Wearables for tracking sleep and improving pain

Wearables are the latest rage, it seems; little armbands that can track everything from how many steps you take,  how many moves you make, to how much sleep you get – they are watching you! I’ve seen them on the arms of everyone from teachers to doctors lately, and I even got one for my birthday – and then promptly returned it.

I’ve thought off and on about getting one of the wearables for tracking sleep, just out of curiosity. I wondered if knowing how messed up my sleep is would even help. I decided that it wouldn’t, or at least that I wasn’t sure enough to make it worth spending $100 (or having someone else spend $100 on me). I walk fairly regularly (3-5x/week), and I don’t avoid taking extra steps when they are available, and my body isn’t screaming that it’s dead, so tracking movement seemed a waste to me. Tracking calories is also a waste. I’m happy with my state of edible health at this point. If anything, I often don’t eat enough, and generally I eat the right things, since I stopped allowing gluten in my body, and rarely allow processed foods. So, really all that was left to track was sleep.

Then I saw the Lumo body tracker – and saw a feature that I think would really benefit me way more than a reminder to get moving. The Lumo is has a posture tracker and alerts you when your posture is out of alignment. Given all the issues in my back and neck I’m thinking this might actually help improve some pain. Unfortunately, early reviews don’t look so good and it tracks the posture you set (so if you set it at bad posture it just reminds you to keep it).

I’ve seen a few posts from Fibro friends who have bought trackers and I’ve been waiting to see if they found it useful and worthwhile in their attempts to improve their sleep and health. A few have reported back to me and here’s what they’ve had to say:

“The Vivofit tracks my activity through the day (number of steps, miles covered and calories used – and heart rate when I wear my heart rate band) and also sleep levels. I use it to keep my activity levels DOWN and make sure that I rest after any particularly active part of my day, and it is very interesting to see the patterns that are developing regarding activity during the day and how I sleep. I am finding the Vivofit really useful in helping me to pace myself. ”
– Ali Wade (Me and My Life)

“I’ve had the Fitbit now for a couple of weeks. The main reason I bought it was to track my progress as I fight to get my fitness back. I think it’s very easy for us to focus on what we are feeling and not what we are doing. I hope the Fitbit will help me to appreciate just how much I am able do but also help me to realise when I have done too much. For example, if one day my symptoms have significantly increased I can look back and maybe see that I have walked much further or been more active than I normally have. I can then hopefully adjust what I do to get me back on track. It makes me feel more accountable in a way. It’s a little reminder on my wrist that will either tell me to get moving or to slow down. ”
– Donna (FibroGeek)

“I think the most useful feature is being able to set the idle alarm, that will make the band buzz after I’ve been sedative for too long. I have really bad posture and all this computer work only adds to the strain on my already achy, weak muscles. You’d think it’d be really easy to tear yourself away but sometimes you get so caught up that you end up spending too long and then have to deal with the aftermath. Having the alert is a nice subtle way (don’t want to keep annoying my co-workers with loud alarms) to remind myself to get up and stretch/move around to loosen up. ”
– Leida (A Girl in Search of Her Spoons)

Have you tried a wearable product yet? Did it help you learn anything usable about your sleep and movement patterns?