The Washington PostThe Washington Post

You can get better sleep with wearables. Just focus on the right data.

By Chris Velazco

18 Apr 2023 · 7 min read

Editor's Note

Wearable tech can give us a lot of information about our sleep. The Post explains which numbers are the most useful and which ones we should take with a grain of salt.

After one fitful night, the chunky fitness watch I've been wearing for a few months delivered some bad news: I had only spent five minutes in rapid eye movement, or REM, sleep.

The rest of the numbers didn't seem much better. 24 minutes of "deep" sleep. Close to six hours of lighter sleep. More than an hour and a half awake and an average of about 15 breaths per minute.

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