What are the barriers for consumer sleep wearables being taken seriously as accurate, reliable sleep measurement tools by the research and clinical communities?
In the second part of this discussion we talk about the problems of proprietary algorithms, raw data access, and the challenges that need to be met by both science and commerce.
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2:52 The difficulty in creating validation standards for consumer sleep trackers
4:17 Do consumer sleep trackers need to be regulated?
5:45 Getting 'under the hood', proprietary algorithms, raw data access
7:02 Understanding commercial incentives, intellectual property
8:25 Stability of data, algorithm updates, lack of transparency
9:12 People are basing health decisions on consumer sleep trackers
10:18 Consumer wearables have great potential but they are 'black boxes'
13:29 Actigraphs and the first generation consumer sleep wearables
15:23 The danger of using a sleep wearable if you have a sleep disorder
19:10 Putting manufacturer's claims into the spotlight
24:08 Wearables that have already been validated, Fitbit, Jawbone, Oura Ring
25:19 Choosing a demographic for the validation studies
26:28 Total sleep time (TST) estimations are pretty good in consumer wearables
27:21 Will consumer wearables ever be able to do accurate sleep staging?
29:33 Sleepscore - are commercial, proprietary validation systems useful?
31:54 What's are some general tips for choosing a sleep tracker?
35:43 Why there's no such thing as the 'best sleep tracker'36:38 Orthosomnia, when sleep tracking can cause anxiety
40:47 A summary of all the issues discussed
Jesse Cook is a Clinical Psychology PhD Student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research interests include Unexplained Excessive Sleepiness and Wearable sleep-tracking technology. You can reach Jesse by email at jdcook4@wisc.edu
Resources:
Jesse Cook Researchgate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jesse_Cook3
Jesse on Twitter: https://twitter.com/SleepAndSports
Review: Wearable Sleep Technology in Clinical and Research Settings: https://bit.ly/2K4e9MV
Fitbit Alta HR validation study: https://bit.ly/2Ufbqor
Fitbit Flex validation study: https://bit.ly/2TVPLga
Jawbone UP3 validation study: https://bit.ly/2UeilhT
American Academy of Sleep Medicine: https://aasm.org/
