Do you have orthosomnia?

Thanks to technology, fitness trackers and sleep apps measure the number of hours and minutes you slept, sleep heart rate, awake time, etc. If you wear fitness trackers and install sleep apps through which you constantly track details of your sleep patterns, and get anxious and obsessed about not having completed your target of eight hours of sleep and other aspects shown to you, chances are that you are suffering from orthosomnia. We asked experts to shed light on the matter...

Dubbed ‘orthosomnia’, Dr Carmel Harrington from Sleep For Health (a website) says it can be a real problem for some individuals. “We get people who use fitness trackers and they become obsessed by the numbers. It’s the same as if someone had walked 9,999 steps in one day... they have to do the 10,000 steps to feel like they have achieved their target. This is ultimately very counter productive because the anxiety produces alert hormones like cortisol and adrenaline that will keep you awake,” she continued. Over time if the condition isn’t managed a person can become hyper-alert and struggle with large spells of insomnia.

If you find yourself crunching the numbers every day, take off the tech. Dr Harrington said, “What you need to do is monitor yourself — if you feel you’re getting anxious you need to stop wearing it. You should become very clever with checking for early warning signs and manage it before things get out of control,” she said. Keep in mind, the tech is based on taking an average and isn’t equivalent to actually checking your REM or dream sleep levels in a lab.

Information isn’t accurate

Dr Anamika Rathore, consultant ENT surgeon (obstructive sleep apnoea, endoscopic surgeon), Bhatia Hospital and Bombay Hospital agrees with the findings of the study that sleep apps and fitness trackers that track sleep can in fact be counter-productive. She gives a number of reasons. “That’s because very few parameters are recorded. These apps and devices measure the quantity of time slept and not the quality, which is more important. They don’t measure important factors like broken sleep, how many times one wakes up during sleep, turns around/ change of sleeping positions, sleep apnoea, REM  cycles, etc. Also, not everyone has the same sleep pattern. Some people are late night sleepers while some sleep early, some can do with lesser hours of sleep while some others can’t. The average person doesn’t really need these gadgets and devices to measure sleep. They’re good for knowledge but not for diagnosis, so, if one is having trouble sleeping, it’s better to see a doctor and check for symptoms than to rely on the vague information provided by these apps and devices.” 

People tend to get obsessed and anxious

Mansi Hasan, clinical psychologist and psychotherapist, tobacco treatment specialist, too agrees with the study and has interacted with clients who go through orthosomnia syndrome. At times, it’s also parents too become anxious about how much the child is sleeping, walking, etc. “People tend to become obsessive about the number of steps they have taken, how deep is their sleep, how many hours of deep sleep are they getting, etc. Putting oneself under constant pressure to perform day-to-day activities such as eating, sleeping, walking! Setting targets every day to do the basics and not achieving them causes anxiety,” she says.

Sleep apps and tracking devices can be counter-productive to sleep

Dr Rathore also adds that obsessing over keeping a track on one’s sleep patterns via apps and devices can cause anxiety, which is counter-productive to sleep. “People obsess over achieving a target and when they don’t, they get anxious. People are wired that way. One doesn’t necessarily have to complete a target of eight hours of sleep. 

Sometimes, one may not feel refreshed even with eight hours of sleep, sometimes one feels refreshed even with a lesser hours of sleep but then don’t ruin the experience by obsessing over not completing the target. Also, tracking information on your phone before bedtime contributes to mental stimulation and the bright light of the screen interferes with quality sleep, too,” explains she who has observed such cases in her practice. 

Who are prone to orthosomnia?

Hasan says it is more prevalent in the age group of 16-25 years as they are more tech-savvy. “They are also the ones who want to go out there and do things differently. Women again are more prone than men... probably because they are relatively more weight conscious and anxiety prone. Two out of five clients using these apps and gadgets are observed to go through this. However, for some it is a fad and dies down while for others it can become a obsession,” she adds.