Guys with a smartwatch/ring etc.

[bigzzz]

Hi,

Do you guys think it is worth it to buy an whoop/apple (smart)watch/oura ring or anything like that?
I am mostly interested in sleep, and how it decides your recovery status. Is it accurate or just pretty random?

Worth it?

 

[livinlean]

It seems pretty accurate for sleep. I have the oura ring.

For me it was worth it because once I saw my sleep score/stats, I realized I need a CPAP. I didn't do a sleep study but rather just bought it. I've been having the best sleep since.

Also, when I first got the oura ring, I realized if I wanted a proper amount of REM sleep, I needed to stop smoking weed before bed. So now I do it about 3+ hours before bed and my sleep numbers have greatly improved.

 

[rollerghost]

I have Huawei smartwatch attached to Samsung phone, quite cheap one but it measures pulse, oxygen saturation, steps, and sleep quality. The program on the phone also detects snoring and breathing problems.

I tried different sleep medicines and some pain killers (which affected sleep by subjective experience a lot) the quality of the sleep on the program varied accordingly. The amounts of light sleep, slow wave sleep and rem-sleep seemed to match quite one to one with my subjective experiences. When I took medicines that are known to cause deep sleep and I also felt I slept deeply the program was also telling the same thing. When I used painkiller and felt I slept very poorly the program told me that was the case. The point difference was something like 40 points on a scale of 0-100 (or not sure if it starts at zero but 100 is the max. Points).

So in my opinion, it is working quite well when taking consideration how it measures it - with gyro sensor only and heart rate. So it cannot accurately measure ex. Slow wave sleep as it relies on those sensors but anyway the results seemed to be on par with my subjective experiences on sleep quality.

I think it can quite reliably tell you the amount of ex. Deep sleep you potentially had. But it cannot for sure tell you if it was truly deep or that your brain were at delta state. For that accuracy you would need a headband. So it can give false positives or random results. Like if you manage to meditate whole night without moving it might tell you that you had very much slow wave sleep and good sleep quality even if you didn't sleep at all. On the other hand, if you manage to do that you might very well go into theta/delta state and be in an as anabolic/restorative state as in deep sleep. But in that sense results can be also random but I think it can be on the right tracks most of the time as body moves only on certain sleep phases and that is quite predictive of the state of brain waves. Of course it cannot for sure tell that your sleep was truly deep. But it can tell you quite realiably how much you potentially had deep restorative sleep per night.

I am thinking headband would be a better choice if one wants to know sleep quality more accurately/precisely.

 

[Ruhlfreak55]

I wear a fitbit most of the time. I'm not sure how accurate the sleep stuff is. I can't get over an hour to hour 20 of deep sleep to save my life.

 

[bigzzz]

It seems pretty accurate for sleep. I have the oura ring.

For me it was worth it because once I saw my sleep score/stats, I realized I need a CPAP. I didn't do a sleep study but rather just bought it. I've been having the best sleep since.

Also, when I first got the oura ring, I realized if I wanted a proper amount of REM sleep, I needed to stop smoking weed before bed. So now I do it about 3+ hours before bed and my sleep numbers have greatly improved.

How did you make the conclusion by your scores that you needed a CPAP? I did a sleeptest like a year ago and that concluded that I didn't needed a CPAP then. I am still not convinced to this day that was a right call.

 

[Swifto]

I used Apple Watch to track activity and adjust daily calories on MyFitnessPal.

Sleep = CPAP for me.

 

[buck]

I would think most of us know what would be best for us to do. But have convinced ourselves otherwise at times telling our selves we are different then others. If having a program point out what we already know will help then that is great as long as people are willing to do what they rather not do. In my growth years i had always heard that sleep was important. Yet i rarely slept for more then 6 hours. and i didn't choose the try to get more. I had less then good quality sleep and a sleep study showed i barely had apnea. The Dr prescribed surgery which i got. My sleep improved. But it improved a lot more once the x-wife left as she was no longer thrashing around. Or waking me up to stop my snoring which other women have said was no issue as it only lasted the first few minutes i fell asleep.

 

[bigzzz]

I would think most of us know what would be best for us to do. But have convinced ourselves otherwise at times telling our selves we are different then others. If having a program point out what we already know will help then that is great as long as people are willing to do what they rather not do. In my growth years i had always heard that sleep was important. Yet i rarely slept for more then 6 hours. and i didn't choose the try to get more. I had less then good quality sleep and a sleep study showed i barely had apnea. The Dr prescribed surgery which i got. My sleep improved. But it improved a lot more once the x-wife left as she was no longer thrashing around. Or waking me up to stop my snoring which other women have said was no issue as it only lasted the first few minutes i fell asleep.

