Fitbit is launching a new sleep profile feature for premium members that will classify users as one of six animal characters, the company announced today. Users are grouped by 10 sleep metrics, five of which are new to Fitbit.
The research team wanted to give people more information about how they sleep, says Karla Gleichauf, Google’s senior research scientist who led the function’s research. “We were also influenced by some fun things, like game design or Harry Potter quizzes about which house you’re in,” he says. “People love to be categorized. So we said, ‘I think that’s a lot of fun,’ ‘it’s another kind of identity for people.”
For example, Fitbit co-founder James Park is a dolphin, says Gleichauf. People with animals sleeping with dolphins usually go to bed at variable hours, go to bed late, and take many naps. When they sleep, however, it is very quiet. “These are people who have a lot of areas for improvement,” he says.
The feature looks similar to Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 4 sleep training program, which assigns users one of eight sleep types, each associated with an animal. Samsung then asks users to start a program to improve sleep quality.
To create the new Fitbit feature, the research team analyzed one-month sleep data from about 60,000 users to create the different profiles, says Gleichauf. The team started with 1,000 different features and tested several machine learning algorithms to finally focus on six different crossover categories. (Giraffe, bear, dolphin, hedgehog, parrot, and turtle, respectively). .
The final feature provides users with information on 10 metrics, which are incorporated into the overall sleep profile. There are already five in other parts of the app, such as sleep duration and REM sleep. Five more are new and only available in the sleep profile. These include things like bedtime consistency, days off, and time before bed.
People need to sleep with Fitbit at least 14 nights a month to get their sleep profile.
The research team validated the profiles and metrics through two studies that looked at people’s perceptions of their own sleep, says Gleichauf. One examined the data of 1,000 people who assessed their sleep on the Pittsburgh sleep quality index along with the use of the sleep profile and found that the results were aligned with their sleep animals, he says. .
The team also conducted a separate study of about 18,000 people who used the profile to check the “good sleep time” metrics. The study tracked sleep behaviors, perceptions, and habits for a few weeks and used the results to adjust the algorithm for this metric, Gleichauf says. “Try to get to this very difficult question: how long did it take you to feel like you fell asleep?” she says. “This is completely new to Fitbit.”
Right now, the Fitbit sleep profile only provides an assessment of someone’s sleep. But eventually, says Gleichauf, the feature could be expanded to provide people with information on how they could improve the metrics in which their profiles show they need to work hardest. “I think monthly sleep analysis is the key to providing this personalized guidance because it identifies these are the areas that, if you’re interested, you can improve on,” he says.