Too Much Tracking

Is your sleep tracker sabotaging your rest? ⁠

There’s a term for this: orthosomnia. Coined in 2017, it defines an obsession with optimising sleep that’s driven by data. ⁠ ⁠

It’s understandable, getting more sleep is perhaps the easiest of the holy quartet of wellbeing: nutrition, exercise, sleep, hydration.⁠ ⁠

There’s also a reason why sleep deprivation is a torture tactic: because it sucks. Hard.⁠ ⁠

A 2016 RSPH study found that on average, Brits get 6.6 hours of sleep but feel like they need 7.7. Roughly half of the 2,000 surveyed said they felt stressed as a result, and a third said it caused them to eat unhealthily. ⁠

Ultimately, sleep requirements differ widely from person to person. I might need 9 hours, you might need 6 to feel fully rested… and your tracker doesn’t know that.⁠ ⁠ Consumer Sleep Trackers (CSTs) mostly rely on movement, heart rate and sound. Whereas when professionals assess your sleep, they monitor brain activity, eye movement and muscle tension *as well* as those three variables.⁠ ⁠

Essentially, what most CSTs tell you about your sleep is a kindergarten version of the ‘proper’ tests (known as polysomnograms), so their accuracy can be poor and, as a result, the results need to be taken with a bigger pinch of salt than most of us care to adopt. ⁠

Compared to the ‘proper’ tests, CSTs are accurate 78% of the time when identifying sleep versus wakefulness. This reliability drops to around 38% (Conley, 2019) when estimating the time it takes you to fall asleep…⁠ ⁠

Takeout: It’s not always beneficial for our wellbeing to track every possible metric.

It takes the *I* out of intuition. ⁠ ⁠

If you generally feel good after sleeping, there’s no need to track your sleep. ⁠ ⁠

If you don't, the experts suggest four simple things: darken your room, drop the temperature, avoid the booze and aim for around 7-8 hours per night.⁠ ⁠

Anecdotally, we've heard from ZAAG users time and time again that, after just two weeks, they notice an improvement in the quality of their sleep. Our powerful little shots contain no stimulants, leading to some people taking them as part of their bedtime routine.

We’re hearing reports of people *finally* sleeping solidly throughout the night, and experiencing all kinds of benefits as a result of their improved sleep quality.

So, if you’re ready to stop dozing, click this image and get yourself a dreamy two-week trial pack for yourself.