Sleep trackers: Are they doing more harm than good?

Sleep trackers could be doing more harm than good experts warn. Photo / File

Sleep trackers could be doing more harm than good, sleep experts warn.

Smartphone apps and watches now promise to track your sleeping patterns and help you get a better sleep.

But, according to Wellington-based sleep physician Dr Andrew Davies they often do nothing to help those with sleep problems and can even cause more stress and sleeplessness for those who have nothing to worry about.

"I understand that tracking your sleep habits can be fun but there is a major downside that many people miss," Davies, who works for Capital and Coast District Health Board, said.

"If taken as gospel, inaccurate results from these devices can cause a lot of stress, anxiety and sleeplessness for people. In a society where rates of stress, anxiety and insomnia are on the rise, we really don't need new technology to feed the problem. My advice: don't assume they are correct.

"These gadgets might give you false reassurance or, worse still, more anxiety about not getting 'enough' sleep that can lead to yet more troubles with sleeping."

The pros and cons of sleep tracking technology will be publically debated tonight by some of Australasia's top sleep researchers as part of the 2017 Sleep Down Under conference in Auckland.

More than 1.8 million Australian and New Zealand adults have a sleep disorder like insomnia or the breathing condition obstructive sleep apnoea. Just one in every three sufferers sought the help they needed while others tried to ignore it or manage it at home.

Davies said the devices were often inaccurate so could perpetuate the problem or cause stress for people prone to anxiety.

Apps used the in-built accelerometer in smart phones to measure how much people move while asleep. However, the sensitivity of the accelerometer in each phone could vary greatly, affecting their accuracy.

Wristwatch technologies often carried extra sensors to measure skin, room temperature and body composition, but these too could give greatly varied results.

Davies questioned whether some of the devices and apps could do what they claimed to because specialists still needed an EEG and lots of computers to figure out how much REM sleep a person was getting.

Associate Professor Siobhan Banks, co-director of the Behaviour-Brain-Body Research Centre at the University of South Australia, agreed the devices could be problematic but said they could be helpful if used with caution.

"For people just wanting to get a general idea of their sleep patterns, a tracker shouldn't be a problem. It could even help you understand your sleep and wake patterns better, and perhaps inspire you to go to bed earlier, ultimately improving your sleep.

"I think it's crucial though that as sleep researchers we educate the public on how to use them safely, and help them recognise when they should ditch the device and go to see a sleep specialist."

• The public debate, To Wear or Not to Wear? That is the Question!, will be held at Sleep Down Under 2017, the annual conference of the Australasian Sleep Association, at 6pm today.