Google launches Sleep Quality Study to improve Fitbit with $25 Merch Store credit

Google launched a Health Studies app in 2020, and you can now sign up for a Sleep Quality Study that will improve Fitbit devices.

Google wants to improve the sleep algorithms on Fitbit devices, as well as “create algorithms that provide actionable insights into sleep, and provide personal guidance on how to get a better night.”

The CDC has identified a sleep insufficiency epidemic in the United States, with nearly 1/3 of adults getting less than the recommended, healthy 7 hours of sleep on a nightly basis. Nearly half of Americans report a sleep problem, usually because of issues that can be fixed by changes in behavior. Part of the reason people struggle to get good sleep is they don’t know what quality sleep looks like or what influences it.

The Health Studies app first checks your eligibility. It asks whether you’re a US resident, your age, if you have “children sleep in the room,” whether you wear a Fitbit device, and if you traveled across time zones in the last week.

This study will last two weeks, and you can withdraw at any time. This Sleep Quality Study involves completing questionnaires three times a day (“1 hour after wake, mid afternoon, and 1 hour before bed”).

These include reporting on your sleep and daytime behaviors (such as caffeine, naps and exercise), and measuring how alert you are at that moment.

Google will collect the number of times your phone has been unlocked on a daily basis, as well as aggregated app usage by category (games, social media, and productivity) and total screen time. You’re also asked to wear your Fitbit for sleep tracking, as well as during the day and when exercising.

The following Fitbit data will be collected: daily activity, resting heart rate, heart rate variability, sleep, nightly skin temperature, SpO2, electrodermal activity, and ambient light levels. Google is also collecting “up to 1 month of Fitbit data” prior to the start date. You’re asked not to migrate your Fitbit account until after the two weeks.

That data will then be “coded with a random ID” that’s “encrypted and stored on highly secure servers” for access by just this project’s researchers.

“Study data is never sold to third parties or used by Google for advertising purposes.” 

Since this is rather intensive, you’ll get a $25 voucher to the Google Merchandise Store if you complete at least 10 days of the study.

You can download Google Health Studies from the Play Store and find the Sleep Quality Study from the main tab.