How to Monitor Sleep and Improve Rest: Devices and Apps

The importance of rest

To lead a life as healthy as possible, in addition to a good diet and regular exercise, it is important to sleep well. And we are not just talking about sleeping seven, eight or ten hours. What we mean is that the time we are sleeping must provide us with quality rest.

To achieve this, there are basic tips such as not receiving great stimuli before going to bed, so that our brain has time to prepare to rest properly; get some exercise that ends up consuming that little extra bit of remaining energy and, of course, not eating heavy meals.

However, even doing all this we may not get a good rest. We slept the eight hours of the pull, but we got up just as tired. Why? Well, because we are not achieving a quality dream.

If this is your case, technology can help you with very varied devices and with prices that adapt to all budgets. What’s more, you could directly use your smartphone together with specific applications such as Sleep Cycle, one of the most popular and available for both iOS and Android. Although the best is more specific devices, and so you do not see yourself without a battery in your smartphone the next day.

How sleep time is calculated

To better understand how we are resting, it is important to first know how the sleeping time is calculated and what are its phases. The dream is divided into two stages: NREM and REM:

• NREM is the first and encompasses this entire process until we fall asleep. It consists of four phases: drowsiness, light sleep, transition phase and Delta sleep.
• REM is the next stage and is where dreams occur. Once finished, the sleep cycle begins again

Both stages form a sleep cycle and these usually last between 70 and 90 minutes. So, throughout the night there are several sleep cycles that we carry out.

What sleep monitors do is measure physical activity to know what phase we are in. If you haven’t moved for an hour, they understand that you are asleep and count it as deep sleep. If, on the other hand, you move, the data goes to another register: light sleep. At the end of the night you have a graph with the estimated hours of sleep in both states.

This detection of movements and measurement of sleep is done through the various sensors that these devices may include, for example:

• Quantifying wristbands use motion, pressure, and gyroscope sensors
• Smart watches or some more advanced bracelets also resort to the use of heart sensors
• Specific accessories with sleep measuring bands. These bands use different sensors that offer greater precision in the measurement of the same, in addition to offering other data such as heart rate, respiration and can even detect snoring and thus find out whether or not we could suffer from respiratory problems such as apnea.

Therefore, depending on what you want to measure and know, you will be more interested in one type of device or another. Below we show you the most interesting ones for us.

Xiaomi Mi Band

The quantification wristbands and in particular the Xiaomi Mi Band offer among its different monitoring options the ability to measure rest . To do this, through the integrated sensors they are able to detect or estimate what phase of sleep we are in.

With these data collected, the next day we will have a statistic of the time we are sleeping and in a state of semi-consciousness. Based on this information, you will be able to identify whether or not you are resting correctly. If not, you will have a basis to plan actions that help you sleep better.

Some of the most interesting sleep monitoring quantification bracelets you can buy right now are:

Apple Watch

The Apple watch was gaining options as the years passed and new generations came out. Currently, these allow, among many things, the measurement of sleep. The data is relatively accurate and together with the Health application you will have detailed information to be able to face changes in your habits when it comes to resting. The problem is that if you do not use iPhone it does not contribute much.

Fitbit Versa

If you are an Android user and want a device to monitor sleep, in addition to other functions such as those related to physical exercise or notifications, Fitbit has an interesting option.

Fitbit Versa is an Apple-like watch that also enables sleep monitoring. In this way, the data collected is what affects the number of hours we spend in each phase of sleep. With this information, its application develops a series of tips so that you can improve your rest.

Beddit sleep monitor

Available on the Apple Store, the Beddit sleep monitor is a band with different sensors in which its thickness stands out. This makes it comfortable and you hardly notice its presence when you place it under you in bed.

Among the data it records is sleep time, heart rate, breathing, temperature, wetness and even snoring. This last function depends on the application installed on your iPhone . And another detail, although you can sleep with someone else, it will only monitor you. If you want to take control of your partner, then you will have to buy another monitor.

Withings Sleep

Withings Sleep is one of the best devices when it comes to monitoring sleep thanks to its sensor band that is placed under the mattress. Thanks to it, the different sleep cycles, movements that we carry out, etc. can be more accurately performed.

In addition to all this, the latest version has improved sensitivity and added an interesting novelty, it is now capable of detecting respiratory disturbances, thus being able to know whether or not you suffer from apnea (sleep disorder that causes snoring and periods in which breathing It is completely or almost interrupted, and may pose a significant risk to your health.