Musings from Philippe

We looked at sleep and activity data for several years, looking at both Sleeptracker® and MotionX® activity information. The data clearly shows similar patterns from year to year. Thanksgiving and the Holidays, in general, change our sleep and activity levels significantly. Here is an article form the New York Time that discusses some of this impact:

https://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/20/health/nutrition/20well.html#sleep

We know that heart rate throughout the night is a sign-post of health and recovery. So we asked, “is it true that the more we sleep, the lower the average heart rate is throughout the night?”

The data shows that this is not necessarily the case, and that includes our weekly work schedules and weekend opportunity to sleep in.

For example, on average, we spend the most wake-time on Fridays, and as the graph shows, our average heart rates are higher on Friday nights. During the corresponding Saturday mornings, we tend to sleep in and our sleep durations end up longer, yet our heart rates throughout the night are higher.

One possible explanation is an increase in REM sleep when the heart rate is generally elevated. Of course, “lifestyle” (alcohol and larger / later meals) also contribute to elevated heart rates measured on Friday and Saturday nights.

For the last four years, Sleeptracker AI data has recorded significant disruption in sleep patterns during the fall when we wind the clock back, losing an hour of daylight. In comparison, the state of Arizona does not change its time for Daylight Saving Time. As a result, their data does not show a disruption. 

The following link points to a recent discussion on “CBS This Morning” regarding the potential impacts of fall sleep disruption. youtu.be/Bk8zqWKeLy0

Daylight Saving Time disrupts our sleep. Twice a year, every year. Sleep Disruption! Arizona and Hawaii get it right! The data shows that the switch back and forth to and from Summertime affects us all, night owls as much as morning larks. Both are affected in the same way, on average about three weeks of sleep pattern disruption per year.

We all live in a sleep-deprived society, regardless of age. In the graphic below, we studied sleep deficits from Fullpower’s PSG-level Sleeptracker AI platform. Of course, we should all sleep longer, but the reality of modern life is that we only have so much of a “sleep budget” given the constraints of family, work, social media, etc. Therefore, a complementary focus is on the quality of sleep: Improving sleep quality for better sleep is important. For that purpose, bedding, mattress quality, respiratory environment, and temperature control are very important as some of us sleep hot (mostly males) and some of us want to be warmer. All of the above are potentially big contributors to sleep quality, or what we know as restful sleep.

Of note here, women typically average less of a sleep deficit than males.

This plot assumes a target sleep time of 8.5 hours for those under 22 and 8 hours for those above 22. In line with recommendations from the National Sleep Foundation:  //www.sleepfoundation.org/articles/how-much-sleep-do-we-really-need. It’s “conservative” for those under 22 meaning you could increase it and show even more of a deficit for that age group (just shifts the y-axis labels).

This week at Fullpower, we continue to drill down our accurate multi-year data set that comprises 250+ million nights of sleep. We now discovered previously un-identified seasonal patterns correlating continuous Breathe and heart rate over a couple of years. The Fullpower Sleeptracker platform captures continuous breath and heart rate throughout the night.

Seasonal changes occur with higher breath rates in the summer and lower in the winter. This is similar to what was observed in this independent study in Japan. 

Our AI-powered analytics discovered this new correlation, and found the “inverse” breath correlations which seem to be published in this post for the first time ever as we couldn’t find this science published anywhere! Fascinating power of our long term PSG-grade datasets and tools!

This week at Fullpower, we continue to drill down our accurate multi-year data set that comprises 250+ million nights of sleep. We found some new interesting weekly patterns within the previously identified seasonal patterns. This infographic shows weekly zoomed-in in heart rate. The Fullpower Sleeptracker platform captures continuous heart rate throughout the night.

Seasonal changes occur with lower heart rates in the summer and higher in the winter. This same pattern was also observed in this independent study in Japan. Our AI-powered analytics discovered this independently, and then we found the very interesting Japan paper https://lnkd.in/gNpi7ub .

Notice week after week, there is a consistent weekly cycle with lower heart rates early in the week leading to higher heart rates on the weekends and then recovery. Interesting.