SOL31: Sleep Monitors

            The Fitbit I bought a couple of years ago is supposed to keep track of my sleep, as well as my steps. However, it has never worked properly. And it’s not just this one Fitbit. The first one I had was lost, and the second and third ones just stopped worked after several months. Not one of them has recorded the sleep that I know I’ve had or haven’t had. In other words, when I have actually been awake for an hour or more in the middle of the night, Fitbit thinks I was asleep, while it often shows gaps of one or two or more hours when I am pretty sure I was asleep.

            Here’s how off it can be. Last night I got into bed around 11:40, read for a while, and turned off the light just after midnight. Woke briefly just before 1 a.m., again at 3 a.m., and woke up for good at 8:45. Fitbit thinks I lay down at 11:24 p.m., shows a period of wakefulness for a while, then thinks I was up and about between 1:10 and 3:09 a.m. I feel like the device is gaslighting me.

            My doctor last week recommended another app, for my phone, called Sleep Cycle, and it looks much more accurate, showing me asleep between 1 and 3 a.m., including at least one period of deep sleep just before waking at 3, and then going back to sleep.

            Do you use any of these apps for monitoring steps and/or sleep? What’s your experience with them?

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SOL Tuesday: Shop Local

I lost my Fitbit a week ago. Yesterday, as I walked uptown, I stopped at a Modell’s, hoping to get a replacement. The very young woman at the entrance asked how she could help, and when I said I was looking for a Fitbit, she said the store carries them, but were out of stock at the moment. But she was helpful, suggesting I try another sporting goods store a few blocks away, and also, “You could try online.”

            That started me off. I am on a one-woman campaign against e-commerce, unless it’s absolutely necessary. I told the young woman that I avoided shopping online as much as possible because I didn’t want stores like hers to go out of business.

            “That doesn’t happen,” she said.

            “Oh, yes, it does,” I replied. “That’s why there are so few bookstores now. Everyone buys their books from Amazon.”

            The expression on her face showed this had obviously never occurred to her. “But we say you can order from Modells.com and pick it up in the store.”

            “That’s true,” I conceded, but lots of smaller stores can’t do that. “Just think about it,” I said as I left, “and mention it to your friends."

            Another casualty of e-commerce are stationery stores. First, the small ones are driven out of business by the big-box stores like Staples and Office Max, but those stores are under siege by Amazon as well. I’d looked for a local stationers earlier in the day for the refill for my paper datebook: it’s gone. There are two others still in my neighborhood, probably because there are five universities in the vicinity. 

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