Up until a few years ago, tracking sleep meant remembering when you went to bed and when you woke up. Everything in between was a black box.
The ability to track your sleep has come a long way.
Digital devices and apps can be used as sleep accountability tools—pestering you to get to bed on time and wake up consistently (raise your hand if you have to set more than 2 alarms to get up in the morning).
The two most helpful metrics that can be tracked with most devices are: sleep duration and sleep efficiency.
- Sleep Duration. Obviously, this is the total amount of time that you are asleep. Since the optimum range is so broad (7 to 9 hours), you’ll want to match up your sleep duration with how you feel in the morning—for example, by using a sleep diary as we discussed in the sleep lesson.
- Sleep Efficiency. Your sleep efficiency is the amount of time you spend asleep related to the amount of time you spend in bed trying to sleep. It’s a helpful metric, and a good target is to have a sleep efficiency of over 90%. Insights into sleep efficiency can be beneficial for people who are working on their sleep hygiene.
While we believe in measuring and using data, we also recommend that you consider tracking your sleep with some caution.
Much of the data that relates to your sleep cycle—light sleep, deep sleep, and REM sleep—are not very accurate.
We have also had some patients for whom sleep tracking has made matters worse. So, if you find that looking at your sleep data increases anxiety or worry, it might be better to use a different behavioral change tool for sleep timing or for environmental management. Take a look back at the sleep lesson if needed.
We anticipate that sleep health technology will continue to evolve. There will come a day when your smart device automatically adjusts your environment—sounds, light, temperature, and comfort, based on your real-time metrics.
Until then, go ahead and monitor your sleep if you want to, but don’t get too caught up in the numbers. If you get over 7 hours sleep per night and feel good, monitoring your sleep probably won’t add a lot.
