Counting Sheep, Losing Sleep

Are we becoming addicted to our trackers?  

- Britt Smith

For a society obsessed with sleep, we sure are bad at it. Last year the market for sleep tracking devices was valued at $14.5 billion, and it's projected to reach $61.2 billion by 2030. Yet in the US, a staggering 50% of the population is sleep-deprived. According to the most recent data from the Rand Corp., insufficient sleep has an estimated economic impact of more than $411 billion each year in the US alone.

Supporters of sleep trackers champion how easy they are to use. Real-time data, they say, can be a catalyst for behavioral change. But many experts are wary of trackers' limitations. Wrist monitors, for example, are very good at identifying when you're asleep versus awake, but they're not especially effective at recognizing the stages of sleep. That's because most trackers use sensors to monitor body movement and heart rate, unlike lab sleep studies that observe brain wave activity.

A heightened anxiety over results can trigger wearable owners to obsess over the data and self-diagnose. Experts have even coined a word for the condition: "orthosomnia," similar to "orthorexia," the fixation on healthy eating.

"One of sleep's biggest disruptors is worrying about it," says Nick Littlehales, a UK-based sports recovery coach who's helped Premier League football players as well as Olympians cope with sleepand performance-related anxiety.

Michael Breus, a clinical psychologist and fellow of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, agrees.

"So many people judge the results each morning," he says. "The real value is looking at trends over time." The goal is to use technology in a way that exposes areas of improvement but isn't intrusive. For instance, if you struggle with insomnia, you might need treatment from a specialist; getting stuck in a poor sleep feedback loop will only make you feel more fatigued during the day.