Suunto 7 sleep tracking
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@chrisa @darxmurf there isn’t a magic wand of criteria that works for everyone, but that list is a great place to start.
For example, I sleep better in a cooler room than my gf does (by roughly three degrees C).
A good quality mattress and pillows are a huge benefit. We switched to hybrid memory foam a couple of years back and the difference was astonishing!
Personally I have found that eating just before bed makes little to no difference to how I sleep. However, even one alcoholic drink has a noticeable impact.
I have smart lights in my house that are set to automatically dim as the evening goes on, as well as reduce the blue light. Same with my phone and laptop displays. I feel like this has made a difference.
Exercise is a massive impact I feel. I barely did anything over christmas - partly due to resting a sore achillies, and partly due to just having a lazy period - and my sleep was terrible (not helped by alcohol most days I’ll admit). I did a short run on Sunday and immediately slept better.
I like to sleep with white noise or rain sounds, but my gf hates it so we don’t do it
I’ve tracked my sleep for years, using various bits of kit, and whether it works or not can be debated. But, it has worked for me.
I used to sleep 5 hours a night on a good night, and nap in the afternoon. I was always a bit tired and would struggle to maintain concentration for long periods. When I started tracking and seeing warnings on the devices telling me sleep quality was poor and I wasn’t getting enough, I started to implement changes one by one.
I now sleep 7-8 hours a night with mostly good sleep reports, no more naps, my concentration is much better, I’m less tired.I’ve found my S7 to be one of the best sleep trackers i’ve used (and i’ve used plenty!), I’m really happy with it
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Thanks everyone for replies. Sorry for my english it’s not my mother language. Despite to everything I think nap of 2 and more hours during the day also gets a big role in 24h in your body so I still think there is a way to also include sleep moments like that in all calculations that would more precise your body stage and situation.
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@zoran-z - it should be reflected in your resources. Also technically you really shouldn’t be napping for so long as you as it will affect your overall sleep rhythms. If you are over the age of 60 fair enough, but if you are under 60 and don’t have any serious medical conditions that cause fatigue then you really shouldn’t require a 2hr nap every day - if you do I would seriously suggest you get access to a sleep clinic and it would suggest that you aren’t getting sufficient deep sleep in your regular sleep.
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@jamie-bg I wouldn’t make such claims. Picture someone who is exposed to prolong physical activity during the day. Or picture a student who studies for 10-12 hours daily without having weekends. I think it may only be conserning if leading the same lifestyle has suddenly caused the need of long naps during the day.
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@dmytro the lack of nap tracking unfortunately really makes this inferior for sleep tracking compared to fitbit. Excited to see if there will really be a Pixel watch using fitbit as the tracking engine . But if Suunto did add naps, I’d be torn.
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@harboe to be frank, u doubt it will anytime soon. But we’ll see.
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@dmytro I agree, even though I’m not sure if you mean Google releasing the Pixel watch or Suunto adding naps.
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@harboe haha, both
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@dmytro actually not true - in both cases still shouldn’t be napping to that extent. Should have longer duration sleeps, but still should look to keep naps under 30mins - no proven benefit over that time.
The bigger issue with the firstbeat sleep tracking is more around requiring a defined sleep period - which can cause issues for those with variable shift times; and its inability to determine when you are actually sleeping compared to lying in bed/watching tv on a couch - but again most trackers struggle with both. Have had numerous trackers which get this wrong at times. And unfortunately that is the reality based on how sleep trackers work off HR rather than working off brain waves which is the only real way to determine sleep and sleep stages (at least until they improve technology / find another way to determine sleep).
with Garmin’s updated firstbeat sleep tracking I believe you can force the watch into recording naps as sleep by putting the watch into DND/Battery Saver mode. If you sleep when its in this mode then it automatically records it as sleep rather than as a nap.
Might be worth trying it with the S7; however may just be the updated version - we got an update about 4 months ago.
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@jamie-bg you might be right, I need to check some research data. But if you are reffering to statistical data, I would argue that this doesn’t always tell something about an individual. Hence, my original comment, that if long naps are something that you have your whole life and it doesn’t affect your quality of life, chances are - nothing’s wrong with you.
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@dmytro - not referring to statistical but empirical i.e. studied, tested and proven.
And just because one thinks it isn’t affecting your quality of life, doesn’t necessarily mean that it isn’t. If that is your standard you don’t know better.
