Ashwin Lewis
Sleep tracking can be a useful way to increase awareness of your sleep patterns and encourage healthy sleep behaviour. While there is no consumer-level technology that can measure REM sleep, certain devices can help you track your sleep and wake you up during the optimal sleep phase. For example, the Apple Watch uses a combination of heart rate sensors, accelerometers, skin temperature and blood-oxygen levels to detect your sleep phase. The Ultrahuman Ring Air is another device that can track your sleep stages with a reasonable degree of accuracy. Alternatively, you can use a sleep cycle app that uses sound analysis or accelerometers in your phone to sense movement on your mattress and wake you up during the optimal sleep phase.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Track REM sleep at home | Electroencephalogram (EEG) |
| Wear an EEG headband to sleep | |
| Sleep Profiler by BlueSleep | |
| Track REM sleep with a smartwatch | Apple Watch Series 4 or later |
| Ultrahuman Ring Air | |
| Track REM sleep with an app | Sleep Cycle |
What You'll Learn
Using an Apple Watch
To track your REM sleep using an Apple Watch, you need to enable sleep tracking and wear your watch to bed. The watch will then use its accelerometer, heart rate sensor, and blood oxygen sensor to approximate your sleep stages. You can view your sleep data in the Health app on your iPhone or iPad.
- Ensure your Apple Watch is running watchOS 8 or later. Sleep tracking is available on Apple Watch Series 3 or later with watchOS 8.
- Open the Apple Watch app on your iPhone.
- Tap the "My Watch" tab.
- Tap "Sleep".
- Turn on "Track Sleep with Apple Watch".
- Set up your sleep schedule within the app. You can create multiple schedules, such as one for weekdays and another for weekends.
- Wear your Apple Watch to bed. Make sure the watch fits snugly on your wrist to collect accurate data.
- In the morning, view your sleep data in the Health app on your iPhone or iPad. Tap "Browse" and then "Sleep" to see your sleep history. Tap "Show More Sleep Data" and select a category to review additional details, including the time and percentage you spent in REM, core, or deep sleep.
It is important to note that the Apple Watch does not measure brain activity or provide medical-grade insights into your sleep. However, it can help you understand your sleep patterns and duration, which can be beneficial for improving your overall sleep hygiene.
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Using a Fitbit
Fitbit offers a range of tools to help you understand your sleep patterns and improve your sleep quality. To track your sleep using a Fitbit device, you should wear your Fitbit tracker or watch to bed. Wrist-based Fitbit devices and Google Pixel Watch series can automatically detect your sleep when worn to bed. It is recommended to wear your device as a snug wristband during sleep.
Fitbit devices with heart rate tracking can identify the differences between sleep stages. They can discern between light sleep, deep sleep, and REM sleep by tracking your heart rate variability (HRV) and movement. Light sleep strengthens memory and learning, deep sleep enables physical recovery, and REM sleep aids in strategic thinking and creativity. Fitbit's heart rate sensors and motion detectors work together to track your sleep. When your Fitbit senses you moving in a way that suggests you are awake, the sleep logging is paused.
To get a sleep profile, you need a Fitbit Premium subscription and a compatible device, such as the Charge 5, Charge 6, Inspire 2, Inspire 3, Luxe, Pixel Watch series, Sense, Sense 2, Versa 2, Versa 3, or Versa 4. Additionally, you must wear your Fitbit during sleep for at least 14 days in the previous month, and your sleep logs must include sleep stages data. The sleep profile provides a more detailed breakdown of your sleep and is available once a month.
The Fitbit app allows you to set sleep goals, create a sleep schedule, and set bedtime reminders to help you maintain a consistent sleep pattern. You can also review your sleep data, including your sleep score, hours slept, sleep schedule, and sleep stages. It is important to note that Fitbit's sleep staging accuracy depends on various factors, and it may not be as accurate as polysomnography, a technique used by doctors and scientists to determine sleep stages.
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Using a Sleep Cycle app
Sleep Cycle is a sleep tracking app that uses sound analysis to track and improve sleep for millions worldwide. The app is built on 15 years of science and three billion sleep sessions. It measures the duration, sleep stages, and interruptions throughout the night with unparalleled accuracy.
