Welcome to the SleepCompare Study

Goal of Study

The goal of the study is to learn more about how well consumer sleep devices compare to your sleep.

You might be surprised to learn that some sleep devices measure sleep pretty well while others do not.

We don’t know how accurate a (Fitbit) consumer sleep device is at measuring some aspects of your sleep.

We are conducting this study to learn more about the accuracy of these devices.

Background on Consumer Sleep Devices

Consumer sleep devices (such as Fitbits, Apple Watches, etc.) are regulated like any other consumer product. The manufacturer claims what their product does, then sells the product. Here in the United States, those claims only need to be reasonable. They don’t have to be accurate and true. Surprising, right?

Medical products, unlike consumer products, are regulated by the FDA. They have to be accurate and true. One example is Polysomnography (PSG), which measures brain waves and bodily functions during sleep. PSG has been around for 50+ years, and we know it measures sleep extremely accurately and reliably. If you have ever had a sleep study where you slept at the sleep lab, then you likely had a PSG study.

Studies exist where a consumer sleep device is tested against gold-standard polysomnography. However, the results are very general, claiming that the consumer sleep device measured sleep adequately compared to the PSG. Being “fairly adequate” does not give us much information.

We don’t know if that device will measure all aspects of your sleep super well, super bad, or somewhere in between.

Although we wish to measure everyone’s sleep using a PSG, it is costly and inconvenient. Most people would prefer to sleep in the comfort of their homes and not in a sleep lab connected to wires.

This is why we are conducting this study. We are curious to find out how well consumer sleep devices compare to your sleep diary.

Sleep Diary

So, our study relies not on PSG but your self-reported sleep information! We call this a sleep diary. A sleep diary gathers information about your daily sleep pattern.

The most important thing about a sleep diary is to complete it as close to waking up as possible. This is because we remember the night much better right when we wake up. Once we start our morning activities, we start to forget details about the night.

The sleep diary will ask you what time you got into bed, what time you tried to fall asleep, and what your final awakening time was.

We ask that you become familiar with the items to make a mental note of some items on the sleep diary so you can more easily and accurately recall them in the morning.

That said, we don’t want you to be so focused on the exact time it affects your sleep. That is definitely NOT our goal for the sleep diary. A rough estimate is fine, and with time, you will learn how to mentally note these items in ways that do not affect you getting a good night’s sleep.

Completing the Sleep Diary

To be sure that you are familiar with the sleep diary before completing it on the first morning, here is the list of items. The most important parts of the items are underlined.

  1. What time did you get into bed?
  2. What time did you try to go to sleep?
  3. How long did it take you to fall asleep?
  4. How many times did you wake up, not counting your final awakening?
  5. In total, how long did these awakenings last?
  6. What time was your final awakening?
  7. What time did you get out of bed for the day?
  8. How would you rate the quality of your sleep?
Extra Hints about the Sleep Diary

With practice, you can better estimate the answers in your sleep diary. Until then, we will ask a few additional questions each morning after the main sleep diary.

We would like to know how long after waking up did you complete the sleep diary. This is important information for the reason we discussed above, our recall of the night is much better the closer we are to waking up.

We will also ask about your confidence level in answering four specific items. It is fine to say you were not confident or somewhat confident in your answers to some or all of them. We are asking to get a general idea of the accuracy of your answers, not to make you feel bad for not knowing.

More detailed instructions about each Sleep Diary item:

  1. What time did you get into bed?

    Write the time that you got into bed. This may not be the time that you began “trying” to fall asleep.

  2. What time did you try to go to sleep?

    Record the time that you began “trying” to fall asleep.

  3. How long did it take you to fall asleep?

    Beginning at the time you wrote in question 2, how long did it take you to fall asleep.

  4. How many times did you wake up, not counting your final awakening?

    How many times did you wake up between the time you first fell asleep and your final awakening?

  5. In total, how long did these awakenings last?

    What was the total time you were awake between the time you first fell asleep and your final awakening. For example, if you woke 3 times for 20 minutes, 35 minutes, and 15 minutes, add them all up (20 + 35 + 15 = 70 min, or 1 hr and 10 min).

  6. What time was your final awakening?

    Record the last time you woke up in the morning.

  7. What time did you get out of bed for the day?

    What time did you get out of bed with no further attempt at sleeping? This may be different from your final awakening time (for example, you may have woken up at 6:35 a.m. but did not get out of bed to start your day until 7:20 a.m.).

  8. How would you rate the quality of your sleep?

    "Quality” is your sense of whether your sleep was good or poor.