Sleep is a funny thing.

It’s seems that the older we get, it doesn’t matter how much we sleep - we still end up waking up tired!

But it turns out there’s plenty we can do to sleep better though.

Dan Ford, a qualified Sleep Specialist and Psychologist and Fitbit’s sleep expert, spoke with Billie to answer all our sleep questions.

Plus, Assistant Editor Ruby gave the new Fitbit Premium Sleep Profile feature a go to see if she could in fact sleep better!

Sleep is important for everyone but why even more so for teenagers?

Teenage years are when your brain is going through rapid development "wiring in connections" that contribute to emotional, physical, and cognitive performance in later life. It's a time when your brain is more sensitive and vulnerable to shocks and disruptions such as sleep loss.

So the impact is greater on teens and, while they won't realise it, poor sleep affects them more than it would an adult with a mature brain and that’s why is very important for them to keep track of their sleep.

What’s the ultimate amount of sleep for a teenager?

This will differ from person to person with some needing more, some needing less.

In terms of ideal, it seems to be just over 9hrs. And interestingly, this sleep need number does not change from ages 10 to 17yrs.

Research does suggest a minimum for teenagers: cognitive/mental performance in teenagers rapidly drops off after less than 8 hours of sleep. So this should be the minimum.

40% of NZ teens aged 13-17 report less than 8hrs sleep.

These would be simple “target” numbers that you could track with your Fitbit and then use the feedback to modify your behaviour to try to get more sleep where needed.

What about the time it takes to get to sleep?

Studies (of adults) suggest most people are falling asleep between 5- 30mins. More than 30mins to fall asleep is longer than the majority of the adult population (I would think this would apply to teens as well).

Again, your Fitbit would quantify how long you’re taking to fall asleep and whether this is an area for concern. If you are struggling, the Fitbit provides advice on winddown routines, and takes you through relaxing activities like guided meditations so you can get a sense of whether “I’m too activated” to sleep or if that doesn’t help, perhaps there’s something else going on.

Is always good to allow yourself at least 30-45mins before bedtime to wind down, with one of Fitbit’s guided meditations in partnership with Calm App or Deepak Chopra for a blissful pre-bed routine.

How do you know if you aren’t getting enough sleep other than just being tired?

(First, we like to distinguish between sleepiness (can't stay awake) and fatigue (have no energy) rather than use the word "tired" which can mean either. The two conditions are separate (but can occur together)).

Being sleepy during the day (not being able to stay awake) is a sure sign of not getting enough sleep. For teens we'll often see being emotionally reactive (getting upset easily, moody, feeling down, anxious etc) as indicators of poor sleep. (Ask a parent if they notice any difference in your mood after you've had a late night up with mates etc. They'll tell you ;))

Note: the more sleep deprived we get, the less able we are to notice the change in our behaviour so you are best to take the feedback from others.
Research also suggests poor academic performance, inability to concentrate and focus, getting in trouble at school/home/legally are all outcomes of poor sleep in teens.

Your Fitbit can also give you feedback on whether you’re getting enough sleep for your age by the comparison data it gives in the app. The comparison data would also give a sense of whether you’re experiencing other “sleep stealers” such as more sleep fragmentation than others (a big contributor to fatigue) and feedback on snoring (which can indicate sleep related breathing issues) and a high resting heart rate during sleep (which could indicate restless, non-refreshing sleep).

What effects can a bad sleep have on the body?

Poor cognitive (mental) performance. Teens with less sleep get lower grades, poor attention, and make riskier decisions (i.e. do dumb stuff)

Increase in mental health disorder - depression, suicidality, anxiety
Increase risk of obesity - increase in insulin resistance, increased arousal of the stress system, increased hunger
Decreased physical performance (e.g. reaction times, running speed, jumping height etc)

With your Fitbit you can track stress levels (via Heart Rate Variability) and this partially reflects adequate sleep, so it is a simple way to quantify and see, in real time, the effects poor sleep will be having on stress and physiological measures such as heart rate.

Why is it that even if I'm getting 8+ hours of sleep, I can still wake up feeling tired?

Note the need to distinguish between sleepy or fatigued. If you're meaning fatigue there can be a variety of explanations for this starting with:

Excessive variation of wake times (this creates "social jet lag"). Teens often sleep late on weekends compared to weekdays. This throws out the body clock (which likes a regular wake time) resulting in fatigue and lethargy just like if you had jetlag.
Lack of exercise (your body and brain are designed to move, not sit/lie around all day)
Lack of sunlight (direct sunlight helps you feel more alert and boosts mood)
Spending too much time in bed (would result in lack of exercise and sunlight)

Teens also experience a shift in their body clock (circadian rhythm) to a later time which can mean they can't fall asleep until later (11pm ish) and consequently there body clock is not as alert in the mornings. This can also mean more sleep inertia in the mornings.

