Sleep tracking in the real world: a qualitative study into barriers for improving sleep

Wearable devices like Fitbit and Apple Watch provide convenient access to personal information about sleep habits. However, it is unclear if awareness of one's sleep habits also translates into improved sleep. Hence, we conducted an interview study with 12 people who track their sleep with Fitbit devices to investigate if they have managed to improve their sleep and to examine potential barriers for improving sleep. The participants reported increased awareness of sleep habits, but none of the participants managed to improve their sleep. They faced three barriers in improving their sleep: (1) not knowing what is normal sleep, (2) not being able to diagnose the reasons for a lack of sleep, and (3) not knowing how to act. This paper discusses how to address these barriers, both conceptually as well through design considerations - reference points, connections to lifestyle data, and personalised recommendations - to help users gain improvements in wellbeing from their personal data.