Sleep tracker watches collect valuable data about our physiological state to help us understand how long we’ve slept, how many times we woke up in the middle of the night, and even which phases of sleep we were in. With this information, we can develop better sleeping patterns for more of those refreshed mornings and fewer sluggish ones.

Best fitbit for sleep tracking
Are Sleep Tracker Watches Accurate?
Wearable sleep trackers — like smartwatches — use integrated sensors to monitor movement, heart rate, and breathing rate in order to draw conclusions about sleep quality and length. Motion sensors keep track of how much someone moves in their sleep and runs those measurements through an algorithm. The algorithm then makes an estimate about the sleep duration and, in many cases, the overall quality of a person’s sleep. Sleep trackers with only motion detectors are considered somewhat less accurate than those that take into account heart and breathing rates.

These days, most smartwatches are equipped with advanced sensors to monitor various aspects of a person’s health and fitness, which includes their heart rate and respiration. This is pivotal to accurate sleep tracking. Data from both heart rate and respiration is used to determine the different stages of sleep and present the results to the wearer for a more complete assessment.

It’s safe to say that quality consumer devices are able to accurately track sleep duration. When it comes to measuring the stages of sleep — in generic terms, light, deep, and REM — the device will most likely make educated guesses based on the data it’s collected from a person’s heart and respiration rates. In any case, the technology in sleep tracking watches provides impressively accurate information that people may use to improve their sleep hygiene.

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What do Sleep Trackers Track?
The primary element of sleep that trackers monitor is duration. By wearing a tracker to bed, the device can detect when you fall asleep and when you wake up in the morning. This information can be helpful in determining whether you’re getting too little, or even too much, sleep. Similarly, sleep trackers can monitor and chart sleep interruptions in the middle of the night, helping you evaluate the overall quality of your nightly rest.

Over the course of a week or so, trackers have enough information to show you your sleep schedule. Are you generally going to bed and waking around the same time everyday? Or are there frequent irregularities in your sleep schedule? Certain trackers will even offer tips on how to improve your sleep schedule, if needed. Depending on how advanced its insights are, a tracker can provide a list of key sleep metrics, how well you’re hitting them, and how to make adjustments in important areas.

In-depth sleep tracking watches can also gather data on your sleep efficiency. In other words, it can monitor the different stages of sleep and tell you if or when you’re entering a deep restful state. The current technology in consumer watches makes this possible by monitoring your heart rate as well as your breathing rate. It then makes inferences about which stage of sleep you’re entering based on the average person’s physiological state during a normal sleep cycle.

With all of this information, sleep tracking watches can really help us improve our sleeping habits and hygiene. Adequate rest is so important to our overall well-being, which is why every health and fitness-oriented smartwatch has a feature-rich app solely dedicated to sleep tracking. If you’re looking to rest better at night, then a sleep tracking smartwatch would be a great investment.

Best Sleep Tracker Watches
Best Overall – Samsung Galaxy Watch5
The Galaxy Watch5 by Samsung is a versatile smartwatch with multiple intuitive functions for active lifestyles. Built to U.S. military specifications, it’s a durable, go-anywhere device made to withstand most manners of rigorous activity. The Galaxy Watch5 is also a great sleep tracker with Advanced Sleep Coaching software that analyzes current sleep patterns and creates a five-week program to develop better recovery habits.