Best Sleep Tracker – Top 5 Products for 2024

Sleep Tracking Apps

You can get started with a free app, or splurge two to three dollars for a paid sleep-monitoring app. These apps are available for iPhone, Android, and the Apple Watch. While this is an economical way to begin looking at patterns, user reviews are mixed.

Users agree that the reports generated from the smartphones and Apple Watch are accurate regarding time in and out of bed, but they have found that the actual sleep-tracking portion doesn’t yield consistent results. Another issue with a standalone app is that it’s not sophisticated enough to know if the movement is coming from you or your partner, so these are a no-go for couples.

If you’re serious about monitoring and improving your bedtime, a specially designed tool to track your activity is the best bet.

Wearable (Fitness) Sleep Trackers

Wearable technology is a becoming a huge trend, so it makes sense that we would now be able to wear a sleep tracker. The advantage of these wearable devices is that they serve double duty as a fitness and activity monitor and GPS. These compact, watch-like accessories often include capabilities like calorie intake, heart rate monitoring and activity and movement throughout the day.

Just in the last few years, the technology of the wearable trackers, as well as the aesthetic, have vastly improved. They used to look like hunks of plastic bands around someone’s wrist, but now they have a more streamlined and fashionable look in the form of a stylish watch, and in some cases a bracelet, that should jumpstart adoption of these devices.

Non-wearable Sleep Trackers

Non-wearable tracking means putting a device in your bedroom to track and monitor sleep. These often consist of a thin band with a sensor that you attach to your mattress or under your sheet. The device will then measure a variety of metrics, like heart-rate, respiration, as well as the standard movement both in and out of bed.

Some of the products in this category also include enhancement options like special lighting effects for waking and sleeping, smart alarm clocks based on your cycle, soft music and even warming features to help keep your bed at an optimal temperature.

There are also brands that don’t require you to place a sensor in your bed. These are stand-alone trackers that you put on your night table, and they monitor even the most subtle of body movements.

How Sleep Tracking Works

Actigraphy

Actigraphy measures just one metric: movement. It’s the method that is used in personal tracking devices. Usually, this is measured by wearing something on your wrist that measures and records your general activity level.

While it’s not considered as accurate as the more sophisticated clinical methods, it is quite popular because it’s a cheap technology to obtain and it’s easy for the layperson to use on an everyday basis in a natural environment.

Accelerometers

The accelerometer is what makes actigraphy work. It utilizes a technology called MEMS, which stands for Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems. MEMS are miniature sensors, or transducers, that convert a measured mechanical symbol into an electrical symbol.

The accelerometer chips are incredibly tiny and are quite commonplace in a variety of everyday items. They’re prevalent in iPhones, appliances like washing machines and even those light-up shoes that all the kids are wearing.

Because accelerometers are inexpensive, they’re common in the tracking field even though movement is not actually the best way to measure behaviors. However, newer technologies are emerging, including heart rate monitoring, which provides a more accurate picture of sleep quantity and quality.

Other Sleep Tracker Specifications

Heart Rate

One of the reasons heart rate has become such a key tracking metric is its ability to provide information about the various stages of cycles; including light, deep and REM sleep. The technology is able to do this because each stage of sleep has a distinctive heart rate. It doesn’t always correlate one hundred percent with the subject’s exact cycle, but it’s much more accurate than an accelerometer alone.

There are four ways to measure heart rate, and depending on your tracker, the method will vary.

1. Optical – light measures blood flow
   

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2. Bioimpedance – electrical activity measured through skin
   
3. Ballistocardiography – heart contractions provide the basis for measurement
   

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4. Non-contact sensors – radio waves detect heart rate, movement, and breathing

EEG (Brain Activity)

Measuring brainwaves is done using EEG, also known as electroencephalography. It’s a noninvasive procedure that records the electrical activity of the brain. In the field of sleep monitoring, it’s used to diagnose sleep disorders as the waves obtained through the recordings can track waking and sleeping states.

Using an EEG monitoring method, scientists can also observe when a subject is in REM sleep or other cycles.

To obtain an EEG recording, scientists place numerous electrodes (up to 256!) on the subject’s scalp and attach each electrode to an individual wire, which then connects to a monitoring station. The patient will also have a conductive gel or paste applied to their scalp, which as you can imagine, makes for quite an attractive image.

How the Professionals Track Sleep

The tracking devices designed for the masses are compact and streamlined in an artful combination of form and function. That is a big contrast to how the professionals track sleep.

In a lab setting, the experts hook the subject up to an array of wires, tubes, and electrodes all over the body. The equipment tracks dozens of signals to get the most accurate report of the subject’s activity. This process is called polysomnography, or PSG. In case you’re wondering, it’s a Latin-derived word.

Poly means “many” and refers to the multitude of tests the technicians perform during the process. “Somn” is a Latin root of the word “sleep.”

While mass-market trackers tend to be limited to only body movement, heart rate, and some other superficial measurements, the professional studies also measure brain waves, eye movement, muscle tension, oxygen levels, airflow and the volume and frequency of snoring activity.

If you’ve pondered whether all those wires hooked up to someone’s body in a clinical type of setting would interfere with their natural patterns, you’ve identified the number one criticism of professional sleep monitors. Still, it’s considered the most accurate and thorough way to be able to track your bedtime.

Frequently Asked Questions About Sleep Trackers

How accurate are personal sleep monitors?

While nothing is as precise as a professional assessment, modern trackers are surprisingly accurate. Previous generations of this technology would mistakenly measure the hours you spent lying awake, but not moving, as sleep.

Now, however, the applications have improved and currently utilize a heart rate monitor as a sleep indicator in addition to movement.

As an added benefit, these programs also contain features like motivation and sleep coaching to help you sleep better.

Who needs it?

The statistics about sleep disorders and the disastrous side effects of not getting enough shuteye are staggering. In the US alone, it’s estimated that between 50 and 70 million adults have a sleep disorder.

Perhaps what’s even more alarming is that 100,000 deaths occur each year in US hospitals due to medical errors, and sleep deprivation has been shown to be a key contributor this number.

Sleep tracking is not just a safety measure. Countless numbers of corporate professionals, athletes, and even parents rely on these trackers to know how much shuteye they’re getting and what level of quality it is. And even if you don’t plan on tracking your bedtime in any serious way, wouldn’t it be fun to measure what’s going on with your body throughout the night?