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Wearables

Wearables track sleep stages, heart rate variability, and resting heart rate on your wrist or finger; here are reviews, accuracy notes, and field tests.

Pieces 6
A person lying flat on their back in a dimly lit bedroom at night…
Sleep July 2026 · 6 min

I Wore Three Head-Mounted Displays to Bed So You Don't Have To: What Virtual Reality Actually Does to Sleep Onset

For six weeks I ended my evenings the way a certain corner of the wellness-tech market keeps insisting I should: strapped into a headset, watching a virtual campfire or a slow drift over digital…

By Megan Caldwell · Read →
Close-up macro photograph of a sleek fitness smartwatch resting on a rumpled white linen…
Wearables June 2026 · 9 min

When Should You Take Your Wearable Sleep Tracker Data to a Doctor?

Your watch told you that you slept 7 hours and 14 minutes, that your "sleep score" was 87, and that you spent 14% of the night in deep sleep. The number felt good.

By Megan Caldwell · Read →
A dark bedroom shot at dawn, viewed from above the nightstand where a smartphone…
Wearables May 2026 · 5 min

Do Sleep Apps Actually Know When You're Asleep?

You wake up, reach for the phone, and there it is: a number. 78. A little hypnogram with tidy colored bands — light, deep, REM — as if a technician sat beside your bed all night with electrodes and a…

By Judith Hawthorn · Read →
A close-up overhead photograph of a person's wrist resting on a rumpled white linen…
Sleep Apnea May 2026 · 4 min

Your Apple Watch and Sleep Apnea Detection: What the Wrist Actually Sees

There's a question a lot of Apple Watch owners have quietly asked themselves around 2 a.m., usually after a partner has complained about the snoring again: If something were really wrong with my…

By Claire Munroe · Read →
Close-up macro photograph of a smartwatch resting on a rumpled white linen bedsheet in…
Sleep Apnea May 2026 · 4 min

What Sleep Apnea Detection on a Wrist Actually Sees

I went to bed last Tuesday with a wrist-worn accelerometer pressed against my radial artery, an oximeter clipped to my left index finger, and a vague hope that the two would disagree in interesting…

By Natalie Forsythe · Read →
Overhead flat-lay photograph of four sleep tracking devices arranged on crisp white linen bedding…
Wearables May 2026 · 10 min

I Wore Four Sleep Trackers for Six Weeks. The Cheapest One Won.

Sleep trackers are mostly measuring the same two things, and the device that did it best for me cost less than a tank of petrol. That isn't the answer I expected when I started this.

By Judith Hawthorn · Read →