What's your point?

 

[buck]

What's your point?

Probably don't need a watch to know what is best. As that is what you asked.

 

[oliveironni]

I love my garmin, it really helps me track my body stats and workouts.
I have a instinct 2, holds almost 30 days of battery.

 

[TheOtherOne55]

I had the oura for 4 years and now have the whoop. If you’re into analytics and tracking, it’s very useful. I track everything from my food to drugs basically it all, so it’s cool to see a correspondence to how it all fits together. As someone in prep on Tren to me 290lb, it’s fascinating to see my hrv and how sleep and respiration is affected. Some don’t give a shit so it’s kinda what you’re interested in.

 

[cage99]

I bought a cheap generic one just to keep track of sleep, RHR, BP, etc… Works just fine and only cost $20. All the other more expensive ones I’ve purchased before have broke. I’m just rough on shit. That’s why I opted for the cheap-O one!

Cage

 

[livinlean]

How did you make the conclusion by your scores that you needed a CPAP? I did a sleeptest like a year ago and that concluded that I didn't needed a CPAP then. I am still not convinced to this day that was a right call.

Sorry I should have gone more in depth. The scores helped me realize I should stop smoking before bed. The CPAP part was indirect, I woke up so many times according to my oura ring and I just had not realized this prior. That got me researching and I realized I likely had sleep apnea. Also at my peak bulk sometimes I would be sitting watching TV and I would randomly snore while breathing lol. The ring didn't tell me I had sleep apnea, it just opened my eyes to what could be affecting my sleep.

 

[whoremoan]

Sorry I should have gone more in depth. The scores helped me realize I should stop smoking before bed. The CPAP part was indirect, I woke up so many times according to my oura ring and I just had not realized this prior. That got me researching and I realized I likely had sleep apnea. Also at my peak bulk sometimes I would be sitting watching TV and I would randomly snore while breathing lol. The ring didn't tell me I had sleep apnea, it just opened my eyes to what could be affecting my sleep.

how many times were you waking ?

 

[whoremoan]

How did you make the conclusion by your scores that you needed a CPAP? I did a sleeptest like a year ago and that concluded that I didn't needed a CPAP then. I am still not convinced to this day that was a right call.

i did a sleeptest and they said i didnt need cpap too and no sleep apnea
but i swear i do have it
the night i did the sleep test i had a great sleep that night, but other nights i wake up frequently

 

[paulallen]

I had the oura for 4 years and now have the whoop. If you’re into analytics and tracking, it’s very useful. I track everything from my food to drugs basically it all, so it’s cool to see a correspondence to how it all fits together. As someone in prep on Tren to me 290lb, it’s fascinating to see my hrv and how sleep and respiration is affected. Some don’t give a shit so it’s kinda what you’re interested in.

Do you prefer the whoop over the aura? I'm going back and forth which one to buy... I'd prefer to wear a ring but have been reading the whoop is better tech

 

[aHarness]

Probably don't need a watch to know what is best. As that is what you asked.

The point of these devices isn’t to tell you what’s best. It’s to track things. RHR, sleep quality, steps etc

 

[bigzzz]

Sorry I should have gone more in depth. The scores helped me realize I should stop smoking before bed. The CPAP part was indirect, I woke up so many times according to my oura ring and I just had not realized this prior. That got me researching and I realized I likely had sleep apnea. Also at my peak bulk sometimes I would be sitting watching TV and I would randomly snore while breathing lol. The ring didn't tell me I had sleep apnea, it just opened my eyes to what could be affecting my sleep.

So you got your cpap yourself without an ‘official’ test? Did it make a big difference for you?

 

[livinlean]

So you got your cpap yourself without an ‘official’ test? Did it make a big difference for you?

Yes without the test. It made a huge difference. During contest prep my sleep apnea went away and my wife mentioned my snoring was non existent but even then, the nights I slept with the CPAP I had a better sleep.

Off season I have to wear it every night otherwise I wake up really groggy. It seems I can get away with 7 hours sleep now but in the past without the CPAP I needed 8-9 to feel good.

 

[livinlean]

how many times were you waking ?

I don't remember the exact number maybe 10-12? I rem it being double digits. Now that number is 3-4. I don't expect it to get any lower than that consider I'm sleeping with my wife.