subtitle: Why technology won’t fix your sleep schedule and what it really takes to finally have a good one
It’s very common these days to believe that technology can transform our abilities in certain areas of life. This is why all these YouTubers who compare all these new productivity tools make so much money. They constantly sell you that vision that this todo list will transform your life or this time-management app will eliminate all distractions. The unfortunate reality is that these don’t help unless you take the right actions outside the app and put in real effort into fixing it. The same can be said for the sleep-tech industry.
My main motivation for buying a smartwatch was to be able to track my sleep and have a better sleep schedule through it. And I’m sure I’m not the only person who had that reasoning. I mean, this is how they kind of sell themselves as. Not only them, but also the thousands of other apps on the App Store that promise you the most optimal sleep schedule and sleep quality. All you have to do is keep the microphone on overnight and let the phone listen to your breathing and movements. Oh and around $20/month to run these recordings on some garbage ML model from 2015
The 2 things people fail to notice
These sleep trackers, whether we’re talking about the Apple Watches or the ones that record your sleep, only offer you information and input about your performance. They usually do not provide real, tangible solutions for the average person. So if you think about it, these trackers are just like any other productivity app (like To-Do apps, Time Management apps, Calendar apps). Their value doesn’t come from what it does, but from the behaviors that it can potentially introduce if the person uses the platform properly.
The second thing that people fail to notice is that these apps don’t actually give you the solution. The main work that needs to be done is still up to you, regardless of whether you have these apps or not. Most apps tell you what happened (you had 12% REM) but not why or how to fix it. This leads to a phenomenon called Orthosomnia
These sleep tracking apps track things that are not directly in our control. They are just the byproducts of our lifestyle habits. In other words, your quality of sleep is directly tied to your ability to live with habits that contribute to having good sleep and living with a good sleep schedule. For the people who are not facing any sleep disorders, knowing what happens during your sleep doesn’t really matter and is DEFINITELY not needed to have a good sleep schedule. Also we unconsciously fall into the “Nocebo Effect” where you feel more tired than you actually are simply because the app told you that you should be.
Sleep cycles could be somewhat useful, but they don’t tell the whole story in a way that could directly help someone actually reach a point where their sleep schedule is improved. For most cases, these “bad” sleep cycles are just a byproduct of having some bad lifestyle habit. You don’t need a $300 sleep tracker to make you aware of that. You should already know and live by them. A quick ChatGPT prompt and you’ll know all about them.
TL;DR If you don’t face any sleep disorder, then it’s not that complicated. It really is so simple to have a good sleep schedule if we boil it down to the core science.
So why do people struggle with this simple problem
The problem is people just don’t want to put in the effort to set up and live with good habits. Sometimes having good habits in certain areas is inconvenient. For example, you want to stay up late to do certain things, whether it’s work or partying, doesn’t matter. The point is you are sacrificing a good, consistent sleep routine for whatever you’re doing. That’s the root problem. That’s basically 80% of the problem of not having a good sleep schedule.
Other problems include habits or routines people do in the last few hours of the day, most notably diet and the environment you surround yourself with at night. Do you dim the lights or just use bright lights up until you head to bed? These drastically impact your ability to fall asleep quickly and your quality of sleep.
Most people know that, but they still don’t do it. So what’s the problem here? People either don’t have the knowledge, the discipline, or the reason to follow these good habits. The motivation is not strong enough because most of the time the negative effects are long term, not short term.
What if we can make it easier and more rewarding for people to sleep more consistently and have better sleep in general, without having to rely on some AI to provide blind feedback, scores, and metrics? Ultimately, it all comes down to:
- what you do before you sleep,
- what time you go to sleep, and
- what time you wake up. That is basically it. Notice how I didn’t mention “how you sleep”. Because that’s not in our control!
The solution?
Look, I’m not going to try to sell you a solution because each person has their own way of “fixing” their sleep. But if you’re someone like me who likes and gets motivated by charts and numbers of the things that YOU HAVE CONTROL OF, then I’d recommend you to try this simple (and completely free) sleep tracker that I built for anyone who’s had enough of all the other tracker’s bs. I’m not even wearing my watch at night anymore because I value the data that my app gives me. You can get instant access on iOS and join the waitlist for android: twilight.orbitlabs.studio
I will be documenting my journey of reaching 90% on all my metrics. I’m off to a VERY rough start but we’ll get there sooner than later
I’ll be posting my progress everyday on https://x.com/rami__maalouf so make sure you follow me in there :)