Colin Snow
Sleep is an essential component of health, and its timing, duration, and quality are critical determinants of a person's overall health. Fitbit offers advanced sleep tools to help you track your sleep, view your trends over time, and get better rest. Fitbit trackers and watches use your sleeping heart rate, movement, and more to measure your time spent in each sleep stage and give you a personalized Sleep Score that shows how well you slept. Fitbit's sleep feature estimates sleep stages using a combination of movement and heart rate patterns.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Sleep tracking | Wrist-based Fitbit devices and Google Pixel Watch series automatically detect sleep when the body is completely at rest and hasn't moved for about an hour |
| Sleep detection | Fitbit devices that track heart rate also track sleep stages |
| Heart rate monitoring | Fitbit monitors beat-to-beat changes in heart rate, known as heart rate variability (HRV) |
| Sleep score | Fitbit gives a personalised sleep score based on heart rate, time spent awake or restless, and sleep stages |
| Sleep stages | Fitbit tracks light sleep, deep sleep, and REM sleep |
| Sleep patterns | Fitbit helps users understand their sleep patterns and identify trends over time |
| Sleep duration | Fitbit calculates time asleep by subtracting time spent awake and restless from overall tracked sleep time |
| Sleep quality | Fitbit's sleep quality component is based on estimated oxygen variation |
| Snore and noise detection | Fitbit tracks overall noise levels and checks for snoring throughout the night |
What You'll Learn
Heart rate variability (HRV)
Fitbit devices that track heart rate can estimate sleep cycles and stages by using movement and heart rate patterns. When the device detects that the wearer hasn't moved for about an hour, it assumes they are asleep. Additional data, such as the length of movements indicative of sleep behaviour (e.g. rolling over), help confirm the sleep stage.
The Fitbit Sleep Score is a quick way to gauge sleep quality and is based on heart rate, time spent awake or restless, and sleep stages. The overall sleep score is calculated by summing individual scores in three components: sleep duration, sleep quality, and restoration, with a maximum score of 100. The restoration component includes an estimated oxygen variation graph, which can indicate disturbances in breathing during sleep if high variations are present.
While HRV can be a useful metric, it is not the only indicator of overall cardiovascular health. It is influenced by numerous variables, including age, gender, time of day, and activity level. For example, HRV naturally decreases with age and can be lower when an individual is experiencing stress, dehydration, or poor sleep. Therefore, pursuing healthy lifestyle behaviours and measuring their impact using other metrics may be more rewarding.
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Sleep stages
Sleep is divided into rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and non-REM (NREM) sleep. During the REM stage, a person is most likely to be dreaming, while during the NREM stage, a person is more likely to be in a dreamless sleep. Each night, the body cycles through different sleep stages based on heart rate, and getting enough time in each one is key to feeling refreshed.
Fitbit devices with heart rate monitors can distinguish between light sleep, deep sleep, and REM sleep. While you sleep, the device tracks the beat-to-beat changes in your heart rate, known as heart rate variability (HRV). These numbers fluctuate as you transition between the different sleep stages. When you sync your device in the morning, Fitbit uses movement and heart rate patterns to estimate sleep cycles from the previous night.
Fitbit's sleep feature estimates sleep stages using a combination of movement and heart rate patterns. When you haven't moved for about an hour, your Fitbit assumes that you're asleep. Additional data, such as the length of time of movements that are indicative of sleep behaviour (such as rolling over), can also help confirm that you're asleep.
Fitbit devices that track heart rate (except Charge HR and Surge) also track sleep stages. The Sleep Profile feature, a more detailed breakdown of your sleep that appears once a month, is available only on specific models. To get those reports, you’ll need a Charge 5, Charge 6, Inspire 2, Inspire 3, or Luxe tracker, or any Sense or Versa watch (except the very first Versa model from 2018).
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Sleep score
Sleep is an essential component of health, and its timing, duration, and quality are critical determinants of a person’s overall health. The Fitbit Sleep Score is a quick way to gauge your sleep and is based on heart rate, the time spent awake or restless, and sleep stages. The overall sleep score is a sum of individual scores using three components: sleep duration, sleep quality, and restoration, for a total score of up to 100. The higher the score, the better the sleep.
The Fitbit Sleep Score is based on heart rate variability (HRV), which measures the beat-to-beat changes in your heart rate. These numbers fluctuate as you transition between light sleep, deep sleep, and REM sleep stages. When you sync your device in the morning, Fitbit uses movement and heart rate patterns to estimate sleep cycles from the previous night.
Fitbit devices with heart rate monitors can discern between light sleep, deep sleep, and REM sleep. Light sleep strengthens memory and learning, deep sleep enables physical recovery, and REM sleep helps with strategic thinking and creativity. Fitbit's sleep feature estimates sleep stages using a combination of movement and heart-rate patterns. Additional data, such as the length of time of movements that are indicative of sleep behaviour (such as rolling over), can also help confirm that you’re asleep.
