Medical Minute: The impact of sleep trackers

On today's Medical Minute, CBS Reporter Susan Elizabeth Littlefield delves into the impact of monitoring and tracking your sleep to enhance your well-being.

Whether it's the Apple Watch, Fitbit, the Oura ring, or apps, 35% of Americans are tracking sleep, according to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

Dr. Seema Khosla said that even she doesn't know how the apps track sleep, as the details and information gathering is proprietary information.

The apps are getting more specialized, for example, with Apple integrating a sleep apnea function within their tracker.

"It's a very, very competitive industry," Dr. Khosla said. "Is Apple the same as Fitbit the same as Garmin? No."

However, Dr. Khosla finds correlations between the data she encounters on the devices and the data she conducts in the sleep lab.

According to a survey by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, 77% of users found sleep trackers helpful.

"A lot of it depends on how you use it," she said. She then provides an example of someone using an app to track snoring, leading to a sleep apnea diagnosis that can then be addressed. That can be helpful.

So whether they flag a problem or keep you accountable, Dr. Khosla said devices can bring a sense of peace.