Sleep trackers could be what’s keeping you up

A gadget on your wrist at night may be meant to track your sleep, but the device may actually be what’s keeping you up. A recent study from the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine has found that not only are many sleep trackers inaccurate, but the stress they create with false analytics may keep their wearers up.

Studies have shown half of U.S. adults are considering buying a fitness- and sleep-tracking wearable. The research team from Chicago's Rush University and Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University wanted to understand the overall impact of the devices and the data they create. Chronicling the stories of patients, the study describes how patients almost blindly believe in wearables being accurate, though below-par sleeping analytics may be keeping them up at night.

In one case, involving "Mr. R" as he was named by the researchers, the authors explained that his attempt to achieve a full eight-hour sleep resulted in increased stress. Inaccurate readings given the next morning that reported low levels of deep sleep negatively impacted Mr. R's sleep patterns. Researchers discovered the problem when the data did not merit such trust from users.

"It's great that so many people want to improve their sleep. However, the claims of these devices really outweigh validation of what they have shown to be doing," wrote lead author Kelly Glazer Baron, PhD, MPH. "They don't do a good job of estimating sleep accurately."