Sleep health has become a hot topic in recent years, with many of us looking for new ways to measure and improve our rest. We humans like to measure things. Steps, calories, heartbeats, hours at a desk. It makes sense we’d try the same with sleep. A graph, a score, a neat summary of the night. The trouble is, sleep doesn’t like to be measured. It wriggles away from our attempts to pin it down. And sometimes, the very act of tracking makes it harder.
Do Sleep Trackers Work for Sleep Health?
Sleep trackers are everywhere – watches, rings, phone apps – but how accurate are they really?
Those watches and rings and phone apps can only do so much. They pick up movement, sometimes heart rate or another single metric. What they can’t do is see if you’re awake, dreaming, or drifting into deep stages of sleep.
Even in a hospital sleep lab, with wires stuck to your head, the science isn’t perfect. But even if it was, they assume sleep should look the same each night, which is not how healthy sleep patterns naturally work.
When your tracker tells you your night was “poor” or your efficiency was 63%, take it with a pinch of salt. It might be wrong – and even if it’s right, it doesn’t mean something is necessarily wrong. The real danger is that you believe it more than you believe yourself.
When Numbers Undermine Sleep Health
I once had a client who said: “I felt fine when I woke up… until I saw my app.” Within minutes she went from rested to anxious. That’s how these gadgets can quietly train your brain to stop trusting your own signals.
This is sometimes called “orthosomnia”, when anxiety about sleep makes it harder to sleep. You start performing sleep for the device. Going to bed earlier, clock-watching, chasing a better score. Ironically, that’s the very mindset that wrecks sleep.
Should you get rid of your tracker?
Not always. For some, they’re handy for spotting broad patterns, like how late-night screens or weekend lie-ins shift their body clock. But if you notice you’re waking with dread about your score, or feeling worse after reading it, that’s a sign the tracker is doing more harm than good.
Healthier Habits That Matter More Than Devices
If you insist on keeping one, treat it like you’d treat a weather forecast. Glance at it, maybe use it as a guide, but don’t let it dictate your whole mood or your whole day.
Better still, ask yourself the questions no gadget can answer: How am I functioning today? Am I enjoying anything? Do I feel naturally sleepy at night? These are the measures that matter. And focus on the metrics that can actually move the dial – such as, are my wake times are consistent enough to build strong sleep drive? Do I get enough bright light in the mornings? These are far more influential than sleep data, supplements and gadgets.
Sleep isn’t a performance. It’s not something you can improve by obsessing over scores. It’s a process your body already knows how to do. The more you let it get on with that job, the better. Learn the joy of imperfect sleep, it will be one less thing to worry about!
