Google, who completed their purchase of fitness tracker company Fitbit in January 2021, has today announced a new Fitbit Premium feature.
Built on more than 10 years of sleep tracking data, Sleep Profile offers a new longitudinal analysis of your sleep patterns. It also makes your sleep data even easier to interpret with fun animal characters, so you can take steps to improve your sleep quality and, in turn, your overall health.
Fitbit’s newest feature, Sleep Profile, allows Premium members to garner more insight into their sleep habits via their associated sleep animal and discover long-term trends in their habits so they may take steps to improve their sleep.
What does your Sleep Profile analyze?
Sleep guidance isn’t as simple as getting 7-8 hours rest, since everyone is different. Supported by sleep science, Sleep Profile analyzes your sleep across 10 key metrics each month, calculates trends and compares them to what’s typical for your age and gender, so you can discover where you have room to improve.
Your Sleep Profile includes a range of new metrics, including sleep schedule variability, time before sound sleep and disrupted sleep, to previously tracked metrics such as sleep duration, restfulness and REM sleep, these data points portray a holistic month-long view of your sleep patterns and quality. Users will also be provided with ideal ranges for each metric – and where you fall within each range – so you can consider where to focus your efforts for improvement. These metrics are shown on a monthly aggregate view for the first time (something that’s nearly impossible to replicate in a sleep lab).
Fitbit Sleep Profile users will receive a monthly sleep analysis where they can see ideal ranges for someone of a similar age and gender, and where they fall within each – so they see where they could focus on improving.
What sleeper type are you?
These critical data points gathered from your sleep analysis inform your designated Sleep Animal, providing a fun way to understand your sleeping style. Google’s extensive research and testing found six animal archetypes, each chosen for their distinct trends that correlate each animal’s behavior with common user sleeping behaviors and patterns.
- Giraffe: Your sleep tends to be shorter, and you are more likely to sleep later and wake up earlier. You have a relatively good proportion of deep and REM sleep despite a shorter overall duration.
- Bear: You tend to have a consistent sleep schedule, regularly falling asleep around the same time. You go to bed earlier than most, and you tend to reach a sound sleep quickly. Your sleep tends to be long and restful, with a relatively high proportion of deep and REM sleep.
- Dolphin: You tend to fall asleep later than most and sleep for less time overall—maybe due to an inconsistent sleep schedule. Compared to others, you tend to be a lighter sleeper and might take naps to catch up.
- Hedgehog: You usually fall asleep later and wake up earlier. You are a lighter sleeper—typically taking longer to reach sound sleep and may get less deep and REM.
- Parrot: You tend to keep a consistent bedtime and don’t sleep too early or late. You typically reach sound sleep quickly and usually get a good amount of sleep each night. You likely sleep deeply once you drift off but can be light on REM due to waking up briefly throughout the night.
- Tortoise: You tend to fall asleep at different times each night, but often earlier than most. Paired with slightly later average wake times, you tend to spend more time in bed overall but may find it takes longer to reach a sound sleep, impacting your lower than average deep and REM sleep.
How does it work?
Wear your Fitbit device to sleep for at least 14 nights per calendar month to receive an assessment. The more you wear the device to sleep, the more precise the evaluation. Sleep can vary significantly from night to night, so it’s helpful to analyze your sleep data over a longer period from your own sleep environment to uncover more insights into your habits and how you can improve.
Based on your sleeper type’s behavior, you will see where your sleep patterns compare to others like you – whether it’s setting a more consistent sleep schedule or creating a bedtime routine like trying the mindfulness content found within the Fitbit app to help you fall asleep faster. Getting quality sleep can play a critical role in your overall health and well-being, with poor sleep being correlated to increased potential health risks including diabetes, cardiovascular problems, obesity, poor cognitive functioning and more.
Sleep Profile is rolling out in the Fitbit app to Premium users with Sense, Versa 3, Versa 2, Charge 5, Luxe or Inspire 2 devices upon launch. Users will receive their first profile during the week of July 4, followed by monthly profiles delivered in the Fitbit app on the 1st of each month.
