As a direct consequence of the tremendous amount of strain at work, a great number of people are unable to get sufficient amounts of sleep, which in turn leads to subpar working conditions the following day. Or you are already utilizing a device that monitors your sleep, such as a watch. On the other hand, you might also track the quality of your sleep by using various methods. In this article, we will cover methods that do not require the use of a watch in order to track your sleep patterns.
What can I use to track my sleep?
Our smartphones, iPhones, tablets, and iPads have made our lives significantly easier, not only during the day but also at night; may they assist us!
In fact, they should be placed away from your bed so that you cannot view them at night.
Wearing a smartwatch is an alternative method of escape. The majority of us likely believe that the sensors on these devices can deliver more accurate information about your sleep. On the one hand, it is true that the smartwatch periodically measures heart rate because it has a sensor that touches our arm.
As we all know, the human body progresses through five distinct stages of the sleep cycle, each of which serves a distinct purpose. Our heart, like every other organ, follows the stages.
So, based on the heart-rate measurements, we may determine whether our hearts were at rest or working as hard as athletes’ hearts during contests. However, the smartwatch is incapable of recording nighttime sounds. They can include snoring, talking, teeth-grinding, environmental, and animal noises, among others.
How can I monitor my sleep without a watch?
There are many different types of sleep recorders on the market today, and many of them can record snoring and sleep talk as well as produce a sleep report in the morning. Both smartphones and tablets come equipped with built-in microphones. Just give your sleep tracking software permission to use the microphone and the storage on your device, and it will immediately begin tracking your sleep.
Using your smartphone to keep track of how much and how well you sleep is the most practical method. The devices that monitor sleep have reached their maximum potential. They fill a variety of roles and exhibit a wide range of characteristics. Additionally, they place a high value on their privacy. You can therefore have peace of mind in the knowledge that only AI is aware of what happens during the night. Let’s go with the solution that makes the most sense.
Wearable Devices
Oura Ring
The Oura Ring is a wedding band-like sleep tracker that uses optical heart-rate tracking. The Oura ring is designed to be worn on the index, middle, or ring finger. The 2015 Kickstarter campaign debuted the first-generation Oura ring. The second-generation ring was released in 2018. The ring shines infrared light beams through your skin and employs sensors to detect variations in the reflected light beams to track your respiratory rate, heart rate, and heart rate variability. The Oura Ring uses these data points and an accelerometer to track sleep and activity, then sends the data via Bluetooth to a companion app. The ring has two skin-temperature sensors.
NexRing is a health lab that you wear on your finger. It enables you to track your sleep, heart rate, activity, and body temperature with customized insights. With NexRing’s new advanced sleep algorithm, this smart ring can properly evaluate the quality of your sleep based on the status and duration of each sleep stage, such as light sleep, deep sleep, wake-up time, and REM sleep. In contrast to its rivals, NexRing’s companion app is available for free membership. NexRing is accessible via the Google Play Store and App Store, where users may sign up for a free membership and immediately gain access to professional and personal insights.
Whoop
WHOOP keeps track of your rest, recuperation, and daily effort around the clock, seven days a week, and offers you actionable information to improve your athletic performance. WHOOP analyzes your sleep patterns and wake-up times to determine how much sleep you require and the optimal time for you to go to bed. Even when you’ve reached your ideal level of sleep, the Sleep Coach might jolt you awake to let you know. Keep a log of your daily routines, including the foods you eat, the amount of stress in your life, and the amount of caffeine you consume, so that you can determine which of your routines has the greatest influence on your ability to sleep and recover.
Apps to track sleep
Sleep like an Android
Sleep for Android is one of the most comprehensive apps for monitoring sleep. In addition to recording your sleep, it may help you fall asleep with natural sounds, determine the optimal time in your circadian rhythms to gently wake you, and record your snoring and sleep talking.
Sleep monitoring is fundamental. To determine the quality of your slumber, your smartphone employs its built-in accelerometer, followed by algorithms and statistical analysis to classify your sleep into deep and light phases. Each morning, you will be able to see how many hours and how well you slept in the form of a score.
This software contains a plethora of features, such as alarms that won’t shut off until a math problem is solved. Certain features, including support for third-party wearables, require a $10 premium upgrade that also removes advertisements from the app.
Pillow
Pillow, one of the most refined sleep-tracking applications we’ve encountered, is compatible with both the Apple Watch and an iPhone placed on the bed. It monitors your movements throughout the night to determine how long you’ve been asleep and classifies your sleep into three categories: light, deep, and REM.
If you want to study issues like snoring or sleep apnea, the app will also record the sounds you make while sleeping and has a smart alarm feature that uses your movements to determine the best time (within a predetermined window) to wake you up in the morning. There is even a mode for napping, for those briefer naps.
Pillow is available for free, but unlocking the premium version ($5 per month) grants you access to a variety of additional features, such as monthly and yearly charts of your sleep statistics, custom-made melodies to send you to sleep or wake you up, and the ability to export your data.
Sleep Cycle
Keep your mobile device on your bed during the night, and this platform will provide you with a wealth of information about your sleeping habits. The following morning, you are able to measure your periods of wakefulness, light sleep, and deep sleep.
The smart alarm clock is a major component of the app. So you don’t miss work or your morning workout, this function will wake you up when your body is in a lighter phase of sleep within a period of time that you specify. There is also a smart snooze function that can delay your wake-up time based on periods of light and deep sleep, as opposed to a fixed amount of time.
You can use all of Sleep Cycle’s core features for free, but for $2 per month, you can export your data and link other data, such as your coffee consumption and exercise, to your sleep patterns.
Do any sleep trackers work?
It stands to reason that you might be giving some thought to the aforementioned query. The correct response is that they do it! The efficacy and practicality of sleep trackers have been demonstrated by thousands of user reviews, surveys, and scientific research.
In addition, the accuracy of some firms’ Sleep Trackers was found to be in the 90th percentile after a comparative analysis of the various products available on the market. In addition, comparisons were made with the medical PSG (polysomnography) method in order to provide customers with the data on their sleep tracking that was the most realistic and accurate.