Sleep Trackers and Snake Oil- What is the Hype?

726-2025

By Dr. Howard Friedman MD | Veteran | U.S. Army Medical Corps | Internal Medicine | HHOM LLC

Sleep Trackers and Snake Oil: When rest turns into a sales pitch. Your body needs peace, not a score.

It buzzed and beeped while I lay still,

Said I slept fine—but I feel ill.

A ring, a graph, a pulsing chart—

But none could read my restless heart.

—Dr. Howard Friedman, MD

 Introduction – When Data Becomes a Distraction

When Data Becomes a Distraction Sleep trackers promise insight. They collect heart rate, movement, temperature—turning your night into a spreadsheet of predictions and graphs. And yes, they can offer useful patterns. But let’s be clear: they don’t diagnose sleep disorders, and they can’t truly track your sleep stages. What they can do is give you just enough information to worry. In trying to measure sleep, we risk losing it altogether. When your wrist buzzes and your mind spirals over a "sleep score," the question becomes—is this helping me rest or making me chase rest like a goal I’ll never reach? And into that restless space walks the new snake oil—wrapped in sleek design, backed by influencer science, and promising deep sleep for $299. We’re not just tracking sleep anymore. We’re being sold it.

2. What Sleep Trackers Can (and Can’t) Actually Measure

Most consumer sleep trackers rely on movement (actigraphy), heart rate variability (HRV), skin temperature, and sometimes oxygen levels to estimate what your night looks like. That word—estimate—is key. These devices do not measure brain waves, and without EEG data, they cannot truly differentiate between light sleep, deep sleep, and REM. Yet many users wake up convinced they "only got 12% deep sleep” or that their dreams must have been “off” because the graph said so.

What these trackers can be good at is noticing patterns over time. If you’re consistently waking up around 3:00 a.m., or your heart rate stays elevated throughout the night, that’s useful information—especially if brought to a clinician for deeper evaluation. But interpreting that data as definitive or diagnostic? That’s where the hype begins to outweigh the help.

And here’s the irony: the more we stare at the graphs, the less we trust our own experience. Did you actually sleep poorly—or did your app tell you that you did? This is the moment where technology stops being a tool and starts being a tether.

3. Snake Oil in the Sleep Aisle (next up)

A chance to expose:

Once upon a time, snake oil was peddled from wagons. Now it ships in two days with Prime. Search “sleep aid” online and you’ll find a sprawling marketplace of promises: gummies with mystery blends, herbal cocktails with no regulation, devices that pulse frequencies to “sync your circadian rhythm,” and pillows designed by influencers who’ve never treated a single case of insomnia. The branding is sleek, the testimonials glowing—but the science is often nonexistent.

Let’s be honest: much of this is modern-day snake oil. The packaging has improved, but the tactic is the same—exploit desperation. For those struggling with sleep, especially veterans who already carry wounds that don't show on scans, the temptation is real. You’re tired. You’re trying. And here comes a glowing bottle or a wristband that promises the rest you’ve been denied.

Some of these products sedate, sure. But sedation is not the same as sleep. Over-the-counter antihistamines, high-dose melatonin, or unregulated supplements may knock you out—but they don’t give you restorative sleep. And many of them come with rebound insomnia, next-day grogginess, or long-term side effects.

Then there’s the "techno-fix” angle. Smart mattresses that claim to regulate your temperature and pulse in harmony with your sleep cycle—without any meaningful clinical trials. Apps that claim to train your brainwaves yet collect more marketing data than medical evidence. This isn’t innovation—it’s monetized anxiety. Sleep is not for sale. And the more we chase it with gimmicks, the more we drift from the true rhythm of rest.

What Actually Works

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) remains the gold standard for chronic sleep issues. It doesn’t track your sleep—it rewires your thinking. CBT-I addresses the thought patterns and behaviors that keep you awake, helping to break the cycle of anxiety and sleeplessness.

Just as important are consistent circadian practices: waking and sleeping at the same time each day, getting natural light exposure in the morning, dimming lights in the evening, and building a wind-down ritual that signals safety, not stress. (We explore this further in our blog on habit formation.)

The anti-inflammatory basics also apply regular movement, an anti-inflammatory diet, stress regulation, and healing from trauma. Sleep is not a switch—it’s a transition. Worry, racing thoughts, and obsessive mental loops don’t just interrupt that transition—they hijack it.

Veterans and Sleep – A Battle on a New Front

The journey from combat to calm is not a straight line. For many veterans, the traits that kept them alive—hypervigilance, alertness, readiness—become liabilities in civilian life. The grocery store is not the battlefield, but the nervous system doesn’t always know that.

Sleep becomes another front in the fight. Nightmares, PTSD, chronic pain, and a nervous system on high alert don’t disappear just because the mission ends. And too often, the support offered is either limited or misdirected devices instead of healing, data instead of connection.

What veterans need is trauma-informed, sleep-aware care—not another app, not another gadget. They need understanding. They need peace.

Conclusion – Sleep Is a Relationship, not a Score

You don’t need a ring, a wristband, or a dashboard to tell you what your body already knows. You’re tired. You want to sleep. You want peace. Sleep trackers may offer insight—but insight without guidance can lead to obsession, not rest. And while some tools have merit, no device can replace the slow, steady work of healing the nervous system, addressing inflammation, and learning how to feel safe in the dark again. Real sleep begins with trust—in your body, in your rhythms, in the process of winding down. For veterans and civilians alike, that journey takes more than data—it takes awareness, intention, and compassion.

Forget the hype. Return to what works. The quiet. The breath. The habits that lead you home to rest.

The Numbers Blink, But Still I Wake I wore the band, I tracked the night,

Each toss and turn, each restless fight.

But numbers can't replace the trust In slowing down because you must.

The screens lit up, the graphs looked neat

—But still my heart refused to sleep.

It wasn't data that brought me peace,

But breath, and dark, and slow release.

So now I trade the stats for still,

A quiet mind, a softened will.

No gadget speaks the way dreams do—

When you remember sleep comes through you.

By Dr. Howard Friedman, MD

—Dr. Howard Friedman MD

Board-Certified | Internal Medicine | Veteran | U.S. Army Medical Corps

Founder of Howard’s House of Medicine (HHOM LLC)

https://www.hhomllc.com

Frequently Asked Questions:

Q: Do sleep trackers really measure deep sleep?

A: No. Most consumer sleep trackers estimate sleep stages using movement, heart rate, or temperature—but without EEG brain wave data, they cannot truly measure deep sleep or REM. They can reveal patterns over time but are not diagnostic tools.

Q: What’s the problem with relying on sleep scores?

A: Sleep scores can create anxiety. When people obsess over a “bad score,” they may actually worsen their sleep by worrying. Technology should be a tool, not a tether—and chasing numbers often undermines natural rest.

Q: What actually works for better sleep?

A: Evidence-based approaches like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I), consistent sleep routines, morning light exposure, winding down at night, and addressing inflammation or trauma. No gadget or supplement replaces the fundamentals of sleep hygiene and nervous system healing.