How much notice to take of watch readings?

[eosmum]

Wanted a fitness watch just to measure steps really. But got a present of an all singing all dancing garmin. It is showing my sleep is crap, score of 45-50 every night, constantly stressed, especially at night. Body battery only ever at 25 max. I do feel tired all the time, have high BP and Type 2 diabetes. Both medicated. Would you mention to the gp? Or would I be laughed out of the surgery. I’ve put in a pic of last night but it’s the same every night.

Is 50 supposed to be your pulse, where is the sensor as the pulse points are on the inner wrist, it says low stress. I don't take any notice of these, how can they be accurate when you constantly move around.

I wore a Garmin for a year and it just made me anxious with it's doom and gloom. Much happier now I've got rid. I think its accuracy is mixed.

I had early menopause at 42 and by the time I got a doctor to listen, after I was unable to walk up stairs up the evenings I basically showed him the readings on my watch, he prescribed HRT and sent me for a dexa scan and FSH tests and I already had osteoporosis and was well high on the FSH scores.

So yes, show your doctor your readings.

I don't think I would bring any of this to the GP just because my watch was reporting it as a problem. But I might mention the watch readings as additional info if I was already experiencing these issues seriously enough to want to see a doc.

How does it assess stress, btw? If it is anything like my fitbit it will be spinning gimmicky narratives on the basis of sleep quality, resting heart rate and breathing rate. I don't really trust these narratives, tbh. I would only attach weight to the raw data (resting heart rate etc), and even then I would guess that overattention to this data isn;t very helpful - unless you have independent health reasons for needing to monitor them more closely than most people.

Do you snore? Could it be sleep apnoea? It might be worth scoring yourself on the sleepiness scale https://www.esht.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Epworth-Sleepiness-Scale.pdf. It's not a diagnosis by itself but if you get a high score on that then your GP should refer you for a sleep study which would give a better insight into how well (or badly) you're sleeping.

Thanks all. The 50 is the stress score when I took the photo. Nightime is all over 50 and up to 90's.

Good plan to explain how I feel and mention the readings. I'm nearly 60 and on HRT already, but don't find it helps much.

Isn't it just telling you what you already know? Can you change the watch display to just show you the things that you want to know, like your steps?

Does the watch or the app that goes with it explain why your sleep score is low, and why your "body battery" is low? I'm curious as to what the "body battery" actually represents.

No one has mentioned snoring to me. The scale gave me 0, I only sleep in bed at night. Thanks for that.

I wouldn’t mention a stress score, it’s a made up assessment.

I’d go if it showed a high BP or suggested sleep apnea or something like that… but ironically this showing you your stress level is just stressing you out more, and it’s quite possible that your baseline is what it considers “stressful”, from what you’ve said.

I can change it, but was just wondering if other people found them accurate. My daughters both have them and their scores are very normal. I only looked last week when one of them showed me how. One of them tried my watch and got normal scores.

I get tips on how to improve the scores, exercise etc. but scores are the same even on the days I have swimming and gym.

Thanks all, the scores are not stressing me out, and I'm not constantly checking them etc. I was just curious about other peoples experiences. I will be at the GP in a couple of months and will raise the other symptoms and mention the readings.

There’s an interesting study where they tested sleep quality with a medical device but then they told the participants a different result. So told had bad night when actually showed good and vice versa. People behaved as they had been told not the actual quality on the device so if your watch says your sleep is bad it is likely you will behave as if you have slept badly even if you may have slept well.
They are not medical devices and cannot give you the accurate info they purport to.

This has been going on for a couple of years. But I only say the watch readings a couple of weeks ago. But that is an interesting study.

My DH and I have both got Garmins and we both get low sleep scores nearly every night, high stress levels and low body battery scores. I can often think I've had a great sleep, but not according to Garmin! 🤣 I don't pay much attention to it anymore, so I wouldn't worry.

Hi , I wear a Garmin and have for about 7 years . I find the assessment of my sleep quality a bit hit and miss , sometimes it’s accurate and sometimes it says I slept beautifully when I absolutely know I couldn’t drop off . I agree with the poster that says it can impact negatively if you felt fine until you check your watch and discover that apparently you didn’t sleep well .

On the stress point though , I tend to find this more accurate . I have a condition that flares up occasionally- the stress level always shoots up when I’m not well .

Taking into account your other symptoms though - you shouldn’t feel tired all the time - I would definitely make an appointment with the GP and show them your data - the phone app graphs will be more useful

My Garmin was showing poor sleep scores/high night stress. In my case it was either the glass of wine before bed or if i ate anything sugary before bed. If I just stick to dinner and non alcoholic drink I get an amazing 90 sleep score and do feel so much better the next day.