Sleep restoration

[Shripad Lale]

I believe that in order to understand sleep restoration, you need to see 'the other' view of your charts - the one with heart rate. The sleep pattern chart shows the resting heart rate, but how long it was at this resting heart rate, decides the sleep restoration. That can only be seen on the heart rate chart.

I am attaching my charts, which clearly shows two similar sleep patterns, but you will see that the one with the apparently worse sleep patters gives better sleep restoration. You will see the reason once you switch to the Heart Rate chart, and see that in the 'Good' sleep restoration case, the heart rate was closer to the resting heart rate for a longer time. Restoration is all about how LONG your body had, to restore its resources, and if the heart rate went low enough, so that restoration could begin.

Now, to answer some question about what one can do about it, anything that calms your mind would work. It could be a workout, run, cycling, or meditation. I have tried meditation, and it works like magic. The top chart is before I went to a 10 day meditation camp, the bottom one is after I returned. The variability in the heart rate (HRV, as davidthetall wrote above) was much lower on my return, indicating that my mind was far less agitated. I have been tracking my sleep ever since, and have repeatedly seen that when I start meditating even an hour a day, my sleep quality improves drastically. But whatever works for you is good.

Finally, I think the sleep tracking of band really works, and it can give you some good insights that will not be available otherwise.

 

[NBrookus]

View attachment 109813
I am attaching my charts, which clearly shows two similar sleep patterns, but you will see that the one with the apparently worse sleep patters gives better sleep restoration. You will see the reason once you switch to the Heart Rate chart, and see that in the 'Good' sleep restoration case, the heart rate was closer to the resting heart rate for a longer time. Restoration is all about how LONG your body had, to restore its resources, and if the heart rate went low enough, so that restoration could begin.

If you'll notice, on the "Low" restoration day, your heart rate did not immediately drop. On the "Good" day it did. If if were just a matter of how long your heart rate was low, then the software would measure restoration during detected sleep. It doesn't -- it needs that baseline reading when you tell it you are going to sleep for some reason.

I think in reality, what you are describing makes sense. I don't think the MS Health is measuring it that way, tho. I think HRV is not measured over the full course of your sleep session and it *should* be.

I'm glad the Band's readings correlate with how you feel after sleep. For me, it doesn't. I'm with the camp that it's totally useless as implemented now.

 

[Snoke]

If the restoration rating is not to peoples liking they can ignore it. All the data is there for you to make your own rating. Its the data that is important. Each person can then use it to decide what those numbers mean to them.

 

[DroidUser42]

If you'll notice, on the "Low" restoration day, your heart rate did not immediately drop.

Notice that on the "good" day, the HR dropped to a little above 50 right away. On the "bad" day, it didn't get there until 6:30 AM. (Compare the HR line with the height of the "awake" box and it's clear as day.) Also, on the good day, there's a couple of cycles where it goes to resting and then up a bit. On the "low" day, it seems to be missing a cycle. I wonder if that's what the HRV means - note that it wants HIGH variability (cycles).

 

[Snow Wight]

Notice that on the "good" day, the HR dropped to a little above 50 right away. On the "bad" day, it didn't get there until 6:30 AM.
This is ok unless you have to get up at 6am :wink:.

 

[DroidUser42]

This is ok unless you have to get up at 6am

I wasn't going to comment about going to bed at 3AM and sleeping until 9.

 

[NBrookus]

NI wonder if that's what the HRV means - note that it wants HIGH variability (cycles).

Hmmm. My feeling -- and I am by no means a sleep specialist -- would be that you'd want your heart rate during sleep to be significantly lower than your daytime heart rate and stay there for a long time. Then by HRV they would mean that difference.

if your heart rate is rising an falling at night, that would seem to suggest you are not sleep well. If it's measuring the cycles through the night, I would think that detected sleep would be able to do that.

Hey, could be both... or neither! Sleep restoration seems to be the topic that gets the most attempts and re-engineering the Band software. I wish they would just tell us. It's hard to call it actionable information otherwise.

 

[DroidUser42]

Hmmm. My feeling -- and I am by no means a sleep specialist -- would be that you'd want your heart rate during sleep to be significantly lower than your daytime heart rate and stay there for a long time. Then by HRV they would mean that difference.

That's one way to look at it.

if your heart rate is rising an falling at night, that would seem to suggest you are not sleep well.

Maybe, but I think that's suggesting that sleep is simple. I suspect the sleep process is more complicated then that Sleep actually has cycles - and I'm guessing it might be visible in the HR. The sleep cycle shows that you really are cycling though the stages of sleep and not just unconscious.

There are apps out there that try to capture that cycle and awake you at the proper moment so you feel good. I'd love to have that added to the Band.

 

[Marcthebald]

I think your question is answered very recently by this blogpost on Microsoft You?ve Asked: Why do Sleep Efficiency and Sleep Restoration Matter? ? Microsoft Health Blog

In short the Band 2 measures how well your body recovers from stress by measuring your HRV. That's not your heart rate but how unrhythmic your heart beats.