Use the Sleep app for Apple Watch Sleep Tracking

How well do you sleep? Good, fair, or poor? If you’re falling short of answering these questions, try using the Apple Watch Sleep Tracking feature. Yes, in addition to monitoring your heart rate, counting the number of steps taken, and time spent standing, Apple Watch can help you get a good sleep. Here's how!

How to enable Apple Watch Sleep Tracking feature?

Apple Watch Sleep Tracking capability helps you keep tabs on your sleep routine. That way, you can learn about your sleep habits and create a better routine. To get started, simply launch the Sleep app on Apple Watch, and follow these instructions to create bedtime schedules and meet your sleep goals.

1. Open the Sleep app on your Apple Watch. Follow the on-screen instructions to set up the app.
2. Scroll down to tap Full Schedule.
3. Again, scroll down and tap the Add Another Schedule option.
4. Here, you should see a suggestion of days to include. To change it, simply tap the days.
5. Tap the Alarm icon to choose a wake-up time.
6. Tap the Set option to move on.
7. Scroll down, check your bedtime.
8. Touch and hold the bottom of the display and swipe up.
9. Tap the Sleep icon to enable the Sleep mode.
10. Get your sleep summary.

We’ll cover the above steps for Apple Watch Sleep Tracking under 3 different headings. Let’s start!

1] Add a Sleep Schedule

Before you begin, make sure you’ve enabled Sleep app and turned on Sleep tracking in Apple Watch. For this, simply open the app on your watch and follow the on-screen instructions. Make sure, you are running WatchOS 7 or higher on your Smartwatch.

Open the app and scroll down to tap Full Schedule.

Scroll down to tap the Add Another Schedule option. Here, you should see a suggestion of days to include. To change it, simply tap the days.

Now, Tap the Alarm icon to choose a wake-up time.

Tap the Set option to move on. It is important, you wear your watch to bed to track your sleep.

2] Use Sleep Mode

Check your bedtime in the app. You should see a suggestion here, based on the sleep goal you set earlier at the time of adding the schedule.

Tap the Sleep icon to enable the Apple Watch Sleep mode. For this, simply touch and hold the bottom of the display and swipe up. Enable the option by tapping it.

Once you are awake, you’ll hear the sound of alarm and feel a tap on the wrist.

Dismiss the Alarm to turn off the Sleep Mode.

Note - Sleep mode activates the ‘Do not disturb’ setting and disables the ‘Raise-to-wake’ option.

3] Get your Sleep Summary

Open the Sleep app for Apple Watch and scroll down to get the summary of your sleep time along with the number of times you woke up.

Once, you’ve tracked your sleep habits for a while (let’s say for a week) you’ll have a fair understanding of your sleeping habits, compared to a week before.

How does smartwatch know I'm sleeping?

Most Smartwatches use an actigraph device that’s usually worn on the wrist. It tracks the movements of your body while you're sleeping. A built-in software helps it translate those movements into periods of sleep and wake.

Apple Watch not tracking sleep?

For Apple Watch to track your sleep data accurately, it is essential that you wear your Apple Watch at a comfortable fit. If your watch is too loose, the accelerometer might register too much movement during your natural sleep. Also, if your watch battery dies, it will fail to track your sleep data. So, make sure your smartwatch is charged sufficiently to record all observations.

Does Apple watch track sleep automatically?

It does! However, you’ll need to turn ‘On’ the Sleep Mode in the Sleep app. Just set a bedtime and wake-up time and let the smartwatch track your sleep automatically.

What is a good sleep quality score?

It’s a combination of multiple factors like the amount of time spent in bed, movements in bed, time spent in deep sleep, and the number of instances where the app registered you as fully awake.

Depending on these, you can compare the current week summary with your previous week's summary and arrive at a Sleep Quality score (showing percentage change). Any value ranging between 35-40% value should be considered as a good sleep quality score.

If you find yourself falling short on any of these indicators, make some adjustments to your sleep routine.

Some very easy changes, like turning off the television (TV) and computer an hour before bed or turning the room completely dark 30 minutes before your bedtime can help improve your odds of catching a good night’s sleep.

Source - Apple Support Page.