How are you tracking your sleep quality?

[BatmanMatt]

I've been using an app on my phone called Sleep Tracker to write notes and give me some data on my deep sleep. It's not very useful. I'm considering wearing a smartwatch to bed for better tracking.

Anyone find success with something that aligns with waking up feeling good/bad?

[Julie]

But you've already used Oscar - do you have a problem with it?

[BatmanMatt]

But you've already used Oscar - do you have a problem with it?

I have a tough time knowing when I break out of sleep in OSCAR.

[Julie]

Oscar shows gaps in graphs... no?

[Pugsy]

Oscar shows gaps in graphs... no?

Not unless you turn it off while awake.

[sephiro499]

I'm interested in this too. I was looking at the Oura Ring but it requires a subscription to access the data.

[Pugsy]

I don't try to track actual sleep quality because there is no really accurate way to measure sleep with all these gadgets out there promoting their ability to measure sleep stages.

I used a FitBit a while back that supposedly measured sleep (it used heart rate and accelerometer function to guesstimate sleep stages) .
It was "okay" but I had to chuckle when it said I was in deep sleep one night and I was up letting the dog out to pee at the same time.

So whatever you use....take the results with a grain of salt.

Phone apps....just WAGs (wild ass guesses) based on lord knows what. Useless. How does one wear a phone????

Now the watches or FitBit devices that are connected and touching you do stand more of a chance of guestimating correctly.

To know for sure....a person needs some sort of device that has EEG electrodes that can actually measure brain waves to determine sleep status and/or stages.

[Jlfinkels]

For an opinion from a scientist working on their PhD in sleep analysis who also studies sleep gadgets…

https://youtube.com/c/TheQuantifiedScientist

[Rob K]

I have a Withings Aura with sleep pad. The original did pretty good with knowing when I was awake or asleep. Then they got bought by Nokia who changed the sleep pad sensor. It does not work all that well. I think the sleep pad sensor might be Withings again at this point. I've lost track. As far as tracking different stages of sleep accurately I don't think anything does well with that. Other than an legitimate eeg device.

I need to look for an eeg device again. A while back I was looking at the Dreem 2 eeg headband. At the time it seemed like the most user friendly at home eeg device. It also integrates with Oscar software.

[Rob K]

I just watched the video link that was posted. Interesting that he uses the Dreem 2 eeg headband as a baseline device to compare all the other gadgets that he is testing. He references a study that says the Dreem 2 does nearly as well at determining sleep stages as having a sleep study done in a sleep lab.

Looks like they have a Dreem 3 now. And I can't figure out where to buy any version.

[GrumpyHere]

Dreem decided they no longer wanted to deal with the general public.

Until last Thanksgiving, the version 2 headbands were still available in Australia via ResMed. But Black Friday cleared out that stock.

We have stopped selling the headband to consumers as we are focusing on healthcare industry partners to have a larger impact. This might be just a goodbye. We are working on very interesting projects that you may hear about soon

[Rob K]

Thanks that explains why I couldn't find any for sale. That's a real bummer since I really could use one. Any comparable devices available to us that you know of?

[GrumpyHere]

There is always eBay.
But they are overpriced at 2 - 3 x MSRP.
Maybe you will be lucky... Try to get the non US version.
There is the extra pink noise feature.

I was considering buying one last year from AU.
But was hesitant because read about problems setting up a new dreem account. Their user support seemed lacking. Thus missed the purchase window.

You could try roll your own ...

Example:

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101 ... 165v1.full
https://github.com/raphaelvallat/yasa

Edit: please note that the following device is not FDA registered nor CE marked.
Use at your own risk.

https://www.olimex.com/Products/EEG/Ope ... e-hardware

[GrumpyHere]

If you're an oligarch, there is the research oriented zmax eeg at 4k euro

https://hypnodynecorp.com/

[Jlfinkels]

Found this while reading The NY Times about how smart devices may affect our well-being. It was behind the firewall, so placed it someplace folks interested could read it. Just one reporters opinion, but worth a quick read. It follows the Pugsian philosophy of "how do you feel" and not "what do the numbers tell you".

https://bit.ly/3L3y5eo