Measuring sleep apnea with Fitbit

[Deckchair]

Hi does anyone who has a Fitbit watch witch connects to your phone to measure sleep apnea ( I have A.F and asthma and C.O.P.D) when you wear it at night on your wrist do you have to sleep with your arm out with your phone in close proximity to measure your sleep pattern or can you have your arm under bedclothes, thank you I would appreciate your reply’s

[Hidden]

I would be very wary about relying on a Fitbit for such a purpose. Some of their devices are FDA validated for detecting AF, but not for sleep apnea to the best of my knowledge. I returned mine to the store I bought it from when its showed that I had woken up thirty times during the night after I had slept soundly. If you suspect sleep apnea it would be better to discuss with your GP.

[Megams]

~Short answer for my situation is no. I don't know if there is such a thing?!Have you been tested for s/a?

I purchased Fitbit luxe recently to monitor h/r, amount of sleep + steps only.My 4 year CPAP (Fisher & Paykel Healthcare) Sleep Style model machine has memory stick which records sleep -I can pop into my portal on laptop which downloads to Sleep Centre who diagnosed me if I need to check anything out. Don't know if this is of any help to you but going through the right channels helped me tremendously.

Good luck ~

[mav7 in reply to Megams]

Can you briefly explain how sleep apnea is diagnosed/tested ?

I agree with comments the Fitbit would be very questionable.

[Deckchair in reply to mav7]

It is diagnosed at a sleep clinic in hospital , you stay overnight, and you are wired up all over your head and body which is fed into a computer to measure your sleep and breathing and they can see then if you have sleep apnea

[mav7 in reply to Deckchair]

Thanks !

Forgot to ask, was your sleep apnea possibility diagnosed on an EKG, heart monitor, or other symptoms ?

[Deckchair in reply to mav7]

Hi as I said I did have wires all over me, and also a heart monitor, as I had been diagnosed with A.F apparently sleep apnea can trigger A.F.

[mav7 in reply to Deckchair]

Certainly appreciate your info.

I too am in persistent AF and aware of its relation to sleep apnea. Don't really have symptoms of sleep apnea, but need to be evaluated.

Thanks, again !

[CDreamer in reply to mav7]

My test was at home. I went to the sleep clinic, got wired up in the afternoon, removed everything the following morning & returned to the hospital. From memory sensors for heart - ecg pads, brain, O2 sats & breathing rate. I know the physiologist who set me up said it was £10k worth of equipment. All info went into a mobile device.

All the smart watches do is measure movement, heart rate & some o2 sats but expect less than 80% accuracy forum even the best.

[Megams in reply to Deckchair]

~No hospital stay here - was fitted in Specialist's office & sent home. Detached wires myself as instructed & couriered monitor/leads next morning with packaging provided - easy & convenient ~

[Deckchair in reply to mav7]

I also forgot to mention it is in a quiet room by yourself

[Deckchair in reply to Deckchair]

I am constantly in A.F

[Megams in reply to mav7]

~Was fitted with 24 hour recording monitor. This ascertained that I stopped breathing 19 times per hr - diagnosis, mild sleep apnea. Never looked back since being on CPAP (5 years) altho would suggest there has been some damage to heart as complained 20+ years ago ~

[DevonHubby1]

I can't comment on sleep apnea itself but my Fitbit Charge 4 does not need to be connected to the phone at all times. It does try to 'sync' at regular times but can cope with a long period between syncs. Also the technology that connects them is Bluetooth which has a range of a few meters so in my case where the phone is on my bedside table I don't need to have my arm out of bed for it to connect.

[Desanthony]

I really don’t think it is good enough to measure sleep patterns. Mine frequently tells me I have been asleep for many hours when I have been awake and sitting in the chair watching TV on the nights I am awake with a bad back. If you believe you have SA then ask to be referred to a specialist clinic.

[Mugsy15]

Fitbit stores the info so it doesn't matter where your phone is when you're sleeping; the next time you open the Fitbit app on your phone and sync the two devices, the info will be transferred.I have a Fitbit Sense and what that shows in the sleep info section is a chart of variations in your blood oxygen over the night. High variations indicate the times your breathing has stopped.

I agree with previous comments about accuracy but while you can't treat Fitbit as a precision medical instrument I do think you can see general trends.

For example in my case the timings of my recorded deep sleep usually correspond to when my O2 variations are high, so I can be pretty sure I've had apneoa. (It's not every night.)

[lwm1198]

I found my Fitbit helpful in showing sleep interruptions and also low oxygen...