Fitness trackers and sleep tracking are become increasingly ubiquitous. People like to gamify their lives and health insurance and medical schemes tie bonuses and benefits to trackable goals.
But here at Sleepy Time Tales you will know that one of the purposes of the podcast is to prevent the frustration that can come when people get tense about not being able to sleep. And I’ve often wondered if putting alarms and detailed minute by minute analysis of one’s sleep doesn’t play on one’s mind and cause tension.
And the science has started to vindicate my suspicion…
” But as the use of sleep trackers has become more widespread, so too has the idea that actually, they might not be the best thing you can wear to bed. In 2017, a report published in the journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine suggested that sleep trackers may reinforce sleep-related anxiety or perfectionism for some patients – a condition dubbed ‘orthosomnia’ by the authors. “
Source: https://yhoo.it/2JFEPQT
It turns out that sleep tracking can cause anxiety about being unable to sleep in many people and this of course is preventing them from getting a good night’s sleep.
I’d probably never use a sleep tracker. I’m someone who gets frustrated when sleep won’t come, and knowing I’m being observed would be very bad for my state of mind. But it may still help some people, so what’s the solution?
The Sleepy Time Tales podcast is intended to hold your attention just enough to help you drift to sleep, so maybe it can get your mind off the sleep tracking that’s busy observing your rest patterns.