My personal experience, my research into empirical studies and discussing it with sleep specialist doctors pretty much points out that there is an issue if you have to have long naps and you are under the age of 60. Usually points to an underlying health condition. Of course there is always the exception - but that is all they are.
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@jamie-bg I just did a quick research, which is highly probable to be subpar to yours, but most sources (like Harvard medicine) say that long naps may influence or can decrease sleep quality in the night. I’d say that it’s a pretty soft condition.
Well, empirical data is statistical. Empirical measurements are done if one doesn’t have a precise model, so instead one does a large number of experiments in hopes of finding some clues. And what I was meaning to say is even if a study takes 200 participants and all 200 of them find themselves at difficulty of falling asleep after a long nap, it doesn’t mean that your average Joe will experience the same thing. Since you have no underlying model, but just empirical data, you can only talk about likelihood of something happening. And talking from my own experience, it’s difficult to shake off sleepiness after a longer nap indeed, but if I succeed, I feel much better than after a short one and can stay productive longer and have no trouble going to sleep afterwards. -
I tried not setting the reminder and noticed that if I fall asleep on the couch the s7 is able to recognize it and start tracking. I was also surprised that even though I go to bed much later, that interruption doesn’t mess with the recording (I suppose it needs anyway a min amount of hours…)
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@g-q Does it track multiple sleep sessions during the day or just one and then combine the result?
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@zoran-z said in Suunto 7 sleep tracking:
Does it track multiple sleep sessions during the day
nope, just one and I suppose it can handle a short interruption to keep tracking consinstent
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@zoran-z I hope that with future updates, the developers can improve these features (and also fix the steps algorithm). Let’s face it, even a cheap band can measure power naps and more accurately count steps.
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@perti That’s exactly what I’m talking about. I’m not dissapointed but there are few things that can be fixed easy but nobody care.
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@perti said in Suunto 7 sleep tracking:
@zoran-z I hope that with future updates, the developers can improve these features (and also fix the steps algorithm). Let’s face it, even a cheap band can measure power naps and more accurately count steps.
Some other members have already explained why naps are nor tracked and why they are (usually) not a great idea to do. You say some cheap bands will track naps, but not many high end devices track naps, there must be a reason for this…?
And what problems are you having with the strep counting? I have found the S7 to be really accurate, in fact more so than any previous WearOS device or FitBit or Withings device I have owned.
Perfect? No, no step tracker ever will be, but it’s close enough for me. And the most important thing (in my opinion) the the consistency of the tracking. If you were to ignore the steps part of it and view the number as a ‘score’ for the day, all that really matters is that you achieve your target for the day and ideally beat the previous day. This can only be done if the device is consistent and for me the S7 has been spot on.Same with the sleep tracking, I find it very accurate and consistent. I’ve compared it to other WearOS devices, Fitbits, Withings, and some very expensive dedicated sleep trackers. And the only other device that is as good as the S7 was my old Fitbit. Nothing else came close.
Maybe you have a duff unit? Or some settings need tweaking?
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@zoran-z Technically your naps are tracked - check your resources - if you nap is helping your body resources you should see an uptick in resources.
Naps shouldn’t be included with sleep as it mucks up your percentage of sleep stage to overall sleep duration - deep should be 13-23% and REM should be 20-25% of overall sleep duration. Due to how sleep stages usually work, including naps would skew your ratios.
Purpose of naps is a quick recharge to body resources- hence the uptick in your resources…
Other thing that would concern me about cheap bands etc - is how much money, resources etc have been thrown at the optical HR sensor (which drives sleep tracking) and at the sleep tracking algorithm. When you consider that a home EEG device is approx 86% accurate to a medical sleep clinic for determining sleep stages, and most of very accurate (to a home EEG device) is around 68% accurate - you start to get an idea of how difficult it is to estimate sleep stages with any reliability. The good thing about first beat sleep tracking is how consistent it tends to be, and how it reacts appropriately to lifestyle changes that can impact sleep i.e. drink alcohol before bed and see what happens to your sleep tracking…
The other good side about it, is how these metrics can be integrated into fitness and training features i.e. body resource low - take it easy in todays activity - high then lets go for an intense session. -
@jamie-bg Thank you Jamie I didn’t think about watching change in body resources… Nice tip
