Best Smartwatches for Sleep Tracking 2024
In today's fast-paced world, getting a good night's sleep is essential for maintaining optimal health and well-being. Unfortunately, with the stressors of daily life and the lure of digital distractions, sleep can often be elusive. That's where smartwatches designed for sleep tracking come in. These wearable devices offer a high-tech solution to help you monitor your sleep patterns, understand your sleep quality, and even make adjustments to improve your rest.
With the right smartwatch, you can access a wealth of sleep-related data, including sleep stages, duration, interruptions, and even respiratory health. This article explores some of the best smartwatches for sleep tracking, highlighting their unique features, benefits, and drawbacks. Whether you're looking for a stylish device that blends in with your wardrobe or a dedicated fitness tracker focused on performance metrics, we've got you covered. Read on to discover which smartwatch suits your sleep tracking needs and helps you wake up feeling refreshed and ready to take on the day.
12 Best Smartwatches for Sleep Tracking
Samsung Galaxy Watch 6
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Review: The Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 boasts a larger, brighter display with thinner bezels, making it more aesthetically pleasing than its predecessor. It runs on a powerful Exynos W930 chipset with 2GB of RAM, ensuring smooth operation and seamless app transitions. The watch maintains its fitness and sports tracking credibility, offering accurate heart rate monitoring and untethered GPS. However, its battery life remains average, with an estimate of 30-40 hours depending on usage. The rotating bezel on the Galaxy Watch 6 Classic is slimmer and smoother to use, while the quick-release system for watch straps has been reimagined, allowing for easy customization (Expert Reviews) (Wareable).
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Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 Classic
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Review: The Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 Classic brings back the iconic rotating bezel, making navigation intuitive and tactile. It has a robust build with MIL-STD-810H durability and 5ATM water resistance, offering strong protection against water and dust. The display is clear and vibrant, with a large 1.5-inch Super AMOLED screen on the 44mm model. It features a powerful Exynos W930 processor with 2GB of RAM, ensuring smooth performance. However, battery life remains moderate, with around 30-40 hours depending on usage. The Classic's design is more traditional, appealing to those who prefer a classic watch look with advanced smartwatch functionality (Samsung).
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Withings Steel HR Sport
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Review: The Withings Steel HR Sport is a hybrid smartwatch that combines classic analog design with modern smart features. Its primary appeal is its traditional watch face with an added small OLED dial to show basic notifications, offering a discreet way to stay connected. The stainless steel body and silicone strap make it both durable and comfortable for everyday wear. With a water resistance of 50m, it's suitable for swimming and sports. The battery life is impressive, lasting up to 25 days on a single charge, which is a significant advantage over fully digital smartwatches. However, the small OLED display might be too minimalist for those who prefer more detailed information at a glance (Samsung).
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Apple Watch Series 9
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Review: The Apple Watch Series 9 continues Apple's legacy of excellence in smartwatches, featuring a stunning always-on Retina LTPO OLED display and a wide range of health and fitness tracking capabilities. With its premium build options including aluminum, stainless steel, titanium, and ceramic, it offers unmatched customization. The Series 9 excels in heart rate monitoring, ECG, blood oxygen tracking, and sleep tracking, providing comprehensive insights into users' health. However, its battery life remains a limitation, requiring daily charging, and its high price may deter budget-conscious buyers, but for Apple enthusiasts, it remains the pinnacle of smartwatch technology.
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Fitbit Sense 2
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Review: The Fitbit Sense 2 builds on its predecessor with advanced health tracking features, offering a comprehensive look at user wellness. It includes ECG capability, stress tracking through an EDA sensor, and skin temperature monitoring. With up to 6 days of battery life, the Sense 2 is among the most enduring smartwatches. Its AMOLED touchscreen is vibrant and responsive. However, its stress-tracking feature may feel complex to some, and the integration with the Fitbit app could be smoother. Overall, it's an excellent choice for those seeking deep insights into their health and wellness.
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Garmin Venu 2 Plus
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Review: The Garmin Venu 2 Plus is a premium smartwatch focused on fitness and health tracking. It features a vibrant 1.3-inch AMOLED display for crisp visuals, and its stainless steel body adds durability. The Venu 2 Plus offers a robust set of fitness and health features, including heart rate monitoring, blood oxygen tracking, sleep analysis, and stress tracking. It also supports various workouts and GPS-based activities. The battery life is excellent, lasting up to 9 days in smartwatch mode. However, the smartwatch is on the pricier side, and its Garmin Connect app interface might not be as intuitive as other brands.
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Amazfit GTS 4
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Review: The Amazfit GTS 4 offers an impressive array of features at an affordable price point. Its 1.65-inch AMOLED display provides vibrant visuals, while the aluminum alloy body ensures durability. With comprehensive fitness tracking capabilities, including heart rate monitoring, sleep analysis, SpO2 measurement, and stress tracking, it caters to health-conscious users. The long battery life of up to 12 days is another highlight. However, the software interface could be more intuitive, and some users may find the design lacks the premium feel of higher-end smartwatches.
