Orthosomnia: Are Some Patients Taking the Quantified Self Too Far?
Level 4 - case-series / case-control
Case series / case reports describing clinical observations without control
PubMed 27855740 · doi:10.5664/jcsm.6472
What was done
The authors describe clinical cases and observations of patients seeking treatment for self-diagnosed sleep disturbances triggered by wearable sleep tracking devices.
What was found
The abstract reports no numerical data. It observes that patients present with self-diagnosed insomnia or sleep duration concerns based on commercial tracker metrics, often trusting device data over validated techniques like polysomnography or actigraphy, which fosters a perfectionistic pursuit of ideal sleep.
Why it matters
This paper introduced the clinical phenomenon of "orthosomnia," highlighting how consumer sleep tracking can paradoxically worsen sleep-related anxiety and insomnia.
Limits
The abstract contains no sample size, statistical measurements, or control group. Findings are narrative and drawn from anecdotal clinical presentations of self-selected patients.
Cited by
- supports The term 'orthosomnia' was coined by Kelly Baron at the University of Utah to describe patients who fixate obsessively on sleep tracking data to the point of worsening their sleep.