Garmin Vivoactive 3: Sleep Tracking Feature Explained

The Garmin Vivoactive 3 is a smartwatch that can track your sleep. While you are sleeping, the device automatically detects your sleep and monitors your movement during your normal sleep hours. You can set your normal sleep hours in the user settings on your Garmin Connect account. Sleep statistics include total hours of sleep, sleep levels, and sleep movement. You can wear the watch before you go to sleep so that Garmin can establish a waking baseline, and the heart rate monitor must be active.

How to enable sleep mode on the Garmin Vivoactive 3

The Garmin Vivoactive 3 does have a sleep tracker. The device automatically detects your sleep and monitors your movement during your normal sleep hours. You can set your normal sleep hours in the user settings on your Garmin Connect account.

To enable sleep mode on the Garmin Vivoactive 3, follow these steps:

• Ensure that you are wearing the device.
• From the watch face, swipe left or right to view the activity tracking widget.
• Select the "Start Sleep" option.

In addition to the steps above, you can also adjust your sleep settings to get the best possible experience. Here are some further steps you can take:

• Navigate to Settings > User Settings.
• Ensure that all of your information, such as age and weight, is correct as this will affect Garmin's estimates about your sleep quality.
• Adjust your Normal Bed Time and Normal Wake Time to determine when your watch goes into sleep mode by default.

Please note that if you forget to put the device into sleep mode, you can manually enter your sleep and wake times into your Garmin Connect account to view your sleep statistics. Additionally, while the device tracks your sleep, it does not include naps in your sleep statistics.

Viewing sleep statistics on the Garmin Vivoactive 3

The Garmin Vivoactive 3 does have a sleep tracker. To view your sleep statistics, you must first ensure that you are wearing the device while you sleep. The Vivoactive 3 will then automatically detect your sleep and monitor your movement during your normal sleep hours.

You can set your normal sleep hours in the user settings on your Garmin Connect account. Your sleep statistics will include total hours of sleep, sleep levels, and sleep movement. You can view these statistics on your Garmin Connect account.

It is important to note that naps are not added to your sleep statistics. Additionally, some users have reported issues with sleep tracking, such as data not being exported to the app or the need to sync the watch multiple times with GCM for sleep data to appear.

To access the sleep tracking feature on your Vivoactive 3, swipe left or right from the watch face to view the activity tracking widget. From there, you can select "Start Sleep". When you wake up, hold the action key to exit sleep mode.

Troubleshooting the Garmin Vivoactive 3 when it doesn't track sleep

The Garmin Vivoactive 3 is equipped with sleep-tracking capabilities, but sometimes, users may encounter issues with the device not tracking their sleep. Here are some troubleshooting tips to address this problem:

Confirm Sleep Time

It's important to ensure that your sleep time, including your bedtime and wake-up time, is correctly set in your Garmin Connect account. Sometimes, simply confirming these times in the app can resolve the issue. This can be done either on your phone or by accessing your Garmin Connect account on a laptop.

Power Management

If you charge your Vivoactive 3 before bedtime without turning it off, it may interpret the charging period as the start of a sleep cycle, leading to inaccurate sleep tracking. Try powering off your device before placing it on the charger, and then turn it back on before bedtime to ensure accurate sleep tracking.

Heart Rate Monitor

The most common reason for missing advanced sleep monitoring data is a deactivated heart rate monitor. Make sure that your heart rate monitor is turned on to enable the device to track your sleep accurately.

Syncing Issues

On rare occasions, you may need to sync your watch multiple times with Garmin Connect to ensure that sleep data is recorded and displayed. Try syncing your watch a few times if you notice that sleep data is missing.

Software Updates

Keep your Vivoactive 3 updated with the latest software. Sometimes, issues with sleep tracking can arise after a software update, and re-confirming your sleep time settings after an update may be necessary.

Watch Faces and Apps

In some cases, adding new watch faces or apps to your Vivoactive 3 may interfere with sleep tracking. If you've recently customized your watch face or installed new apps, this could be a factor in the device not tracking your sleep. Try uninstalling the apps or reverting to the default watch face to see if that resolves the issue.

How to adjust your sleep time on the Garmin Vivoactive 3

The Garmin Vivoactive 3 is equipped with a sleep-tracking feature. This device automatically detects your sleep and monitors your movement during your normal sleep hours. The sleep statistics include total hours of sleep, sleep levels, and sleep movement.

To adjust your sleep time on the Garmin Vivoactive 3, follow these steps:

• Ensure that you are wearing the device before you go to sleep.
• From the watch face, swipe left or right to access the activity tracking widget.
• Select the "Start Sleep" option to manually activate sleep mode.
• When you wake up, hold the action key to exit sleep mode.
• If you forget to activate sleep mode before sleeping, you can manually enter your sleep and wake times into your Garmin Connect account to view your sleep statistics.
• To do this, open the More menu in the app, tap "Health Stats", and then select "Sleep Score."
• Navigate to the desired day and tap the three dots in the upper right corner to adjust the sleep times.
• You can also set your normal sleep hours in the user settings on your Garmin Connect account. Go to "Settings" and then "User Settings" to adjust your usual bedtime and wake-up times.

By following these steps, you can adjust your sleep time and customize the sleep mode on your Garmin Vivoactive 3 to accurately track your sleep patterns.

The accuracy of the Garmin Vivoactive 3's sleep tracking

The Garmin Vivoactive 3 does feature sleep tracking. While you are asleep, the device automatically detects your sleep and monitors your movement during your set sleep hours. Sleep statistics include total hours of sleep, sleep levels, and sleep movement. You can view these sleep statistics on your Garmin Connect account.

However, there have been some issues reported with the feature. Some users have reported that their sleep data was not exported to the app, while others have reported random cut-offs in their sleep and heart rate tracking. In addition, the watch does not track naps as part of your sleep statistics.

In terms of accuracy, the device uses a combination of photoplethysmography (PPG) and actigraphy (ACT) data to determine whether you are awake, asleep, or up for a toilet break, and which stage of sleep you are in. It also uses changes in heart rate and heart rate variability to inform its sleep tracking. For example, a user's heart rate data is more erratic in REM sleep and lower in non-REM sleep. The accuracy of the sleep tracking improves the longer a user wears the watch, as the device uses heart rate variability to inform its understanding of a user's sleep patterns.

In a March 2023 test of Garmin's Advanced Sleep Tracking, Wareable found that the data was consistently in line with that tracked by other sleep tracking devices like Whoop and Oura. Based on this test, Wareable concluded that Garmin sleep data is among the more accurate watches on the market, although it still lags in areas such as wake periods.

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