Sleep Cycle gives you a sleep score every morning based on your sleep quality, helping you understand how well you've rested and what you can do to improve. It also allows you to set sleep goals and provides insights to achieve them. For example, whether you want more deep sleep, a better wake-up mood, or consistent sleep patterns.
The app provides detailed sleep statistics and daily sleep graphs, and it is fully integrated with Apple Health. It also offers a selection of pleasant alarm melodies and a customizable wake-up window. Sleep Cycle can wake you up during your lightest sleep phase, helping you feel more energized in the morning.
Sleep Cycle also has a Cough Radar feature, which tracks and compares your nightly coughing levels with local data. Additionally, it provides sleep stories, relaxation guides, and calm sleep sounds to help you fall asleep more easily. The app allows you to gather long-term trends on your sleep patterns and compare your sleep patterns to world sleep statistics. You can also see how different types of weather affect your sleep quality and make notes on how events such as drinking coffee, stress, working out, or eating late impact your sleep.
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Using an Ultrahuman Ring Air
The Ultrahuman Ring Air is a subscription-free smart ring that can track your sleep, recovery, and movement, offering insights and tips via an app on your smartphone. It is lightweight and comfortable, with a hypoallergenic smooth inner shell, and has a battery life of about four to six days.
To track your sleep using the Ultrahuman Ring Air, you should first purchase a sizing kit to find the ideal fit for your finger. The ring cannot be worn on thumbs and pinkies, and it is recommended to wear it on the middle or ring finger to avoid scuffing. Once you have the correct size, you can wear the ring to bed to track your sleep.
The ring breaks down your sleep into what it calls "sleep contributors", providing insights into REM, deep sleep, light sleep, and wakefulness. It also measures your heart rate variability (HRV) and skin temperature, which are important factors in understanding your sleep quality. The app offers suggestions based on your data, such as getting sunlight in the morning and delaying stimulants until later in the day.
In addition to sleep tracking, the Ultrahuman Ring Air can also provide insights into your recovery, movement, and fitness. It offers optional features and actionable insights to help you optimize your performance and well-being. The app includes PowerPlugs, which are optional metrics and features that you can use to focus on specific aspects of your health, such as cardio adaptability and AFib detection.
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Using an EEG headband
The BrainBit EEG headband, for example, is a lightweight, ergonomic, and comfortable device that can be worn during sleep. It features dry electrodes that record your brain's electrical activity as raw EEG data, which is then processed and sent to a connected device such as a smartphone or tablet. The data is stored in the BrainBit Cloud for data mining and machine learning analysis. BrainBit also provides a free SDK to create your own apps for sleep analysis.
The Muse EEG-powered meditation and sleep headband is another option. It features seven EEG sensors that detect and measure brain activity, providing biofeedback to optimise mental performance. The headband also includes fNIRS sensors that track blood oxygenation in your brain, PPG sensors that measure heart rate, a gyroscope to detect movement shifts, and an accelerometer to measure breathing rhythms. All of this data helps to provide deeper insights into your sleep patterns and quality.
The OpenBCI EEG Headband Kit is a budget-friendly option that is easy to use and perfect for researchers, instructors, and students. It can be paired with an OpenBCI Ganglion 4-channel or Cyton 8-channel board (sold separately) to view your real-time brain waves on the free OpenBCI GUI application.
EEG headbands provide a comfortable and non-invasive way to track your REM sleep, offering valuable insights into your sleep patterns and quality.
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Frequently asked questions
There are several ways to track your REM sleep. You can use a smart device such as an Apple Watch Series 4 or later, which can break down your sleep into four stages: awake, REM, light, and deep sleep. Other smart devices such as the Ultrahuman Ring Air can also track your sleep stages and provide additional data such as heart rate and temperature. Alternatively, you can use a sleep tracking app such as Sleep Cycle, which uses sound analysis to track your sleep.
Smart devices use a combination of methods to track your sleep stages, including heart rate, oxygen saturation, pulse, movement, skin temperature, and blood-oxygen levels. These indicators can help identify the different stages of sleep, but they do not directly measure brain activity, which is the most accurate way to determine sleep stages.
The most accurate way to track your REM sleep is by measuring your brainwaves using an electroencephalogram (EEG). This can be done with a home EEG testing kit, such as the sleep Profiler offered by BlueSleep, which uses a headband to pick up the signals being sent throughout your brain during sleep.
