January 30, 2025

It’s time to improve your sleep. Garmin’s sleep score and advanced sleep tracking are here to help.

More than one-third of adult Americans don’t get enough sleep, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), getting fewer than 7 hours. That can cause — or worsen — certain health problems, the CDC reported.  

Sleep is essential to your well-being. It promotes good health, improves your mood and ensures recovery from exercise.

A Gallup poll published in 2024 found more than half of Americans say they need more sleep. In 1990, 14% of Americans slept fewer than 5 hours. By 2023, that increased to 20%, the poll found.

The CDC found adults sleeping fewer than 7 hours are more likely to say they’ve had health issues such as high blood pressure, asthma and depression. And some of those issues, according to the CDC, raise their risk for heart disease, heart attack and stroke.

But there’s hope. Knowing how long you sleep and learning about your sleep quality can help inform your decisions about how to get that key shuteye time.

If you aren’t sleeping enough — or, if you are, but want to learn more about your sleep habits — Garmin’s advanced sleep tracking¹ and sleep score can help.

How does advanced sleep tracking work?

First, you’ll want to grab your compatible Garmin smartwatch.

When you first get your watch up, you’ll choose a daily sleep schedule. You can edit this later, too. This sets up a period to help the watch detect your sleep and automatically puts the watch in do not disturb mode, so late-night notifications don’t keep you up.

Advanced sleep tracking uses your heart rate, heart rate variability (HRV) and body movement data to consider when you fell asleep, when you woke up and the times you were awake during the night. It also looks at when you were in the light, deep and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep stages and for how long.

Your age and baseline readings add context and improve the reliability. Certain Garmin devices also track your respiration rate and blood oxygen saturation².

All of that data is compiled into your Garmin sleep score.

How is your Garmin sleep score calculated?

Your sleep score, powered by Firstbeat Analytics^™, is based on how long and how well you slept. It rates your sleep on a scale of 0–100 and provides insights so you can work on improving your score.

The amount of sleep you need depends, in part, on your age, but is generally between 7 and 9 hours, according to the CDC. Some people can get by on less sleep, while others need more. And if you’re more active, you may need extra sleep to help recover.

Now, let’s break down sleep quality. This includes how much time you spent in, and the patterns formed between, the light, deep and REM sleep stages. Experts say these affect your mental and physical recovery. Deep sleep, for example, helps with muscle recovery.

Sleep quality also includes any awake time and restlessness, as well as your average stress score during sleep. Your stress score is based on your HRV and shows how well your body is recovering.

What do insights show?

Garmin’s sleep insights offer personalized recommendations to help you better understand and improve your sleep.

For example, let’s say you select the sleep score feature on your compatible Garmin device and see that you slept for 8.5 hours for “good” quality and had a sleep score of 82. Your insights might praise your sleep timing and encourage consistency.

With poor sleep quality for only 7 hours and a sleep score of 49, your insights might share that you’ll feel more tired or irritable because your body didn’t recharge well.

Is it possible to get a sleep score of 100?

Yes. But not very many Garmin users do. For example, only 5% of Garmin sleep users averaged in the “excellent” range between 90 and 100 during the last three months of 2022. In 2024, the average sleep score for Garmin users was a “fair” 71.

What about Garmin Connect^™ badges?

If knowing that a great night of sleep improves your quality of life isn’t enough for you, maybe it’s time to add some friendly competition. Get motivated with these Garmin Connect badges:

• Sleep Savant: Sleep with your watch on for 30 days to earn 1 point.
• Sleep Streak: Get a sleep score of 75 or higher 7 days in a row and earn 4 points.
• Mythical Sleep: Get a sleep score of 100 and earn 2 points.

If you’re ready to take the first step and improve your sleep, browse our collection of compatible smartwatches here.

_{¹See Garmin.com/ataccuracy}

_{²Not a medical device. Jurisdiction restrictions may apply. See Garmin.com/ataccuracy.}