I've been a big nerd about tracking my fitness routines for awhile now, but I have to admit that when we got started working on Nudge, sleep tracking was totally new to me. It didn't take long until I was hooked. We all have our obvious reasons to avoid sleep issues - joining the ranks of the walking dead isn't ideal, and neither is being prickly as all get-out during the course of a workday - but there's also research suggesting there are plenty more serious reasons to pay close attention to your nightly rest...
Sleep & Fat Gain
Not excited about fat gain? I'd say you're in the majority. A study published in January looking at a possible the association between sleep duration and a particular kind of fat gain, called "Visceral Adipose Tissue (VAT)," found that compared to an average sleep duration of 7-8 hours/night, those averaging less than 6 hours, or more than 9 hours/night experienced a significantly higher increase in VAT over a 6 year period. By the way, visceral adipose fat is abdominal fat below the skin level that accumulates around your organs and is associated with a host of chronic ailments. Not so positive.
Sleep & Mortality Risk
Yes, believe it or not I'm about to go there. A 2002 statistical review and analysis of the 1982 Cancer Prevention Study II by the American Cancer Society to determine if average nightly sleep quantity was associated with changes in mortality rate. The best survival rates came from a group who reported getting 7 hours/night of sleep/night. Those reporting more than 8 hours/night as well as those reporting 6 or less hours/night ran a significantly higher risk of death. And for those sleeping more than 8.5 or less than 4.5 hours/night risk increased more than 15%. It's important to remember that these studies can't show direct causation, but they certainly tell a compelling story.
But enough doom and gloom, let's get to the fun part. It's easy to get started with sleep tracking and whether you're interested in free smartphone apps, or springing for a popular wearable tracking device, there's plenty to be gained. I'm going to gloss through two apps, and two popular gadgets that give you the insights to get you started down a path to optimized sleep.
SleepBot
Why start with SleepBot? Well, beyond the ability to monitor your movement throughout the night, you can also track noise fluctuations, like snoring or outside noise if you live in an urban area. I found this to be a particularly cool addition. Can I train myself to stop snoring? Eh, we'll see how it goes. Check it out for Android or iPhone.
SleepCycle
As you can see above, SleepCycle for iPhone does an excellent job mapping your sleep quality, showing you when you're in deep sleep, light sleep, or tossing-and-turning based on your movement. It's important to note that using any of these smartphone apps requires being able to plug in your phone and keep it facedown on the mattress beside you while you sleep. If that's not practical for you, maybe your sleep (and activity) tracking needs are better suited for one of the popular wearable gadgets.
Fitbit Flex
While the Fitbit Flex isn't TECHNICALLY their newest wearable, but it would probably be bad form to write about the newer "Force," which as you may know has been re-called and can no longer be purchased - at least for the time-being ("Fitbit Force Fiasco"). With that said, the Flex is a cool little wristband, offering the sleep tracking benefits of the apps, plus it's on your wrist and can softly vibrate to wake you up. It's actually kind of pleasant. The image above is how they visualize your sleep and "restless" periods based on your nightly movements.
Jawbone UP
Like the Flex, the Jawbone UP and newer UP24 are wristbands that are awesome for tracking both sleep and activity. The image above is a peak inside their sleep tracking visuals, with dark blue showing deep sleep, and light blue showing light sleep. My favorite feature of the UP bands is that I don't have to open the phone app to tell it I'm ready for sleep tracking. Just hold down the button on the band itself until it vibrates, and you're good to go.
This is just a primer on sleep tracking options - so please share below some of the other apps & gadgets you use, and how you think they stack up!
Follow me on Twitter!
You might also like my article on 3 Very Different, but Worth Your While Strength Training Apps!
