As well I can relate to changing habits because of measuring sleep. I used it as a controlling device for experiment with dropping alcohol & coffee, for instance, and results were clear as day.
* It automatically calculates what time you need to go to bed if you're running a sleep deficit. (And it calculates how much of a sleep deficit or surplus you have.)
* Most useful of all, it gives me at least 1-2 days of early warning that I might be running a fever or flu - as I see my heart rate, which is usually quite consistent from night to night, leap 5 or 6 BPM over consecutive days.
This is especially important to know during the current outbreak. I can then do whatever I need to do early to shorten the length of whatever illness I might have (take vitamins/extra rest/fluids/etc.)
It also records a history, so you have a record of roughly when the fever starts and ends based on your heart rate, which you can then share with your doctor if necessary.
Basically the main things were:
- Avoiding alcohol at night entirely (and no more than 1 if it was a social event I felt like drinking at) - Running for at least 3 miles at about 70-80% max heart rate (or shorter distances with higher intensity) guarantees a night of at least 2.5 hours of deep sleep and up to 3.5 according to the app. Otherwise I average around 1 hour of deep sleep on a normal day. - I'm a type 1 diabetic so sleeping with my blood sugar at around 80 mg/dL means I get a full night of restful sleep. When I'm above 120 mg/dL I start losing quality sleep, and above 200 mg/dL I get no deep sleep and low amounts of quality sleep with a higher heart rate.
All these things before the app I had a gut feeling they were minor impacts on my sleep, but turns out they were incredibly impactful. Looking back at my time in college makes me wonder sometimes how much knowledge I didn't retain or learn due to poor sleep and health habits. Hindsight is 20/20 though.
I charge it in the evening, when I'm relaxing reading or watching TV. I can usually get it to 100% before I go to bed. If not, I'll put it on the first time I wake up to urinate that night.
By the time it gets to the next evening, it is usually at 55-65%.
If I forget to charge it in the evening (e.g, I fall asleep while reading or watching TV), it would probably make it fine to the next evening. In those cases, though, I'll stick it on the charger while I shower and have breakfast. That's more than enough to ensure no problem getting to the evening.
I don't know how accurate it is in terms of tracking restless legs unless the movement of your legs causes movement of your upper body that would impact watch acceleration sensors and gyroscope?
Quality sleep seems to have a cascading impact on the rest of life so this app has been hands down the most useful purchase I've ever made in the software category.