I’m a Tech Reporter Who Stopped Tracking My Sleep – and I Love It
Sleep tracking sits in a tricky middle ground: it can be genuinely helpful for spotting patterns, but it can also turn rest into another performance metric. The biggest issue here is not whether the data is “accurate enough” in a technical sense, but whether seeing it every morning changes behaviour in a useful way. For some people, a score nudges better routines; for others, it becomes a weekly or daily judgment that heightens stress.
That distinction matters because sleep is shaped by context. Parenting, work schedules, late-night creativity and intermittent disruptions can make “ideal” sleep hygiene hard to follow consistently. In that setting, a wearable may overemphasize what the user failed to control while underweighting the realities that actually caused the shortfall. The result can be more shame than insight, especially when the metrics flatten complex nights into a single score or readiness number.
There is also a behavioural trade-off: tracking can sometimes backfire by encouraging compensatory habits such as extra caffeine, reduced exercise or anxious bedtime monitoring. That does not mean sleep tech is unhelpful overall; it means its value depends on temperament, life stage and how intensely the numbers are used. For people who feel more informed than judged, the tool may support healthier choices. For people who feel policed by the data, taking a break can be a reasonable way to protect wellbeing.
The broader lesson is not to reject sleep tracking outright, but to treat it as optional. Wearables are best understood as decision aids, not authorities. If the feedback improves rest without increasing rumination, it may be worth keeping. If it repeatedly turns sleep into a source of anxiety, stepping away can be the healthier experiment.
Sleep itself comes easily, but getting there is the problem
To me, the topic of sleep has always been straightforward. I know how much sleep I should be getting to feel rested, and the things I need to do to get me there: Steer clear of caffeine after 3 p.m., avoid screens before bed, go to bed at a certain time and wake up 8 hours later. If I feel tired the next day, I can usually pinpoint the exact reason without even glancing at my sleep data. I’m also a big fan of sleep in all its forms — sound sleep, cat naps, food comas — so in theory, I should have no issue getting the recommended amount of sleep and receiving nothing but praise from my tracker. Instead, all I get are passive-aggressive digs at my life choices.The culprits
One of the main culprits is kids. Starting at pregnancy, a full night’s rest is as elusive as the hot rabbi from Nobody Wants This. There’s no “parent of small kids” mode I can activate on my sleep tracker, so this is one factor I have zero control over. It’s not just the kids. There’s a reason Hollywood often portrays writers as insomniacs who procrastinate well into the night; for some of us, evenings are where we find our groove (I may or may not be writing this article late at night). There’s something about nighttime that makes my creative brain come to life, and nothing takes you out of the zone faster than an alert from your smartwatch reminding you of your bedtime. Last, there’s doomscrolling, which is basically our generation’s version of a nightcap. All of this amounts to a whole lot of sleep shaming from my wearable devices. “Your sleep score is deplorable.” “You need rest.” “Your Body Battery is low.” As a sleep-deprived, breastfeeding mother, I’ve been one alert away from throwing my tracker in the blender. The few nights I do get the full 8 hours, I’m again met with a disappointing sleep score, because lo and behold, I was on my computer before bed, or rolled around too much and wasn’t in “deep sleep” long enough to fill up my tank. What I thought would be an energetic, productive day winds up being a self-fulfilling prophecy of self-pity. It has the same crushing effect as crawling into bed and realizing you didn’t close your move rings for the day on the Apple Watch. Except the sleep data hits you first thing in the morning like a cold dose of reality hitting you across the face. Having that verdict in writing only locks in my exhaustion. I’m more likely to indulge in that extra cup of coffee (which will then affect my sleep), less likely to push myself to work out and more likely to snap at my husband and kids.Ignorance is bliss
I know there will come a time when nights become more predictable and life gets less hectic, which is why I’m only swearing off sleep tracking temporarily. I acknowledge that there is a lot to gain from these features when used intentionally. Until then, I will continue living in complete ignorance. With everything else going on in my life as a mom of three, unplugging from sleep data is the healthiest option for me.Enjoyed this article? Sign up for our newsletter to receive regular insights and stay connected.