Why Sleep Tracking Alone Won’t Improve Your Sleep Health

Sleep tracking is the latest trend. It gathers data on how well you sleep, plus environmental and lifestyle factors that may impact sleep, so you can determine habits that contribute to sleep hygiene. 

While sleep trackers are helpful, they may not be the be-all and end-all for sleep improvement. They should be combined with best practices to ensure optimal well-being.

Sleep trackers generally track the following variables: 

• Sleep duration: The time you fall asleep at night to when you wake up in the morning. 
• Sleep quality: The trackers can detect interruptions in sleep and habits like waking, tossing, and turning. 
• Sleep Phases: Some trackers will detect your phases of sleep throughout the night and time your alarm to go off at a time when you’re sleeping less deeply, making it easy for you to greet the day. 
• Environmental Factors: The trackers will monitor ecological factors in the bedroom, like light and temperature. 
• Lifestyle Factors: Factors like stress and diet are monitored so you can determine how they impact sleep.
• Vital Signs: Many trackers monitor vital signs so you get an overview of your general health. 

This information helps determine how different variables affect your sleep, so you can address and identify problem areas. 

There are a few sleep variables most trackers measure, but system features vary. This section will explore today’s most popular sleep trackers and what they measure. 

• Whoop: Whoop offers 24/7 monitoring and records various metrics, including blood pressure, heart rate, fitness level, and stress level. In terms of sleep, it tracks your sleep stages, assesses your sleep needs, and determines sleep trends, helping you create an optimal sleep schedule. Consumers can choose from three membership plans, each varying in their offerings. 
• Oura: Oura is a wearable ring that tracks 20 biometrics to assess your wellbeing. It offers scores on daily readiness and sleep quality. The technology also tracks heart rate and heart rate variability, stress levels, blood oxygen levels, and body temperature. The membership option provides more profound insights. 
• Elemind: Elemind is more than a sleep tracker. This wearable headband can slow brainwaves to help you fall asleep and sleep better throughout the night. With membership, you can also gain insight into valuable metrics like sleep performance, duration, efficiency, time to fall asleep, and time spent in every sleep stage.

With the right approach, you can use personalized insights to encourage better sleep habits. For example, if you sleep better when your room is set to a specific temperature, consider setting your thermostat to reach that temperature every night. Consider adjusting your lights accordingly. 

Stress levels can also be insightful. If your stress levels are consistently high, consider incorporating stress-reducing techniques and resilience exercises into your daily routine. Since stress can directly diminish sleep quality, this will help you feel noticeably more rested.

The top sleep trackers do more than monitor sleep. Both Whoop and Oura have recently updated their systems to focus on longevity. 

Whoop unveiled a 5.0 technology that measures nine key biomarkers and provides users with Whoop Age and Pace of Aging scores and suggestions for reducing them. 

Oura is also focused on helping people live healthier and longer. New features include:

• Meals, which provide key insights about meal timing and nutritional content, so that you can make smarter meal decisions
• Glucose, which monitors glucose levels so you can determine how stress, sleep, and activity impact glucose levels throughout the day

Although sleep tracking provides valuable insights, you must connect the dots to determine how environment, stress, and nutrition affect sleep. Here are some considerations. 

• Environment: Consider how room temperature, the light, sounds, and comfort levels affect your sleep. Adjust your environment to align with factors that contribute to optimal sleep levels. 
• Stress: Stress also impacts sleep. Review sleep apps to determine your stress levels during the day. Determine what contributed to high stress and how it affected your sleep. Consider the best ways to minimize and deal with stress. 

Nutrition: Experts recommend foods that support sleep, including those with L-theanine, magnesium, and melatonin. However, everyone is different. Consider how your meal plans lead to better and worse sleep and adjust them accordingly.

Once you are armed with the metrics you need to achieve better sleep, it's time to update your routine. Here are some helpful tips: 

• Wind Down Before Bedtime: Get your body ready for sleep by winding down before bedtime. Dim the lights and engage in a relaxing ritual such as reading, meditation, or listening to soothing music. 
• Avoid Electronic Devices: Electronic devices produce blue light, which interferes with melatonin production, and keeps you awake at night. For optimal results, shut down devices about an hour before bedtime. You should also keep devices out of the bedroom so you are not tempted to look at them in the middle of the night. 
• Take a Natural Sleep Aid: Natural sleep aids help you fall asleep naturally. There are hundreds of synthetic sleep aids on the market, but many produce unwanted side effects. MoonBrew contains safe ingredients like magnesium, zinc, adaptogens, and superfoods that promote relaxation, reduce stress, and support melatonin production. 

Sleep trackers can help you identify factors that may affect sleep, but it’s up to you to act. Adjust environmental factors, nutritional patterns, pre-sleep habits, and implement stress-reducing exercises to help you sleep better. MoonBrew is the final piece of the puzzle. 

Explore our amazing flavors and achieve your sleep goals.