Here at Fitabase, we're big fans of the personal health and behavioral data consumer devices can support. One of the data types we're most interested in is sleep. We hear from our customers all the time that they're using wearable devices because they can automatically track sleep and provide insights into what's going on when participants and patients lay down at night to rest.
On March 6th Fitbit announced two new big updates to their existing product line: The Alta HR, a slim heart-rate tracking device with a refined aesthetic look that can be dressed up with various bands and accessories, and a Sleep Stages update for all of the heart rate enabled devices. Utilizing both the accelerometer and the heart rate sensor, Fitbit devices like the Alta HR, Charge 2, and Blaze will now be able to detect and record light, deep, and REM sleep.
We were excited about this announcement and wanted to get an expert opinion on these new sleep measurement features. We reached out to Dr. Michael Grandner, Director of the Sleep and Health Research Program at the University of Arizona to hear his thoughts on how these new sleep tracking features could impact sleep research.
How do you think researchers and clinicians might be able to use this new data?
Dr. Grandner: I think this could be great for researchers. This isn't going to replace sleep studies, but what it does is it expands what you can do in terms of longitudinal assessment. So now, you can measure sleep and get data on sleep stages, for not just days, but weeks, maybe even months. You can't do that in a sleep lab. You can't do that with polysomnography. But this might be able to get at some of those questions about what happens to your sleep over a long period of time.
What kind of questions can we start to ask with this kind of data?
Dr. Grandner: With this kind of longitudinal data set, we can start to address questions about sleep stages that we couldn't explore before. For example, we know that deep sleep is restorative, but what happens to people who have less deep sleep over time? How does that relate to their health outcomes? We know REM sleep is important for memory and emotional regulation, but how do fluctuations in REM sleep over weeks or months affect people? These are questions that can be explored when you have the ability to track sleep architecture over extended periods.
Do you have any advice for researchers who are thinking about using Fitbits as part of their research?
Dr. Grandner: I would say you should leave some of your biases at the door. Look into the specs, because there's more information out there than you think. It wasn't too long ago that people were skeptical of actigraphy, and now it's a standard tool in sleep research. I think it's important to not be too black and white about these devices. They have their limitations, but they also have real strengths, especially when you need to measure sleep in real-world settings over extended periods of time.
What are some potential use cases for this type of sleep data?
Dr. Grandner: There are a lot of clinical applications. For example, you could track how someone's sleep architecture changes when they start a new medication. Or if a patient says they're getting enough sleep but still feel tired, you could look at their deep sleep duration to see if that might be contributing to their fatigue. Having this kind of data available for longitudinal monitoring opens up a lot of possibilities for both research and clinical care.
We want to thank Dr. Grandner for taking the time to speak with us about this exciting development in sleep tracking technology.
If you're interested in using Fitbit sleep data in your research, get in touch with us to learn more about how Fitabase can help!