A question about sleep quality

[Voldmer]

I religiously use the "Lucid Dreaming App" (by Alexander Stone). My sole purpose with this is to register sleep quality. Now, I regularly score between 40% and 50% deep sleep (the way this app measures it) on what I would call "good nights". On a bad night I will get a score below 40%, and scores up to 60% would be fabulous nights. I have never gone above 60%. Here's what I'm wondering: are my scores generally very low? And also, do frequent lucid dreamers have higher scores than infrequent lucid dreamers? (Which is what I suspect). If you also use this app, and have a good feel for where your deep sleep scores generally lie, then please share this! It would be even better if you could also indicate, whether you personally feel that lucid dreaming is more likely on nights with higher deep sleep scores - or whether it might be the other way around! EDIT (after having read Verre's post below): I should probably specifiy, that in this context "deep sleep" actually means "sleep where one lies still without moving at all". I have personally experienced at least one very high quality lucid dream during such a phase.

[Verre]

I think deep sleep is overrated these days, but that's just my personal preference! Of course a few hours of it are healthy and necessary, but I like to spend as much time as possible on the borders of sleep, transitioning in and out of REM phases. In my experience, lucid dreaming is more likely on nights where I hover on the brink of insomnia than nights where I sleep deeply. Probably the best approach the is balanced one typically recommended: get a few hours of deep sleep first, then WBTB to encourage a lighter sleep phase for the remainder of the morning. This is all entirely subjective as I haven't tried the app, but I suspect my usual scores would be absymally low! EDIT (after reading Voldmer's edit): Thanks for the clarification! How does the app measure that? I glanced at the website but couldn't figure out how it was supposed to work. Does it attach to another device?

[Voldmer]

The app uses the devices (phone, or tablet) ability to measure acceleration. In other words, for dreaming purposes, you put the device into close contact with the mattress, and the app measures mattress vibrations. These are large whenever a "toss" or a "turn" is taking place, but very subtle during sleep otherwise.

[Fris]

I don't know of this is the right way to measure "deep sleep". When in deep sleep, your body can still move, right? It's in the deep sleep stages people sleepwalk, so I believe you do minor movements regularly in deep sleep. However in the REM sleep, your muscles shut down so the body can't move. Is that app, by registering body movements, instead of meassuring deep sleep, meassuring REM sleep? In that case it wouldn't be weird to have a score of around 40%. Any ideas?

[Voldmer]

I don't think it can measure REM, but maybe it could be done if the device were to be attached to some appropriate equipment (e.g. an EEG device, or a camera focusing on the eyes of the sleeper). I should have avoided the phrase "deep sleep"; what I meant was sleep, where one does not move.

[Verre]

The app uses the devices (phone, or tablet) ability to measure acceleration. In other words, for dreaming purposes, you put the device into close contact with the mattress, and the app measures mattress vibrations. These are large whenever a "toss" or a "turn" is taking place, but very subtle during sleep otherwise. Interesting use of the technology! Might not work as well for those who share a bed with another person, though...

[Voldmer]

Interesting use of the technology! Might not work as well for those who share a bed with another person, though... If the mattress is shared by two (or hey, let's not be conservative - multiple ) persons, then the measurements would be confusing. A better approach might then be to strap the device (assuming it's a phone, not a tablet ) to ones own body.