Why Your Fitbit Sleep Score Just Got Worse

If you have noticed that your Fitbit sleep score taking on a recently nose, do not panic – and certainly do not assume that you have without knowing it develops insomnia. It seems that Fitbit has discreetly deployed improvements in his sleep monitoring technology. And although your figures can be worse at a glance, you now get a much more precise image of your sleep habits.

How your fitbit follows your sleep

Your Fitbit sleep score is based on heart rate, the time spent awake or agitated and sleep stages. The tracker estimates the sleep stages using a combination of heart rate movements and models. For example, when you haven’t moved for about an hour, your Fitbit supposes that you sleep.

According to the Fitbit blog, the recent update – that the company was only addressed after the users complained about it – is “the first step in a series of upcoming improvements” to its follow -up technology. The possible objective is a more precise measure of your sleep stages. And it turns out that increasing precision often leads to lower user scores.

Why your sleep score dropped after the Fitbit update

Here’s what’s going on. If your sleep score has fallen, for example, 85 to 78 after update, this does not mean that your quality of sleep suddenly deteriorated. Instead, you now see a more honest evaluation that explains:

• In short, waking up who were previously neglected

• Lighter sleep periods which could have been badly categorized as a deep sleep

• Natural sleep fragmentation that occurs in all healthy sleepers

• More precise movement detection which can distinguish between restless sleep and real awakening

Most people experience brief alarm clocks throughout the night – it is completely normal and part of a healthy sleep architecture. Your brain naturally makes vehicles through different stages of sleep, and brief moments of consciousness between these cycles are the norm, no exception.

The old system has mainly given you a “dew” image by neglecting these normal sleep disturbances. Although it may have been well psychologically to see a “good” sleep score, the data you get on your real sleep habits were not as useful or usable.

The bottom line

Your fitbit is not trying to make you feel bad in your sleep. A lower sleep score does not mean that you sleep worse – it means that you finally see the whole image.

Do not bother to compare your new post-date scores directly to your elders. Instead, use your post-date scores as a new basic line and follow the changes from there. Another useful advice is to focus on trends rather than individual night readings. One night with a lower score is not a source of concern, but coherent changes in weeks could indicate something that deserves to be treated.

And remember: the quality of sleep does not only concern the number of your laptop. What you feel when you wake up, your energy levels throughout the day and your general feeling of well-being are more important indicators of good sleep.

Fitbit plans to continue iteration of its follow -up technology – and perhaps will reveal more about future changes during the next event directed by Google on August 20.