Sleep is an important aspect of your overall health and well being. If you doesn’t get enough rest, it can affect other elements of your everyday life. That’s why it’s important to track the amount of sleep that you get every night in some form or another.
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What You Need
An Apple Watch
If you have an Apple Watch, then you may use that to track your sleep every night. Apple added native sleep tracking to the Apple Watch in 2020, though it was pretty basic and barebones. In 2022 with watchOS 9, Apple improved the experience with sleep stages.
Here’s how to track your sleep with an Apple Watch, whether it’s an older model or a newApple Watch Series 9orApple Watch Ultra 2.
How to set up sleep tracking on your Apple Watch
Before you can start tracking sleep with your iPhone and Apple Watch, you need to get it set up first. Here’s how to set up sleep tracking for your Apple Watch right from your iPhone.
Step 1:Open theHealth appon your iPhone.
Step 2:If you’ve never set up sleep tracking before, you should see a screen that saysSet Up Sleep. Select theGet Startedbutton.
Step 3:You will now get on-screen prompts to set up your own personalizedSleep Goals,Bedtime and Wakeup Times,Sleep Focus, andTrack Sleep with Apple Watch. In order for the last option to show up, you need to have paired your Apple Watch with your iPhone first.
How to change your sleep goals
Once you get Sleep set up on the iPhone and Apple Watch, sometimes you may need to adjust your sleep goal. While eight hours is the norm, you may want more or less, depending on your needs and lifestyle. Here’s how to change your sleep goals.
Step 2:SelectBrowseandsearchforSleep. For easier access, add it as aFavoriteto show up in theSummary(scroll all the way down and selectAdd to Favorites).
Step 3:UnderSleep, selectFull Schedule and Options.
Step 4:Scroll down to find yourSleep Goal. Select it and adjust it to your preference.
How to customize your sleep schedule
Typically, you’ll have a pretty routine sleep schedule. But sometimes you’ll have to make adjustments for the weekend or vacation, for example. Here’s how to customize your sleep schedule.
Step 2:SelectSleep.
Step 3:If you just want to change yourNext Wake Up Only, scroll down toYour Scheduleand selectEditunder theNextin theYour Schedulesection.
Step 4:Adjust the dial as needed.
Step 5:If you want to update yourFull Schedule, selectFull Schedule and Options.
Step 6:Select theEdit buttonon theScheduleyou want to adjust.
Step 7:Make adjustments with the dial and verify to select the days for it to be active.
Step 8:SelectDoneto save your changes.
How to view your sleep tracking details
After you have everything set up properly, your Apple Watch will gather your sleep data when you wear it to bed, and it will sync with your iPhone automatically. You can always check your sleep tracking details to see how your sleep was.
Step 2:SelectSleep. By default, it will show you theDailyview for the bar graph. You can change it to view the past week, month, or six months of history by selecting the tab for your preferred view.
Step 3:SelectShow More Sleep Dataif you want to see additional details.
Step 4:In this view, you can seeStages,Amounts, andComparisons.
Stagesshows the time and percentage you spent awake or in REM, Core, or Deep sleep.
Amountshas your sleep duration details like Average Time in Bed and Average Time Asleep.
Comparisonsshows heart rate and respiratory rate in relation to the time you spent asleep.
Step 5:For those who have an Apple Watch Series 3 or later with watchOS 8, you’re able to also viewRespiratory Ratedata. If that isn’t already in your Favorites for quick access, selectBrowsein the Health app and search forRespiratory Rate.
Getting rest and enough sleep each day is an important step towards a healthy lifestyle and your overall wellbeing. It means you’ll have enough energy to get through the day without the need for stimulants like caffeine. Having aniPhoneand an Apple Watch make it easier than ever to track your sleep each night, so if you have the devices, make sure to take advantage of the health sensors that make this possible.