The Fitbit Sleep Profile feature, a more detailed breakdown of your sleep that appears once a month, is available only on specific models. To get these reports, you’ll need a Charge 5, Charge 6, Inspire 2, Inspire 3, or Luxe tracker, or any Sense or Versa watch (except the very first Versa model from 2018). Fitbit Premium subscribers also get a Sleep Profile reading, which uses various sleep metrics to tell you about trends in your sleep patterns and how they compare to other people of your age and gender.
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Sleep patterns
Sleep is an essential component of health, and its timing, duration, and quality are critical determinants of a person’s overall health. Sleep impacts nearly every aspect of health, from a person's daily mood to their appetite, physical activity, and more.
Fitbit devices with a heart rate monitor can discern between light sleep, deep sleep, and REM sleep. They do this by tracking the beat-to-beat changes in your heart rate, known as heart rate variability (HRV). These numbers fluctuate as you transition between different sleep stages. When you sync your device in the morning, Fitbit uses movement and heart rate patterns to estimate sleep cycles from the previous night.
Fitbit's sleep feature estimates sleep stages using a combination of movement and heart-rate patterns. When you haven’t moved for about an hour, your tracker or smartwatch assumes that you’re asleep. Additional data, such as the length of time of movements that are indicative of sleep behavior (such as rolling over), can also help confirm that you’re asleep.
Fitbit also provides a Sleep Score, which is based on heart rate, the time spent awake or restless, and sleep stages. The higher the score, the better the sleep. The overall sleep score is a sum of individual scores using three components: sleep duration, sleep quality, and restoration, for a total score of up to 100.
Fitbit Premium offers several tools to help you get better sleep, including a daily sleep score breakdown that can help you understand where you can improve your sleeping habits and receive personalized guidance.
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Snoring and noise detection
Fitbit's Snore and Noise Detect feature is available for Fitbit Versa 3 or a Fitbit Sense smartwatch users with a Premium subscription. The feature uses the device's microphone to track the overall noise level of your surroundings and check for snoring throughout the night. It is important to note that the feature does not record or save any audio, and it cannot differentiate whether the snoring comes from the user, someone sleeping nearby, or even a pet.
To enable snore and noise detection, open the Fitbit app and go to the Sleep page. Here, you will find the "Check for Snoring" option, and by clicking on "Learn More," you can access information about the feature. After agreeing to the privacy policies, you can enable the watch to record your noise levels at night. It is recommended to have the device charged to at least 40% before using the feature, as it consumes more battery life.
The Snore and Noise Detect feature analyses noise information every few seconds. It records sound intensity by analysing how loud or quiet the noise levels in the room are. It also looks for snore-specific noises, allowing you to see if your own snoring or that of someone nearby disturbed your sleep. The results are summarised in a report, which can be accessed through the Fitbit app. The report includes details such as noise level, presented in a chart with relative decibels, and snoring, represented as a percentage of the total time spent snoring during sleep.
It is important to note that the feature may not work effectively if there is too much background noise or if white noise or other ambient sounds are played during sleep. Additionally, if the noise level in the room is louder than the snoring, the feature may not be able to detect the snoring accurately. Fitbit also emphasises that the data provided by the feature should not be used as a substitute for medical advice, and any concerns or worsening trends should be discussed with a healthcare professional.
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Frequently asked questions
Fitbit devices use an accelerometer to measure bodily accelerations of the wrist. They also use optical photoplethysmography (PPG) to measure blood flow by reflecting green light from an LED on the back of the watch off the body. This, combined with heart rate and movement data, allows the device to infer whether you are awake, in a deep sleep, a light slumber, or dreaming.
To set up your Fitbit to track your sleep, simply place it by your phone and open the Fitbit app for Android or iOS. You should see a prompt to connect the device, provided that your phone's Bluetooth is enabled. Your physical activities will then be logged and synced automatically to the app. You don't need to press a button or turn on a toggle switch for your Fitbit device to start logging your sleep; it does so automatically once it recognizes that your body is going into sleep mode.
Open the Fitbit app and tap the "Sleep duration" tile on the "Today" tab. You can then tap the "Sleeping heart rate" option to find stats for your most recent sleep session. To check sleep stats for other days, choose the desired week, month, or year using the tabs. Tap on a specific sleep session to check your sleeping heart rate for that period. Touch and hold the chart, then drag left or right to check your sleep details.
According to a paper published by Fitbit scientists in 2017, the watch's sensors can classify sleep stages with 69% accuracy in any given 30-second time window. While this may seem low, it is important to note that there is no systematic bias in the estimation of light sleep, deep sleep, or sleeplessness. Sleep experts also note that unless you have serious sleep problems, your body tends to do a good job of allocating the total amount of sleep among the various stages.