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Polar Ignite 3
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Review: The Polar Ignite 3 is a feature-packed fitness smartwatch designed to help users achieve their health and fitness goals. Its 1.4-inch TFT color touch display provides clear visibility even in bright sunlight. With advanced fitness tracking capabilities including continuous heart rate monitoring, Sleep Plus Stages™, Nightly Recharge™, and FitSpark™ daily training guide, users can gain valuable insights into their overall well-being. However, the battery life may not be as long-lasting as some competitors, and the design could be more refined for everyday wear.
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Huawei Watch GT 3
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Review: The Huawei Watch GT 3 is a versatile smartwatch offering a sleek design and comprehensive fitness tracking features. It comes in two sizes, with a 1.43-inch AMOLED touchscreen for the 46mm model and a 1.32-inch AMOLED touchscreen for the 42mm model, providing bright and vibrant displays. The 5 ATM water resistance ensures durability, and the robust battery life, up to 14 days for the larger model, is impressive. The Watch GT 3 includes a wide range of workout modes, heart rate and SpO2 monitoring, and sleep tracking, providing a thorough fitness experience. However, its compatibility with non-Huawei devices might require some workarounds.
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TicWatch Pro 3 Ultra
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Review: The TicWatch Pro 3 Ultra stands out for its unique dual-layer display, combining a 1.4-inch AMOLED with an FSTN LCD, allowing it to switch between high and low power modes. The Snapdragon Wear 4100 processor ensures smooth performance, and the Wear OS platform provides access to a wide range of apps. Its battery life is impressive, offering up to 72 hours in Smart Mode and up to 45 days in Essential Mode. The smartwatch is designed for durability, with military-grade protection against environmental factors. It provides comprehensive fitness tracking features, including heart rate, SpO2, and sleep tracking, along with multi-sport modes.
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Fitbit Versa 4
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Review: The Fitbit Versa 4 is a versatile smartwatch designed to fit seamlessly into an active lifestyle. With a slim design and lightweight build, it's comfortable to wear during workouts and daily activities. The 1.58-inch AMOLED touchscreen offers vibrant visuals, and the battery life lasts up to 6 days on a single charge. It features over 20 exercise modes, heart rate monitoring, GPS, and SpO2 sensors, providing comprehensive fitness tracking. The Versa 4 is water-resistant up to 50 meters, making it suitable for swimming. Its compatibility with Fitbit OS offers easy integration with popular fitness apps and customization options.
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Garmin Forerunner 265
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Review: The Garmin Forerunner 265 is designed with runners and triathletes in mind, offering a comprehensive set of fitness tracking features. It has a 1.3-inch AMOLED touchscreen with vibrant visuals, ensuring high visibility even in bright sunlight. The battery life is impressive, with up to 13 days in smartwatch mode and up to 20 hours in GPS mode, allowing for extended tracking sessions. The Forerunner 265 is water-resistant up to 50 meters, making it suitable for swimming. With a range of sensors, it provides advanced metrics for running dynamics, VO2 max, training status, and recovery time, supporting athletes in optimizing their performance.
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What is the best smartwatch to monitor sleep?
The best smartwatch to monitor sleep largely depends on your specific needs, budget, and ecosystem preferences. Some of the top contenders for sleep tracking are:
Your choice among these will depend on your preferred platform, existing devices, and other factors like budget and style preferences.
Do smartwatches track sleep accurately?
Smartwatches track sleep with varying degrees of accuracy. Generally, they use sensors like accelerometers, gyroscopes, and heart rate monitors to detect movement and physiological changes during sleep. Most modern smartwatches can distinguish between different sleep stages (like REM, light, and deep sleep) and provide an overall sleep score or analysis.
However, factors like the watch's design, sensor sensitivity, and individual sleep patterns can influence accuracy. While they can offer useful insights, smartwatches are not as precise as medical-grade sleep studies, which use polysomnography to measure brain activity, muscle activity, and other parameters.
Smartwatches are effective for general sleep tracking and identifying patterns over time, but they may not capture every aspect of sleep with perfect accuracy. If you need clinical-level accuracy, a professional sleep study is recommended.
What's the best device to track sleep?
The best device to track sleep depends on whether you want a dedicated sleep tracker or a multipurpose smartwatch. Some of the top sleep-tracking devices are:
The best device for you depends on your personal preferences, ecosystem, and whether you want a dedicated sleep tracker or a multi-functional smartwatch.
Is Fitbit or Garmin better for sleep tracking?
Fitbit and Garmin both offer sleep-tracking capabilities, but they approach it in different ways. Here's how they compare in terms of sleep tracking:
Overall, if you prioritize user-friendly sleep tracking with a focus on health and wellness, Fitbit is a great choice. If you are an athlete or fitness enthusiast looking for a broader set of features along with sleep tracking, Garmin might be better for you. The choice ultimately depends on your specific needs and preferences.