Apple Watch : Scientific Sleep Test

The Quantified Scientist · 1.1M views · 2022 · 18:20

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Fitness, sleep & longevityConsumer devices & gadgetsdemodated

Why Hacker News recommends it

HN commenters cite it as evidence that Apple Watch is the most accurate consumer sleep tracker and trust the channel for its scientific approach.

What it is

The Quantified Scientist, a sleep researcher, tests Apple Watch sleep tracking against a research-grade Dreem 2 headband, comparing accuracy for sleep stages, deep and REM sleep. The review is data-focused rather than feature-focused.

Recommended by 3 HN commenters across 2 different months, 2022 to 2024.

What Hacker News said

Recommends tiew9Vii · 2022-09 · on “Apple Introduces Apple Watch Ultra”

Apparently, the Apple Watch [this video] . [LINK] reviews all the sleep/heart trackers and records accuracy. He’s a professional scientist specialising in sleep research and the reviews concentrate on data/accuracy only.

Recommends zx10rse · 2022-09 · on “Analysis of Apple Watch running data”

For anyone interested in heart rate accuracy and sleep tracking accuracy I will recommend to check The Quantified Scientist reviews . From his latest reviews of the new apple watches, heart rate is pretty much on par with chest strap and sleep tracking is also far better than anything he tested. Apple Watch : Scientific Sleep Test - [this video]

Recommends CharlesW · 2024-01 · on “Accuracy of Commercial Sleep-Trackers Compared to Research-Grade Tools”

Apple Watch was not tested, so for anyone interested, here are two videos by "The Quantified Scientist" creator Rob ter Horst, a postdoctoral researcher who specializes in bioinformatics (studying biology using machine learning and statistics). Apple Watch: Scientific Sleep Lab Test (Ultra vs 8) (2023) - [LINK] Apple Watch: Scientific Sleep Test (2022) - [this video] (Thanks to @LikelyClueless for the channel recommendation!)

Cites cypress66 · 2022-09 · on “Apple Introduces Apple Watch Ultra”

Kind of... Apple's sleep tracking is by far the best on the market[1]. However if your watch doesn't last many days it's a pain in the ass to use it that way, because you charge it overnight instead of tracking your sleep. [1] [this video]

Cites DefineOutside · 2024-04 · on “Study uses wearables to show that physical activity lengthens REM latency”

I find my Apple Watch information useful. I don't remember when I fell asleep but my apple watch does. This keeps me honest about going to be too late. Additionally, when I first got it, I found that I was only getting 40 minutes of deep sleep which is why I was always somewhat tired. After adding magnesium to my diet I am getting around 70 minutes of deep sleep. I wouldn't have been able to pinpoint this without the data. The apple watch is the best sleep tracker [1] so your data might be too noisy to find results. [1] [this video]