There are some sleep disorders that contribute to excessive sleepiness (hypersomnolence disorder; obstructive sleep apnoea).

Fitbit sleep tracking will score you on keeping to regular bed and wake times (wake time especially important here) and so will give you feedback on things like sleeping in too long via a poor sleep score. Likewise, if you’re not getting enough movement during the day this will be picked up in activity measure like step counts.

Is screen-time affecting our sleep?

Multiple studies in adolescents have demonstrated that electronics exposure in the evening disrupts sleep. The use of multiple electronic devices at the same time has been associated with less sleep at night, delays to falling asleep, and a greater degree of sleepiness during the daytime.

You can set your Fitbit up to give you reminders to start to winddown for sleep and this could also be a time to put devices away for the night.

Do girls sleep differently to boys?

Overall women sleep a little more than men, but report poorer sleep. 2-3 weeks before menstruation up to 80% of females complain of feeling tired, and this is associated with insomnia (trouble sleeping) or hypersomnia (excessive sleepiness).

Fitbit has a menstrual health tracking feature so this could be used, along with sleep tracking, to get an idea of whether sleep is being impacted by your period.

Is it bad to nap?

Not generally if it's short (10mins) it can keep you alert and improve learning and performance. But if you need to nap because you're sleepy then you aren't getting enough sleep and you should prioritize night time sleep and not nap (because late naps are like "sleep snacks" that ruin your "sleep appetite" come bedtime and make it hard to fall asleep).

Why is it important to understand what kind of sleeper you are?

I think that teens, because they possibly aren't paying attention to the importance of sleep, are one of the populations that can benefit from something like the Fitbit sleep tracking and profiles on Fitbit Premium.

All change starts with awareness. The profiles can raise awareness of the patterns of sleep you're keeping and Fitbit has some handy tools built into the software that support keeping better patterns (reminders) and practices (winddown activities etc).

There's also general education on sleep and you can compare your sleep to general averages that someone at your age and stage should roughly be getting (pay attention if you're way off and you don't feel very good). I’ve also noted above under different questions how Fitbit can be used in more specific ways to track different aspects of sleep for people to gain a greater understanding of how they’re sleeping.

How can the Fitbit Sleep Profile help you to sleep better?

The Fitbit Premium Sleep Profile feature makes sleep data easier to interpret with fun animal characters. After 14 days of sleep data, you will be allocated one of six animal sleep profiles that best describes the type of sleeper you are.

Each sleep profile suggests potentially different issues e.g. dolphin might indicate irregular and insufficient sleep. Giraffe may be regular but short sleep. So those are suggestions about what you might want to target to improve your sleep IF you aren't feeling good emotionally and physically during your day.

Billie Reviews: FitBit Sleep Profiles.

To notice the effectiveness of putting Dan’s tips into practice, Billie's Assistant Editor Ruby tried out FitBit Premium’s sleep analysis feature. Each morning she woke up to tonnes of useful and interesting stats that detailed the ups and downs of her sleep. She loved uncovering her sleep habits and trends, and were amazed at how FitBit does such a detailed deep-dive into something that we too often take for granted.

Initially she noticed that she was awake for several short periods during the night - over thirty times some nights. However, when reading the sleep reports on the FitBit app, she was enlightened to the fact that it's normal to wake up multiple times in the night.

A handy feature of the FitBit sleep analysis is the simple snapshot of whether or not you caught some quality zzzzz’s through a ‘sleep score’ out of 100. Ruby's sleep scores were often in the 60s-70s which wasn't too shabby, but could use some improvement. She noted that more often than not her deepest sleep was in the first half of the night. She learnt that deep sleep and REM sleep are key to an overall quality sleep, but that you cannot control how much of these types of sleep you get.

FitBit suggested that to better her chances at a settled, restful sleep she should try adapt her habits throughout the day. Even though she was getting seven-eight hours of sleep each night, she was advised to shift her sleep schedule to begin earlier in the evening. Additionally she was recommended to avoid screentime, exercise and sugar near bedtime to wake up as refreshed as possible.

Ruby remarks that the cutest feature of them all is the way that FitBit allocates you a sleep animal which depicts how you have been sleeping. Going forward, she's trying her best to sleep like a bear, by having a consistent sleep schedule, falling into a sound sleep quickly, and upping her proportions of deep and REM sleep.

You can check out more about Fitbit Sleep Profiles and other cool features on their website.