Exercise is good for you. Getting enough sleep is good for you. So why not track the two?

The new Vivosmart HR from Garmin combines these two vital indicators to paint a picture of health.

First off, let’s review the benefits of getting some good shut eye (besides keeping you from being super cranky).

Benefits of Sleep

• Improved memory
• Curb Inflammation
• Spur Creativity
• Improve Sports Performance
• Improve grades
• Increase attention span
• Regulate digestion
• Help keep a healthy weight
• Reduce Stress
• Prevent traffic accidents
• Ward off depression

We don’t need to read the research to know we’ve had a good night's rest, when you’ve slept well you wake up energised and ready to conquer the world (or at least the day).

Vivosmart HR Sleep Review

As a very light sleeper, (I’m talking full on blackout blinds, eye mask and earbuds every night) I am always dubious of wearing activity trackers to bed. If it lights up in the night or accidentally vibrates, I will wake up. I’ve also found with other activity trackers that I simply find it uncomfortable to keep around my wrist while I try to sleep, particularly if it’s on the larger side.

The Vivosmart HR is an incredible sleep monitoring tool.

Firstly, the Vivosmart’s sleek small design means it a) suits my small wrists and b) is very comfortable. I’m able to strap up and forget it’s there. Apart from when it fires off a move alert. When it comes to bedtime, the watch still goes unnoticed and doesn’t bother or alert me whilst sleeping. The watch automatically goes onto ‘do not disturb’ mode and you are left to enjoy your slumber.

Secondly, you don’t have to remember to set up sleep mode on this watch, like you may do with other models, as the watch automatically detects when you fall asleep and also when you wake up, so there is no extra programming required. When you set up the watch you enter in your regular sleeping and waking times which gives the watch a guideline of the hours to leave you alone, but each night is measured as it comes.

Upon waking you can review your sleep stats via the Connect App:

Garmin Connect Sleep

Here you can see the breakdown of your last night's sleep. The app reveals the total duration as well as levels of deep and light sleep. You can tell the watch is has accurate sensitivity as you can see the 10 minutes I woke up, fell out of bed and popped to the bathroom.

Accessing this is great for planning the day's workout as you can increase or reduce intensity based on how rested your body is.

Garmin Connect Sleep Monitoring

The Connect app also traces your movement throughout the night, which is interesting, the less movement the better. Here you can see the movement matches the areas of deep and light sleep.

The Garmin Vivosmart sleep monitoring tool is simple to use, accurate and a very useful training tool.

To see more reviews of the Garmin Vivosmart feature see here.