Fitness tracker sleep data - extremely low deep sleep.

Posted by rjjacobsen @rjjacobsen, Nov 19, 2023

Broke my old fitness tracker several months ago and finally replaced - new one is more specific. It shows deep sleep between 0 and 8%, light sleep between 60 and 90% and REM between 12% and 36% of the sleep time.

Per the Sleep Foundation a person will typically go through four to six sleep cycles per night. In each cycle, stage 1 (light sleep) is 1 to 7 min, stage 2 (also light sleep) is 10-25 min, stage 3 (deep sleep) is 20-40 min, REM stage is 10-60 min.

Two things of note:
1) I don't seem to have a pattern of cycles at all.
2) I rarely get into the deep sleep stage and when I do, it's far short of that 20-40 minutes.

This is consistent with my feeling severely exhausted even when I wake up and not physically or mentally recovered/refreshed.

I have a CPAP (mild apnea) and it's numbers are reasonable, the AHIs are a bit high (6 to 8, rather than 5 or under), but they bounce a lot.

I'm scheduling my annual exam with my sleep med doctor - it's been 8-9(?) years since my last sleep study, so I will ask if a another is advised. I will also ask about the sleep tracking and cycle business.

I know these fitness trackers aren't medical-grade devices and are subject to error, but this appears way off.

Interested if anyone has seen symptoms similar to this, what diagnostics did their doctors do and what was done for treatment.

Thanks in advance.

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rjjacobsen | @rjjacobsen | Mar 1 10:23am

An update to this adventure.

Per doctor's recommendation, I tried raising the head end of my bed. I tried various inclines and the AHI's went up proportionally - at 30-40 degrees the AHIs jumped to over 30. So we quickly stopped that.

He suggested living with it at AHI's of 10, keep bumping pressures in trial and error mode or get a sleep study. I suggested he get me scheduled for the sleep study and keep adjusting pressures if I can't get one quickly.

As for the mask issues, I'm trying a low dose of oral Benedryl since I also have skin irritation other places. I also loosened it a bit and am tolerating a few short leaks. This has helped some, but I haven't gotten out to get a different mask yet (it's not a short drive). I haven't yet found mask covers for my current mask either.

gloaming | @gloaming | Mar 1 3:01pm

I like your drive to get this to be a welcomed part of your life. The high AHI must be unwelcome, as you surely understand. You can beat this, just with a little help and some good will by educated and experienced people. If haven't said so already, please consider joining apneaboard.com and reading the thousands of posts where people request help because they want help, but they're not getting it from the people who either diagnosed them with SA or who sold them the equipment. With the OSCAR program there, it's free, no encumbrances, and I'm not a part of its development or maintenance, you can download YOUR own data and learn for yourself what needs to be improved, AND how to do it with coaching from the savvy and well-intentioned people there.
Just a suggestion. As always, you're in the driver's seat.