Band sleep tracking accuracy

[stuartbritt]

Hi, dies anyone else have problems with sleep tracking accuracy? My band seems to think I'm asleep any time I haven't moved much for 3 or 4 mins.
Last night for instance I went to bed at 10.30pm but was wide awake until at least 1am. The band tells me I was asleep in 8 mins and totalled over 2 hours in light sleep before 1am.

In total, I had very little sleep before 3am, and not much between 6am and 7.30 when I took it out of sleep mode. The band thinks I got 6 hours 43 mins!

This is an extreme example, but its regularly overestimating my sleep by 2 hours or so

 

[Black3ternity]

Mine works properly.
Do you wear your band maybe too tight or loose?
I realized that the Band would show completely wrong heartrates during my workout when tightening the band around my wrist so it won't move too much. Maybe that messes with the HR-sensor and thus interprets your heartrate as too low and then calculates that you may be asleep.
I know it's not based only on the HR but a couple more data-points like movement. So maybe that's causing some havoc.
Maybe you should check the Health dashboard to look for any suspicious "drops" in heartrate right before the band shows you as "asleep" when you clearly know that you are awake.

Regards,

 

[stuartbritt]

I've tries it tight, loose, left hand, right hand, inside and outside of wrist.
I have noticed that when I workout at the gym, the heart rate is all over the place (showing 95 when it should be 150, then jumping), so maybe that's relates to the sleep tracking problem.

 

[poit57]

My first Band had a problem with the heart rate monitor. It would usually show in the 80's when my heart rate was around 60, and my resting heart rate during sleep averaged around 73 when it should be around 46 according to the replacement unit I received.

However, the actual sleep tracking was not affected by this faulty heart rate monitor. I had a night similar to the one you described the night before I ran my first half marathon a couple weeks ago. Despite trying to lie still and go to sleep, I was having trouble actually falling asleep. I feel the Band was pretty accurate in recording that it took an hour and 13 minutes to fall asleep that night.

 

[pallentx]

As far as I can tell, mine seems accurate.

 

[DroidUser42]

The only problem I've seen is that it shows me awake at a stretch of time and I don't remember it.

 

[stuartbritt]

My girlfriend has a band the same size, so I think I might swap for a couple of days to see if it's a hardware problem.
As it is, both the sleep tracking and pulse monitoring while working out are both completely useless for me.

 

[NinerJet9]

I think my band is pretty accurate for sleep tracking. Are you turning on the sleep tracking mode way before you're ready to fall asleep? I turn on it when the lights go out and I'm laying there ready to sleep.

 

[Nate Silver]

Mine has been very accurate. I turn sleep on when I go to bed, then typically read for a half-hour or so. The band recognizes this just fine. For a long afternoon nap (I work odd hours) I let it self-detect, and that seems right on the money also. I'd definitely try swapping with your girlfriend and see what happens; sure sounds like a hardware problem.

 

[stuartbritt]

I turn it on when I turn the lights out and if I'm lying fairly still, it thinks I'm asleep within about 8 minutes, even if it takes me an hour.
Its actually starting to affect my sleep, as I end up moving deliberately to remind it I'm still awake.

 

[stuartbritt]

Well, I guess the sleep tracking algorithms just don't work for me - we are all different I suppose.

I tried my girlfriend's band and she tried mine. More or less the same results both ways. My sleep tracking accuracy is so far off it's ridiculous and completely pointless.
See the attached screenshot for example...

I lay awake for at least 45 mins when I went to bed. The tracking says I was asleep in 6 mins and in deep sleep within 20.
And in the morning I lay awake from just before 8AM, before remembering to switch the sleep tracking off. The band says I was in deep sleep for virtually all of that time!
In fact, in general the band is more likely to register deep sleep for me when I'm lying awake trying to get to sleep, than when I'm actually asleep.

 

[realwarder]

What is your resting heart rate?

 

[stuartbritt]

During the day, if I'm sitting down and relaxing, it's 55-58.
At night when I'm asleep, or lying down and very relaxed, it gets down to about 46.

 

[realwarder]

I was curious if it was low and that was triggering sleep detection. Although I'm surprised it doesn't use movement detection too. If you're lying very still reading I think it could track that as sleeping because of a low heart rate with it. Sounds like they may need per user HR thresholds.

 

[Rich215]

I am wondering how the software senses that I have "woke up" 6 times in my last sleep.

Does it do that just because I roll over or shift position during my sleep?

 

[realwarder]

Only Microsoft knows their algorithm, but movement tracking must be a key part of it.

 

[stuartbritt]

It obviously is quite a personal thing. My girlfriend has used both her own band and mine, and they both track quite well. I use the same 2 bands and it's wildly inaccurate. Maybe I actually lie more still when I'm trying to get to sleep than I am when I'm actually asleep?!

If I just look at the heart rate, it seems to give a slightly better view of when I'm awake and asleep than the sleep tracking does.