What should I know about Fitbit sleep stages?

If you use a Fitbit device with center-rate tracking (except Fitbit Charge HR or Fitbit Surge) to track your sleep, yous can see a tape of the sleep stages you cycle through at night. This article answers frequently asked questions nearly sleep stages.

For other questions about slumber, see How practise I rail my sleep with my Fitbit device?

ClosedWhat are sleep stages?

While you lot're comatose each night, your trunk typically goes through several sleep cycles that last on average ninety minutes. In each cycle you alternate between two types of sleep:

Light Sleep and Deep Slumber—With less brain activeness than REM sleep, non-rapid eye movement (NREM) includes the stages of calorie-free sleep and deep sleep. Periods of deep slumber are typically longer early in the night.

Rapid Center Move (REM) Slumber—The stage associated with brilliant dreams, REM sleep periods are typically longer as the night goes on (source).

During a sleep cycle, information technology's most common to go from lite sleep to deep sleep, back to light slumber, and and then into REM sleep. So the bike generally repeats, but sleep patterns vary naturally.

ClosedHow does my Fitbit device automatically find my sleep stages?

Sleep stages are traditionally measured in a lab using an electroencephalogram to observe brain activity forth with other systems to monitor eye and muscle activity. While this method is the gold standard for measuring sleep stages (source), your device can estimate your sleep stages in a more than comfortable, convenient way.

Fitbit estimates your slumber stages using a combination of your motility and middle-charge per unit patterns. When you haven't moved for about an hour, your tracker or lookout man assumes that y'all're asleep. Additional information—such as the length of time your movements are indicative of slumber behavior (such as rolling over, etc.)—help confirm that you're asleep. While you lot're sleeping, your device tracks the beat-to-beat changes in your heart charge per unit, known equally heart rate variability (HRV), which fluctuate every bit yous transition between light sleep, deep sleep, and REM sleep stages. When you sync your device in the morn, we apply your motion and heart charge per unit patterns to gauge your sleep cycles from the previous dark.

ClosedWhat does each slumber stage mean?

Fitbit's sleep researchers and the National Sleep Foundation describe the post-obit sleep stages. The names of the stages are what nosotros've chosen to use in your Fitbit sleep log.

Calorie-free Sleep

Light sleep serves as the entry point into sleep each night as your torso unwinds and slows downwardly. This stage typically begins inside minutes of falling asleep. During the early part of light slumber, yous may migrate betwixt being awake and asleep. You may be somewhat alert and tin can be easily awoken. Breathing and eye rate typically subtract slightly during this phase.

Light slumber promotes mental and physical recovery.

Deep Sleep

Deep sleep typically occurs in the first few hours of sleep. When you wake up feeling refreshed in the morning, you lot're likely to have experienced solid periods of deep sleep during the previous night. During deep sleep, information technology becomes harder to be awakened since your trunk becomes less responsive to outside stimuli. Breathing becomes slower and muscles relax while heart rate usually becomes more regular. Adults may see a normal decrease in deep slumber as we get older, though sleep patterns vary among people.

Deep sleep promotes physical recovery and aspects of retentivity and learning. This stage has also been shown to support your immune system.

REM Sleep

The start stage of REM sleep typically occurs after you lot've had an initial stage of deep sleep. You generally stay in REM slumber for a longer menses of time during sleep cycles occurring in the second half of the night. During this final stage of sleep, your brain becomes more than active. Dreams mainly occur during REM sleep, and your eyes motility chop-chop in different directions. Heart rate increases and breathing becomes more irregular. In principle, muscles below the neck are inactive to avert acting out dreams.

REM sleep has been shown to play an important role in mood regulation, learning, and memory as your brain processes and consolidates information from the previous twenty-four hour period so that it tin can be stored in your long-term memory.

ClosedHow practice I see my sleep stages?

