How to Track Your Sleep with a Wearable

Many smartwatches and fitness trackers can monitor your sleep — how long you slept, how often you woke up, and how much time you spent in different sleep stages (light, deep, and REM sleep). This information helps you understand your sleep quality and make changes to improve it.

Apple Watch: open the Watch app on your iPhone → Sleep → enable Sleep Tracking. Wear your Apple Watch to bed. In the morning, open the Health app → Browse → Sleep to see your data. The watch also offers a Wind Down feature that dims your screen and limits notifications before bedtime.

Fitbit: sleep tracking is automatic — wear your Fitbit to bed and check the Fitbit app in the morning. It shows time asleep, sleep stages, and a Sleep Score (0-100).

Samsung Galaxy Watch: wear it to bed and check Samsung Health the next morning for sleep duration and stages.

For accurate tracking, wear your device snugly on your wrist (not too tight, not too loose). Charge your device before bed if the battery is low — most need at least 20-30% charge to track a full night.

What to look for: most adults need 7-9 hours of sleep. If your tracker consistently shows less, or if you spend very little time in deep sleep, consider adjusting your bedtime, reducing caffeine after noon, keeping your bedroom cool and dark, and putting screens away 30 minutes before bed.