How a sleep clinic helped me overcome my tracker obsession and solved my nighttime worries

My quest for optimum rest became an obsession. I have an entire library of lavender-based products. White noise is my most-played jam on Spotify. My days became framed around how early I could get into bed. Despite these militant efforts, I was constantly tired as well as downbeat from my poor tracker credentials. I started to struggle to drift off due to fretting about achieving sleep perfection.

Being knackered is no new thing – I have two small children and a busy career, travel a lot and do intense exercise. And, of course, these issues are far from unique to me. We’re living through an ‘exhaustion epidemic’ – 50-70 million Americans have disordered sleep and one in eight Britons is tired all the time. Studies have shown we’re sleeping more than ever but we’re just as tired.

For my fellow worn-out warriors, the impact of poor-quality sleep will be grimly familiar: physical and mental health problems, reduced cognitive function, poor productivity, appetite dysregulation and mood changes. It even carries a higher risk of death. It can impact every element of your life, including relationships, work and socialising. Sleep deficiency has played a role in major nuclear disasters and plane crashes. While the effects of my sleeplessness weren’t on quite such a scale, I was keen to tackle it.

Woman Sleeping In Bed With Sleep Data App Running On Mobile Phone On Bedside

Asking the sleep experts

Sleep clinics are part of huge boom in the sleep treatment market – an industry that was worth $12.8 billion in 2024. These specialised facilities investigate and help treat sleep disorders, including conditions like fatigue and sleep apnoea. While my issues felt more holistic than medical, I made an appointment with ResMed (which focuses on helping people with sleep issues) and came armed with pages of questions for sleep clinician Joshua Piper.

It turns out there’s a name for this fixation with improving your sleep: orthosomnia. Joshua explained: “Orthosomnia is the term used to describe an obsession with quality sleep – this strive for sleep perfection which is unattainable. It’s a vicious cycle. Stressing about the fact that your sleep isn’t perfect has the opposite effect.”

I told Joshua how my sleep tracker had fuelled my fixation. He said he’s pro tech but it has a time and a place. “I always recommend going by how you feel rather than what your app is telling you. That should come first, then use the tech to back it up. A tracker is a bit like a smoke alarm – it will tell you your house is burning but it won’t tell you the cause of the fire. The only way to truly know your sleep cycles is via an EEG [a scan that measures brain activity].”

Using fitbit, fitness bracelet as pedometer, pulse measure, sleep and workout control. Sport device, gym smartwatch, health band closeup

Is your sleep tracker picking up anything serious?

“It can be difficult to know when things are chronically wrong,” says Joshua, “but traditional measures can be whether you’re falling asleep on the sofa every night. Are you suffering from mood changes? Do you get morning headaches? Do you find you need to visit the loo a lot in the night?”

Frequent wakings are often a worry for tracker users – mine shows around an hour is typically shaved off my total sleep time. But Joshua suggests these are to be taken with a pinch of salt – turning over in bed can be classed as a ‘waking’ – however, given a family history of sleep apnoea and my notorious snoring, it could be worth exploring further with my GP.

“One hour plus of wakings a night could be something to look into. Visit your GP and don’t minimise your symptoms – just saying you’re tired is the wrong language. Go the whole kaboodle and mention the suspected apnoea and ask for a test.”

Anyone who uses a sleep tracker will be familiar with the habit of chasing deep sleep – the hallowed stage that’s the most restorative. My own deep sleep range is between 45 minutes and 1 hour 30 minutes per night. However, Joshua suggests I shouldn’t put too much store by this: “The deep sleep measurements on a sleep tracker are not accurate enough to draw any concrete conclusions, but generally speaking 12-20% of deep sleep is typical.” It’s normal to cycle between the stages of non-REM and REM sleep, with four to six cycles per night, and potentially a slight wake up between cycles.

