The Irony Of Sleep Apps: Tracking Your Sleep Might Keep You Awake

There was a time not very long ago when sleep was something you simply did. You went to bed, closed your eyes, and woke up in the morning with a vague sense of whether things had gone well or not. You didn’t receive a report. There were no percentages. No polite but slightly accusatory notifications informing you that your “sleep efficiency” had been disappointing. Then came sleep apps. Today, a small device on your wrist can tell you how long it took you to fall asleep, how many times you woke up, and how “restorative” your sleep was. It is, in many ways, impressive. It is also, according to a recent study from the University of Bergen in Norway, slightly problematic especially if you are already not sleeping well.

The Problem With Watching Yourself Sleep

The idea behind sleep apps is optimistic: if we can measure something, we can improve it. This is generally true for things like steps, calories, and occasionally productivity. But sleep is not entirely cooperative. It is less like a task and more like a shy animal: it tends to disappear the moment you start paying too much attention to it.

The Norwegian researchers surveyed over 1,000 adults to understand how people actually experience these apps. Nearly half (about 46%) had used them, which suggests that many of us have, at some point, decided to outsource our relationship with sleep to a device. For some people, this worked. About 15% reported improved sleep. But for a significant number of users, especially those already struggling with insomnia, the apps had the opposite effect. Instead of helping them relax, the feedback made them more anxious.

“We found that people with insomnia symptoms were more susceptible to negative effects,” said second author Karl Erik Lundekvam of the University of Bergen. “Feedback from the sleep apps was more likely to cause stress and worry in this group.”

Imagine waking up and being told you didn’t sleep well, your deep sleep was insufficient, and your overall performance as a sleeper was below expectations! This is not the kind of feedback that inspires calm. In fact, 17% of participants said they worried more about their sleep after using the apps. People with insomnia symptoms were particularly vulnerable.

Another interesting detail: younger adults were more affected by the apps than older ones.

Said Håkon Lundekvam Berge of the University of Bergen, “We found that younger adults were more affected by the feedback from the sleep apps. They reported more perceived benefits, but also more worries and stress.” Older generations, one suspects, are more inclined to say, “I slept. That’s enough,” and move on with their day.

Leads To Orthosomnia

There is even a term for what can happen when you become overly focused on sleep data: orthosomnia. It sounds like something you’d need a prescription for, but it essentially means trying so hard to achieve “perfect sleep” that you end up sleeping worse. You lie in bed thinking: Am I in deep sleep yet? Is this REM? Why isn’t my app going to be impressed tomorrow? At which point, sleep decides to leave.

Another complication is that these apps, for all their confidence, are still relatively new. Their accuracy isn’t fully established, and they may not interpret sleep as precisely as they claim. So you may be worrying about data that isn’t entirely reliable.

Sleep Apps: Good Or Bad?

So, should you use sleep trackers? The answer, as with most things in life, is: it depends. If you find the data helpful, use it as a gentle guide, and don’t take it too seriously, then sleep apps can be useful. But if you already struggle with sleep, feel anxious about the results, or start treating sleep like a test you need to pass, then it might be worth stepping back.

The researchers suggest simple adjustments:

• turn off notifications
• remove the device at night
• focus on habits rather than numbers
• listen to your body instead of your app.

One of the study’s most refreshingly old-fashioned suggestions is this: go to bed when you feel sleepy. Not when your app says you should nor when your schedule demands it, but when your body is actually ready.

Source:

• https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1726473/full

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