The Woolcock Institute of Medical Research

For more and more of us, bedtime involves tech, wearable sleep trackers like rings and watches, even gadgets that can go under your mattress. Sleep monitoring is a booming industry, but is all this extra data helping people get more rest or is it just extra noise?

Radio National Life Matters reporter Tegan Taylor spoke to the Woolcock’s Dr Donald Lee and Dr Dean Miller, a sleep scientist at CQ University, recently try and find out.

Dr Lee says patients come to him every day, several times a day wanting to talk about their sleep data.

“They say ‘My tech says this; I feel terrible’. The question I normally go back to them with is ‘Well, how do you actually feel if you don’t look at your tech?’”

While Dr Lee believes the increase in awareness and curiosity about our bodies and what they do, including during sleep is a positive, he will often suggest to patients that they stop looking at their data as a first step.

The majority of people use sleep tracking tech as part of their fitness tracking device. Fitness trackers became widespread first and people were engaging with them daily, then somehow sleep tracking was added on.

“Having some idea of what our sleep is like is not a bad thing. It opens up avenues to talk about the rest of their health as well. Trackers can be very useful but I challenge people to actually have time without looking at their sleep data. We didn’t always have tech and people have slept without it.”

What is the accuracy of the data? When is it strongest and most useful?

“That's complex given the plethora of devices that we have. Most will primarily measure movement and they are validated on a healthy population. So, across the board, if you’re healthy and don’t have any chronic diseases, they are generally okay for determining how much sleep someone is getting. But, in terms of what type of sleep, that’s where it starts to get a little more messy.”

The difference between someone in light sleep or restful wake with these devices is difficult because they measure movement or heart rate from the wrist or the finger. During clinical sleep studies, the type of sleep someone is in is determined based on brain activity. So, understanding the limitations of the technology and the algorithms used is the key.

So, whether you wear a device or not, how can you tel if you’ve had a good night’s sleep?

“If you're waking up feeling refreshed, that's a pretty good sign. That's a good sleep. If you're wearing a device and how you feel actually correlates with your sleep score, that can give you reassurance. But, I encourage people to listen to their bodies and if you do track your sleep score, tray and zoom out, looking at averages, at weeks or a month at a time.”

Implementing the healthy sleep is the first port of call. Acknowledge how you're feeling first in the morning before you check your data and then make a decision whether your data aligns with that or not and go forward based on being informed by your body and by the tech.

Trust the tech of your brain before the tech of your watch or under your mattress.

This story has been adapted from an interview on ABC Radio National’s Life Matters.

Find out more

• Listen to the ABC Radio National interview
• Sleep Services at the Woolcock Clinic
• Sleep Studies