Wearable Sleep Tracking Heart Rate Monitor Smartwatch

Less stressful ways for better sleep

So now Joshua has enlightened me on the science of sleep stages, the dubiousness of trackers and the dangers of sleep perfectionism, what can I do about it?

While I’d love to practice consistent sleep rituals, not all of us have the luxury of being able to do so – shift workers, parents, carers and frequent travellers all face external factors out of their control that compromise being able to stick to routines.

Joshua says: “There are general good habits that you can get into. Nutrition, a balanced diet, staying active and keeping a healthy weight will all naturally help. And keeping alcohol to a minimum. A nightcap is a fallacy – it sedates you, which isn’t sleep. You wake once the alcohol has worn off. And you snore more as the muscles have relaxed.”

Also important for sleep are light and food. “You need to give your body cues so it can go to sleep – food is the antithesis of that. Eating at least 2-3 hours before bed is best practice. If you eat close to bedtime, your brain thinks it’s time to be awake.

“Light can be used for good. In the morning, being exposed to sunlight as soon as possible – at least 20 minutes of sun within the first hour of being awake – acts as a huge reset. This will have a positive knock-on impact at bedtime as you’ve preset your bedtime rhythm from the moment you woke up.”

This light therapy is free (hurrah!) but can have a profound impact. And it doesn’t need to be bright sun, cloudy days count.

Large window bed. Apartment interior element. Bedroom. A place to relax.

On the flipside, how about the late night doomscrolling and evil light omitting from your phone?

According to Joshua: “It used to be that blue light was seen as a problem but it's actually becoming more acknowledged that it’s the act of scrolling that’s the issue as the brain sees this as a daytime activity.” Either way it’s best practice to put your phone down well before bedtime.

Other tricks Joshua recommends are temperature control, including keeping a cool bedroom whatever the time of year. You can utilise your bathroom, too. “Having a warm shower before bed means capillaries come to the surface. Your body then dumps this heat and your core temperature drops, which is a cue to fall asleep.”

“If you’re struggling to get to sleep, often the problem is that you haven’t given your brain the time it needs to shut down. For most people, the first act of switching off is when they get into bed to go to sleep. But your brain switches off its rational side first, then the emotional side shuts off second. This means irrational thoughts can pervade in the period before you drift off.”

Josh has a simple technique: “Think about a topic like animals, then run them from A-Z in your head. It’s a simple tactic as it’s not so engaging that you can overthink it.”

If you're stuck tossing and turning, it can be effective to remove yourself from the situation. “Go into a calm, new room, read, then go back into bed – the body needs calm to sleep and to not associate the bed with stress. The only healthy things to associate a bed with are sleep and sex.”

High angle view of woman with obscured face sleeping in a bed.

Making the changes

Armed with Josh’s wisdom, I made some changes to my habits. Firstly, I try to keep a consistent waking window of 6.30am-7.30am, even on weekends. My early bird kids are helpful in this respect, although I sadly mourn the 10am weekend lie-ins of my youth. I sleep with my curtains open so I wake up to instant sunlight. I’ve stopped wearing my tracker religiously every night. Finally, when possible, I’ve reduced my eating window so I finish eating several hours before bedtime.

Did it work? The morning sunlight hack undoubtedly helps my mood. Being less obsessed with my tracker means I’ve generally found it easier to get to sleep. I’ve stopped chasing deep sleep and instead base my readiness on how I feel after a shower, some stretches and a coffee. I don’t think I’m ever 100% ready for what life throws at me each day (who is?) but I don’t need a tracker to tell me that.

For those days when my new sleep virtues fall short, I asked Josh to give me one key sleep trick to live by, something that’s applicable to everyone regardless of their personal circumstances. “I bang on about routine because it is very important to long-term good sleep. But arguably more important is not to worry. One bad night doesn’t undo everything, so don’t panic. Short-term sleep blips are normal. The more you chase sleep, the harder it can be to find. Sleep thrives on rhythm not pressure.”