Losing Sleep Over Sleep Trackers

The rise in popularity of sleep trackers is a candid reflection of our society's self-quantification turn of mind. We count steps, calories, likes, followers, and it’s become common practice to measure sleep too.

The rudimentary reasoning behind sleep tracking is that crunching night time data into a sleep score, can be a means to improved sleep. Here at Bearaby we’re big fans of sleep, and how to get the most out of it. But, when it involves sleeping with a high-tech gadget strapped to our wrist, we get a little wary.

Although sleep tracking can certainly help some people measure how much sleep they’re really getting, we’re not inclined to self-quantifying our snoozes. We’d rather rely on the simple sleep stuff. Like how a weighted blanket helps us get real, restorative rest.

While using technology to help improve sleep might pose some benefits, it’s uber-important to know where its limitations lie. Our company founder and CEO, Kathrin Hamm, can personally weigh in on the subject, so we’re sharing her sleep tracking story.

Sleep Tracking Stressed Her Out

Kathrin has firsthand experience of how disruptive sleep trackers can be. Her previous job as an economist for World Bank demanded a lot of travelling, and the back and forth between time zones left her unable to get a good night’s rest.

She went down different routes to try and improve her sleep - tracking being one of them. But instead of finding relief from her night time struggles, it ended up stressing her out even further!

She found that her “poor” sleep score seemed to deepen her existing chronic insomnia concerns. And rather than helping her constructively address the cause of her sleep deprivation, it fueled her fretting about it.

Kathrin’s sleep tracking struggle is not an isolated experience. Fellow insomniacs who also tried it, found sleep tracking to be a pointless exercise. Beyond proving inefficient, sleep tracking may actually lead a person to developing a condition that has recently been termed as orthosomnia.

What Is Orthosomnia And How Do Sleep Trackers Lead To It?

According to sleep tracking case studies, there is a rising correlation between people who track their sleep and suffer from fatigue. This led us to better understand the newly coined sleep condition orthosmonia (ortho = correct; somnia = sleep).

The takeaway from orthosmonia research is that people suffering from fatigue, often resort to sleep tracking as it’s perceived to be a useful, modern remedy. Yet, this supposedly basic biohack tends to result in a near-obsessive pursuit to bettering sleep scores.

Ironically, instead of soothing sleep struggles, sleep tracking can exacerbate sleep deprivation. It’s a vicious, exhausting cycle.

Sleep tracking puts forwards the notion that measuring sleep, and attaining that elusive high sleep score, can lead to better sleep. Those suffering from orthosomnia - and our CEO Kathrin - will beg to differ.

How An Afternoon Nap Led To A Signature Sleep Solution

When it comes to fostering better sleep habits, sleep tracking doesn’t seem to be making the cut. So, what other options are there that can effectively address sleep issues?

Besides tracking her sleep, Kathrin tried a variety of other sleep solutions but to no avail. Until she took what she thought was going to be a short Saturday afternoon snooze, under a weighted blanket.

Waking up four (glorious!) hours later, she knew she’d found a surefire solution: sleeping under weight.

So, she decided to ditch the tracker and design the Napper! The hand-knit Napper blanket is a good-looking weighted blanket that improves sleep. It’s a modern product that naturally helps us practice better self-care, and it’s sustainability manufactured so it looks out for our planet too.

If you’re struggling to sleep, rather than going for a gadget that could quite possibly leave you with a stifling sleep habit, take a natural route to more rest - like using a weighted blanket. Our weighted blankets are backed by simple science and can (literally!) snuggle you to sweeter slumber.

Trading The Tracker For A Napper

At Bearaby, our corporate self-care mantra helps us steer clear of potential sleep tracking madness. We believe it’s best to rely on what’s natural and simple rather than technology being touted as a sleep solution. Here’s why:

Less stress

The weight of the Napper helps your body get cortisol production (our main stress hormone) under control. A weighted blanket can work wonders when it comes to battling high stress levels.

Less anxiety

Sleep specialists pose that people with high-achieving personalities are more prone to obsess over a low sleep score (will all the Type A’s please raise their hands?). Trying to get a perfect sleep score can give rise to sleep-related anxiety.

While curbing our excessive cortisol, weighted blankets have a calming effect. This releases a sensation of relaxation, that helps to keep anxiety at bay.

More joy

A distressing mental side-effect of sleep tracking is how low sleep scores can affect mindset. Sleep metrics tend to set us up, mentally, to associate our sleep score with the outcome of our day.

You see your score, it doesn’t measure up, and suddenly you’re worried about how you’re going to get through the day. Sound familiar?

Getting enough sleep inevitably impacts our ability to function effectively, and how we feel, but it’s certainly not predetermined by how we scored on our sleep.

On the other hand, a super side-effect of sleeping under weight is waking up in a good mood. Science shows that weighted blankets help our bodies release more serotonin (our happy hormone), helping us sleep better and wake up happier.

A weighted blanket is a great sleep addition for bringing more joy to your night, and your day.

Our advice? If you find yourself caught up in the frenzied pursuit of a perfect sleep score, it’s time to put away the tracker and pull out a Napper. Trust us, you’ll sleep better and feel happier. No tech required.