Sleep is vital for good health – here’s how Fitbit can help improve yours

Find it hard to get a decent night's kip? Then read on

lifestyle photo of fitbit sense

If you’re looking for ways to improve your health, sleep is a great place to start. It’s an integral factor in your wellbeing and zest for life.

The NHS recommend that adults aim for seven to nine hours of sleep each night. Why?

People who are well rested have lower blood pressure, reduced risk of heart disease and stroke, more energy and a faster metabolism, leading to better weight control.

Sleep impacts not only your physical health, but also your mental function. A satisfying night’s rest can reset your body and mind, allowing you to wake up feeling refreshed and ready to face the day.

Conversely, sleep deprivation affects your mood, memory, cognitive function and concentration levels. Additionally, mental health issues such as anxiety and depression are more common in people who don’t get enough quality sleep.

Clearly, sleep is a critical element to our wellbeing. Yet despite this, 40% of people in the UK struggle with sleep issues such as insomnia, leading to an astounding £40 billion cost to the economy.

Although it depends on various factors, one way people can enhance their sleep quality is by harnessing the benefits of wearable technology.

lifestyle photo of fitbit sense

How sleep technology works

Before the launch of wearable devices, most sleep data, including quantity and quality of sleep, were only accessible via sleep labs, which are both costly and time-consuming.

As the world becomes more reliant on everyday technology, we’re making advances to take control in helping to improve our lifestyles and overall health. Developments in wearable tech, such as the health smartwatch Fitbit Sense, go beyond tracking fitness and can be useful tools for improving sleep.

Fitbit has tracked more than 14 billion nights of sleep since 2009 and can give you insights into your sleep metrics such as sleep quality and stages. Its sensors and motion detectors collect continuous data, day and night. This can lead to an improved understanding of how your lifestyle affects your sleep patterns, which could ultimately improve your health and wellbeing.


A personalised Sleep Score

Your body naturally cycles through different sleep stages every night, based on your heart rate. There are three stages of sleep: light sleep, where our muscles relax and brain activity slows, deep sleep, critical for memory and creativity, and REM, which is essential for peak cognitive function, and when we’re mostly likely to dream. Good-quality sleep depends on spending enough time in each stage, so that you wake feeling calm, refreshed and energised.

Fitbit uses your sleeping heart rate, movement and more to measure your time spent in each sleep stage, and give you a personalised Sleep Score that shows how well you've slept. You can better understand and improve your sleep by viewing your Sleep Score on-device and in the Fitbit app for a daily look at your sleep quality based on your resting heart rate, restlessness, time awake and sleep stages (light, deep and REM).

high angle shot of a beautiful young woman sleeping in her bed at home during the night
Adene Sanchez

Advanced tools for a better night’s sleep

Fitbit customers receive a six month membership to Fitbit Premium with Fitbit Sense (for new users only). The subscription service provides a deeper analysis of your Sleep Score alongside step-by-step sleep programmes and mindfulness sessions to guide you towards a peaceful night’s slumber.

With Fitbit Sense, if you’re not a morning person, you can use the Smart Wake feature, which vibrates quietly during light sleep to help wake your body at an optimal time to feel more refreshed.

Plus when it comes to sleep, Fitbit continues to explore innovations to help people improve their sleep. A new Snore and Noise Detect* experiment is now available for a limited number of Premium users to join. When your device detects that you are asleep, the microphone on your Sense or Versa 3 device, samples sound every few seconds, to monitor snoring and the ambient noise level in your bedroom. This helps you better understand your sleeping environment with a sound analysis of your sleep so you can discover what might be disrupting your sleep and causing your awakenings or restlessness.

Once you’ve seen how Fitbit could help you develop a more consistent sleep cycle, make improvements in building more healthy sleep habits and get a better understanding of how to optimise your rest, you’ll wonder how you ever slept without it.

Learn more about how to unlock the mystery of your sleep with Fitbit

*Available in English speaking countries (US, UK, Canada, Australia, Ireland Singapore, India, New Zealand) and non-English speaking countries in Europe (Germany and France). This feature is not intended to diagnose or treat any medical condition and should not be relied on for any medical purposes. It is intended to provide information that can help you manage your well-being.

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