sleep depends 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. Our breathing, heartbeat and physical activity do change during the night, but sleep takes place primarily in our brain and can be measured mainly by a change in the activity patterns in our neuronal networks. In sleep research, sleep behavior is therefore measured based on brain activity, eye movement, body temperature and muscle tension in combination with the bioparameters measurable by sleep trackers.

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

Sleep trackers are practical and are good for getting a rough overview of your own sleep-wake behavior and especially the sleep duration or to point out possible irregularities in breathing. However, it is important not to rely too much on details such as the sequence of sleep phases or deep and REM sleep, because the measured data does not necessarily correspond exactly to 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 basis for ensuring good sleep in the long term. With a sleep tracker, you can then check what your body values ​​look like after a restful night and whether any abnormalities in your personal feelings can also be found 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, sleep duration, 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.