I was never totally comfort about people using sleep trackers but I gave them a chance. What about if they were a way to finally understand what happens when we close our eyes, to hack our way to better rest? But then, something started happening. People weren’t just using these devices to improve their sleep—they were obsessing over them. And in the process, they were sleeping worse.
This isn’t just my observation. It has a name: orthosomnia—the paradox of losing sleep over trying to sleep better. The term was first coined in 2017 by researchers who noticed a pattern in patients complaining of insomnia. Many of them were using sleep trackers, and their anxiety about getting a “good” sleep score was actually making their sleep worse. The more we analyze, the more we stress. Instead of winding down at night, we lie in bed worrying: Will I get enough deep sleep? Will my REM percentage be right? And the moment we wake up, our first instinct isn’t to check in with our body—it’s to check the app. If the numbers look bad, suddenly, we feel bad. Even if we were fine before.
Sleep isn’t a test. There’s no perfect score. Your body already knows how to rest—it’s been doing it your whole life. Yes, sleep trackers can be useful in some cases, but they’re not the ultimate truth. They can’t measure how refreshed you feel, or how much energy you have to get through the day. You can let go orthosomnia by following these tips.
So if you wake up feeling okay, but your sleep tracker says otherwise? Maybe it’s time to trust yourself a little more. And if sleep has become a constant battle, no gadget will fix it—but a good sleep specialist just might. Check our resources to learn about the services we offer in sleep medicine.
What’s your relationship with your sleep tracker? Helpful tool or source of stress?