Does Garmin Track Sleep?

Most Garmin watches are able to track sleep thanks to the advanced sleep monitoring ASM feature which uses the watch’s optical heart rate sensor. Garmin users will get their sleep insights through the Garmin Connect app.

Enabling the Sleep Mode Feature on a Garmin Watch

The recent Garmin models are able to automatically monitor your sleep with the help of your heart rate and movements.

Older versions will manually go to sleep mode. Whichever way, the watch must be on the wrist while sleeping so that the heart rate and movements are monitored.

Unfortunately, Garmin watches are only able to design to monitor typical sleep and not anything outside primary sleep time like naps and rest times.

Enabling Sleep Mode

The following Garmin watches can have their sleep modes manually activated. See the instruction to manually enable the sleep mode on either of the watches.

Garmin Vivoactive

Go to the activity tracking widget.
Press the three small vertical lines.
And then select Start Sleep.

Garmin Vivosmart

Wake the device by double-tapping the display.
Long hold the display to access the menu.
Touch the moon symbol (crescent).
When sleep mode appears tap OK.
You can exit the sleep mode by long holding the moon symbol (crescent) for 2 to 3 seconds.

Garmin Forerunner 92XT

Go to the activity monitoring widget.
Press and hold the menu.
From the three dots on the bottom left select Sleep Mode.

Vivofit 1 and Vivofit 2

Press then hold the device key. Doing so will cycle the watch through a number of options.
Release the device key when the watch cycles to the SLEEP option.
To exit the SLEEP mode, press and hold the device key for the watch to go to the normal display.

Setting Sleep and Wake Window Times in Garmin Connect

Garmin watches that have the ability to track activities use wake and sleep times set through Garmin Connect. Garmin watches use the Firstbeat sleep detection feature to determine when you are really sleeping.

Setting the Sleep Window in the Garmin Connect App

Launch the Garmin Connect App
Open the Menu by tapping on the three small vertical lines at the upper left corner of your android device or the “More” option at the bottom right corner of your iOS device.
Choose Settings
Then, choose User Settings
Choose Bed Time or Wake Time
Provide the time and select OK
All is set, you can now exit the setting menu

Garmin Watches Using Real-Time Settings

Garmin watches with Real-Time settings can immediately save settings via Bluetooth connections in the Garmin Connect app.

Real-Time Settings in the Garmin Connect App

Launch the Garmin Connect App
Open the menu by tapping on the three small vertical lines at the upper left corner of your android device or the “More” option at the bottom right corner of your iOS device.
Choose “Garmin Devices”.
Choose your Device.
Choose the option you want to edit, for example, the User Profile.
Make the changes you want to make
The change will reflect on your Garmin watch in no time

Setting the Sleep Window in Garmin Connect Web

Using a personal computer or laptop long into your Garmin Connect account.
Click on the watch symbol on the upper right of your computer.
Select your device and then Device Settings
Choose User Settings
Edit the Normal Sleep Time data
Scroll to the bottom and select Save Settings

Garmin Sleep Score and Sleep Insights

A healthy lifestyle equals good sleep. Metal success all depends on how well you slept last night. A night of good sleep will also keep you away from diseases and when you are sick you get to recover quickly.

The list of benefits you can get from having a good night’s sleep is endless. Unfortunately, more than a third of adults are estimated to lack good sleep every night.

Given the importance of sleep, it is important that you also understand your relationship with sleep. With sleep data from an app like Garmin Connect, you become responsible for your sleep and find ways to improve your sleeping habit.

Advanced Sleep Tracking with Sleep Score

Sleep scores and insights are add-ons to the Garmin watches that can do advanced sleep monitoring.

Example of Garmin watches that can carry out advanced sleep tracking include the Forerunner® 945 series, the MARQ® series, Forerunner® 745, the Fenix® 6, and Fēnix® 6 solar series, the Venu® 2 series, Garmin Instinct, Enduro ™, Descent™ MK2 series, and the Tactix® Delta series.

The purpose of advanced sleep tracking is to tell when you are asleep and when you wake up. It is also the one to tell your sleep stages during the night.

The sleep stages include light, deep, and REM sleep. Garmin watches combine the heart rate, heart rate variation, body movements, respiratory rate, and other inputs to identify sleep and sleep stages.

Other Garmin watches will have you deeply understand your sleep by letting you overlay respiratory and oxygen saturation to the sleep chart in the Garmin Connect App for a complete picture of how the night was. Sleep scores range from 0 to 100.

How Is Garmin Sleep Score Calculated?

Garmin watches calculate nightly sleep scores based on a combination of how well you sleep and how long you sleep together with your heart variability data.

Sleep quality and quantity get assessed by comparing recorded sleep to age-based sleep standards as agreed by sleep experts. The only way you can compensate for poor sleep quality is by setting more sleep and vice versa is true.

Sleep Duration

Although some people need more sleep and others less, the National Sleep Foundation encourages adults to have at least 7 to 9 hours of sleep every night. Getting less sleep than you should lead to increased mental mistakes.

Sleep Quality

How fresh you feel when you wake up feeling each morning depends on the quality of sleep you get.

Continuity is an important contributor to sleep quality and this brings us to the sleep cycles.

Sleep cycles are transitions between sleep stages (light, deep, and REM sleep) and they are always orderly happening repeatedly during the night.

Tossing and turning in bed excessively during the night even without waking up can reduce the quality of your sleep.