Follow the steps beneath to see your slumber stages data in the Fitbit app:

  1. In the morning, open the Fitbit app and sync your Fitbit device.
  2. Tap the slumber tile. (If it says "Analyzing your sleep", your device's data hasn't synced yet.)
  3. Tap Today (on Windows 10, tap Terminal Night).
  4. Tap the expand icon in the meridian right to open information nigh your sleep stages, and swipe to view your stats. Tap the icon once again to shut.
  5. Scroll downward to view your time spent in each stage, and tap xxx Twenty-four hours Avg and Benchmark to view additional stats.

ClosedHow do I use the sleep stages criterion?

The benchmark is based on published data and shows how your sleep phase estimates from the previous dark compare to the averages of others who are the same historic period range and sex (source). In the graph, the typical range for each sleep stage is shown as the shaded expanse between the ii horizontal lines. Keep in mind sleep cycles vary naturally, and yous'll likely see your sleep data autumn outside the typical ranges at times. Another way to clarify your sleep stages is to compare your data from last night to your ain 30 day average (nether the 30 24-hour interval Avg tab), every bit your sleep patterns may vary over time.

Horizontal bars representing the length of time spent in each sleep stage, with hash marked threshholds of the typical range for similar users

ClosedHow tin I run across the start and terminate times for my sleep stages?

See the start and end times for your different sleep stages to gain insight into your slumber patterns.

For instructions, choose a section below:

ClosedFitbit app

  1. Tap the Today tab , then tap the Slumber tile.
  2. Tap the sleep record you lot want to see more than details about.
  3. Tap the sleep graph to expand it (iOS and Android only).
  4. Tap and hold the sleep graph to see the estimated sleep stages recorded at different times. On iOS, slide your finger to encounter the time ranges.

Closedfitbit.com dashboard

  1. From the fitbit.com dashboard, click the Sleep tile then See More.
  2. Click the sleep record you want to meet more details most.
  3. Hover your mouse over the sleep graph to see the estimated sleep stages recorded at different times.

ClosedWhy exercise I see awake minutes?

It'due south normal to see awake minutes in your slumber stages; studies have shown a typical adult could wake upward briefly between 10-thirty times per night (source). You may not remember waking up since yous likely vicious right back to sleep, particularly if yous were awake for less than 2-3 minutes at a time. If y'all wake up in the morn feeling similar you had a restless night, you lot may notice more awake minutes in your slumber stages every bit compared to other nights.

If you previously tracked sleep with Fitbit, your log included the time spent awake, restless, and asleep. Nosotros've fine-tuned the machinery nosotros use to track slumber in society to estimate your sleep stages by including centre charge per unit and other data. Equally a result, we've combined the time you spend awake and restless into total awake minutes to give yous a better sense of your sleep cycles.

You may notice more awake minutes in slumber stages than in your previous sleep data due to this alter. If you lot're concerned about meeting your Fitbit goals, yous can edit your sleep goal to make sure you notwithstanding hit it. For instructions, see How do I track my sleep with my Fitbit device?

Note that sleep stages aren't affected past the sleep sensitivity setting on your device. For more information, encounter How do I track my slumber with my Fitbit device?

ClosedWhy don't I see sleep stages today?

There are a few scenarios where you lot might come across your slumber design (which shows your time comatose, restless, and awake) instead of sleep stages:

  • If you lot slept in a position that prevented your device from getting a consequent heart-rate reading or wore information technology too loosely. For best results, vesture your device higher on your wrist (most 2-3 finger widths above your wrist bone). The band should feel secure but not too tight.
  • If you used the Begin Sleep Now choice in the Fitbit app (instead of simply wearing your device to bed). For more information on automated sleep tracking, see How practice I rails my sleep with my Fitbit device?
  • If yous slept for less than 3 hours.
  • If your device's battery is critically depression.

For more than information about why you see your slumber pattern, tap or click the sleep tape that shows your sleep design.

A graph of the user's sleep pattern, total time spent asleep, and the time the user fell asleep and woke up

Was this information helpful?

Thanks for your feedback.