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David Walsh, the computer scientist who developed AutoSleep, said he knew the movement and heart rate sensors would not accurately estimate the REM stage, so he didn’t bother.Īnother unknown for sleep trackers are the algorithms that are being used to measure people’s sleep, Dr. Here is where the AutoSleep app gets credit: It estimates sleep duration and deep sleep using the motion and heart rate sensors, but it does not attempt to guess REM sleep. In sleep-tracking labs, the gold-standard scientific equipment typically includes sensors that are connected to someone’s face and neck to measure eye and brain activity, among other variables. That’s partly because the cycles are not the same throughout the night: The early cycles have more deep sleep, whereas the later ones have more REM sleep.īut our sleep-tracking tech? It generally can’t accurately measure REM sleep. To get a good night’s sleep, you need to complete four or five cycles. On average, a person completes a sleep cycle, which includes each of the three main stages, every 90 minutes. REM sleep, the stage in which we dream, helps in repairing our psychological and emotional networks. The deep sleep stage is beneficial for physical restoration, like muscle reparation and metabolism recovery, researchers said. There are three main stages: Light sleep, deep sleep and REM sleep (for rapid eye movement). To understand sleep-tracking data, I delved into how sleep works. Here’s what I learned after two weeks of sleep tracking.
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“You may think: ‘Oh, gosh, I didn’t sleep well. “If you look at your data, it can modify the perception of your sleep,” he said. His most important advice: Do not check your sleep data on a regular basis.
#SMARTWATCH WITH SLEEP MONITOR HOW TO#
For some practical tips on how to get more shut-eye, I sought out Raphael Vallat, a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Human Sleep Science at the University of California, Berkeley.
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