Accurate device for consumers to measure sleep cycles?

[mikeuva123]

Anyone know of a good device that measures your time in sleep stages accurately that is economical for home use on a regular basis? I read something recently about at Neuroon which was a Kickstarter project that is out now. I also some evidence that the new Jawbone up might be fairly accurate but it doesn't use an EEG.

-Mike

[SueW]

I use a fitbit, have been for a couple of years now. It also doesnt have an EEG... None of them do as far as I know. However, I find that mine is fairly accurate in the sense that if it shows I wasnt very restless, and had long periods of deep sleep, I usually feel great during the day and might even be able to go without my usual nanna nap in the afternoon. I started with a fitbit Flex, then moved onto a fitbit Charge (which is not being made anymore) which recently started coming apart. They replaced it with an Alta which is perfect. I also bought a Blaze which does lots more but its big and chunky and after a while I realised that it doesnt let go of bluetooth on your phone hence causing battery drain. I dont use it at all anymore. I'll see if I can find a screenie and post it to Imgur.

[SueW]

Seems I have to wait for another couple of posts before I can link to the screenshots.

[FrankNichols]

Used the ResMed S+, it seems to be fairly accurate,but it is hard to be sure without using it in a real sleep study.

[Tess]

I didn't see this post; I've just added a thread about sleep cycles.

I have just added a free app to my cell phone called Sleep Cycle that might show the ups and downs of cycles and is supposed to wake me at a optimal time.

The other thing I found is the online site below.  Type in when you want to awake or go to sleep and it gives you three options for the proper timing.  I can't vouch for either.  I will know tomorrow a.m. if either works. 

sleepyti.me bedtime calculator

[robysue]

I've been using a FitBit Charge 2 for a while; used a FitBit Flex before that. And I used to have a Zeo back when they were still around---the Zeo did try to measure brain waves with a home version of an EEG.

The undated FitBit Charge 2 software turns the Sleep Data into a hypnogram with Wake, REM, Light, and Deep sleep staging if there are more than 4 hours of sleep. My older Flex just listed stuff as Wake, Restless, and Sleep. (With less than 4 hours of sleep data, the Charge 2 just defaults to Wake, Restless, and Sleep as well.)

I have a very old habit of turning my BiPAP Auto off and back on at every wake where I am awake enough to realize I'm awake. This habit started out as an anti-aerophagia technique, and I never intended to track wakes with it. But that data does establish when my most certain wakes actually occurred during the night. And I've done a fair amount of correlating Zeo, Flex, and Charge 2 data with the SleepyHead data from the BiPAP.

In correlating the FitBit Charge 2 data with my SleepyHead data, the Wake are quite accurate and most of the time when I see the Charge 2 saying a REM cycle has started, there is an uptick in variable respiration right at the beginning of the REM cycle.

Neither the Flex nor the Zeo seemed to reliably identify Wakes as accurately as the Charge 2 does. With the Zeo, a lot of the Zeo "wakes" were most likely REM that was mis-scored since they would not be correlated with times that I turned my machine off and back on. And both the Zeo and the Flex would often say I was sound asleep when the data in SleepyHead clearly indicated I was awake enough to turn my machine off and back on.

So based on my data, I think the Charge 2 is doing a decent job of tracking the sleep cycles, even though I doubt it is anywhere close to 100% accurate. In other words, I think Charge 2 is probably identifying most or all of my Wakes with pretty good accuracy and is at least as accurate, and probably much more accurate, when it comes to correctly detecting REM and Deep than my old Zeo was.

[GuppyDRV]

Robysue,

Great intel......thanks for the write up! How current is the Fitbit2 and is there a newer version? I'm thinking of getting one to help with my sleep quest.

Any information on the Jawbone? Some reviews of the device claim it maps better than Fitbit. I have no experience either way so am not able to comment.

Thanks again for all you do to help.

GuppyDRV

[pholynyk]

The FitBit Charge2 is the most current version; I just got one last week. I haven't yet figured out how to read the sleep cycle chart.

[robertbuckley]

The S+ does as decent a job as you can expect without EEG, and I think a bit better than the Fitbit.  It is a shame that the Zeo did not survive.  I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of my "Dreem" this fall to see how that does.  Have investigated any number of single and low channel number EEG type devices, and at present I could find nothing nothing under $750.