Problems sleep tracking in watchOS 11

[msackey]

I think I'm noticing an issue with sleep tracking on watchOS 11 (on an Apple Ultra). It is not reliably detecting that I'm back sleeping after an interrupted sleep.

My sleep pattern is such that I frequently (almost every night) have interrupted sleep. I would sleep between 4.5 to 5 hours and then I would be awake. After I'm not able to get back to sleep in several minutes, I may read stuff on my iPhone or listen to a podcast and then eventually fall asleep. At this point, it is pretty typically that I would have several more awake and then going back to sleep cycles until sometime between 5:30am and 7am (depending on when I want to finally get up).

Last night, I slept for about 4.5 hours straight, then was awake at 2:30am. I was still lying in bed and decided to read stuff on my phone. Eventually I did fall asleep and maybe an hour or a little over an hour later, I was awake again. This time I decided to listen to some podcast on my phone then fell alseep again for maybe about 1.5 hours. Then I was awake again. Did another round of read/listen on phone and went back to bed and finally got up at 5:30am

So what did my watch detect? It only detected that I slept for 4.5 hours waking up at 2:30am. Absolutely zero sleep detection was made between 2:30am to 5:30am. What gives? How do I remedy this? Is it hopeless?

Luckily, I do have a Withings Sleep device which is like a mini mat that is slipped underneath the bed mattress. That device was able to detect the rest of my sleep between 2:30am to 5:30am.

 

[msackey]

On some other nights, I've also noticed that if the Watch detects my sleep after my first interruption, it may detect those as one blob without distinguishing Core, REM, or deep sleep. My guess it is detecting those as "naps" and not part of the night sleep cycle. Thoughts?

 

[Pixels7]

I only had my Apple Watch since 20 september, but I do have nights like you described. Also since 20 september. I only had one time it didn’t track my 20-25 minute sleep after I was awake for over an hour for the third time in one night. So I thought it maybe was because it was only 20-25 minutes.

The other nights it really detected all the times I was awake and reading. I was actually quite impressed that my watch detected that I was awake, because I was reading and had a low heart rate and was lying very still. My Garmin watch always thought I was sleeping when I was reading. And it also detected my sleep (sleep stages included) after all those times I was awake.

One night last week there was a lot of noise in my street and I was awake for 2.5 hours. And after that I had slept for 45 minutes and the watch detected it correctly.

Do you enable sleep focus before you go to sleep?

 

[msackey]

@Pixels7 , what Watch do you use?

And yes, I do use Sleep Focus. Sleep Focus automatically turns on around 9:30pm and turns back off around 6:00am.

I hope I'll get better experience over time with this sleep tracking. I don't normally use my Watch to detect my sleep but since watchOS 11 upgrade, I have been because it has updated/upgraded sleep detection features.

My Withings Sleep does reliably detect when I am in bed (not hard to do since it uses a pressure sensor that's underneath the mattress), but doesn't always reliable detect when I'm actually in bed. For example, between 2:30am and 5:30am last night, I was awake multiple times. It did not detect that I was awake at all, and instead though it was CORE or light sleep. Heh.

 

[Pixels7]

The series 10

Hmm that’s odd. The only difference is that I use the sleep focus manually. Because I noticed the first night it doesn’t track sleep after I woke up when the sleep focus ended automatically and I slept some more.

But yours already stopped tracking sleep way before your sleep focus ended.

I also use the AutoSleep app. The first nights it was way off, after calibrating it works much better. But AutoSleep isn’t tracking the times well when I am awake and reading. So I don’t think I can recommend that app wholeheartedly.

 

[msackey]

But yours already stopped tracking sleep way before your sleep focus ended.

I also use the AutoSleep app. The first nights it was way off, after calibrating it works much better. But AutoSleep isn’t tracking the times well when I am awake and reading. So I don’t think I can recommend that app wholeheartedly.

That's right, my sleep tracking stopped tracking even though I was in sleep focus mode.

I also have AutoSleep which I bought years ago but really haven't used and don't plan to. It seems to be seriously fussy with all the settings and whatnots.

I plan to keep wearing my watch for maybe another week or two to gather sleep data and see if the Watch behaves better. I have wondered if once I touch the phone during sleep tracking that it messes up its algorithms.

 

[Pixels7]

I have wondered if once I touch the phone during sleep tracking that it messes up its algorithms.

Yes that’s maybe a possibility, I read on an ereader. So when I am awake and I can’t sleep, then I never use my phone, because then I know for sure I won’t sleep anymore that night.

 

[msackey]

Sleep detection did detect my nap around 8:30pm last night before I headed to bed at like 9:45pm. This time it detect my various smaller interruptions as naps. Last night's sleep detection looked accurate insofar as sleep/wake cycles seem to be.