Shelter-in-Place Shows No Significant Difference in How Often We Get Out of Bed Each Night

Analysis of more than 500,000 nights of Sleeptracker-AI data finds no measurable change in out-of-bed frequency or duration in response to shelter-in-place — across any age group. Where prior analyses identified clear shelter-in-place effects on sleep duration, REM, deep sleep, and snoring, out-of-bed behavior shows no comparable shift.

The likely explanation is that out-of-bed events are driven primarily by age and chronic conditions — diabetes and hypertension among them — rather than by the schedule and behavioral changes shelter-in-place produces. These are stable physiological factors that external circumstances do not readily modify.

Two age- and gender-related patterns are consistent in the data regardless of shelter-in-place status: older males show more sleep disruption than older females, while younger females show more disrupted sleep than their male counterparts.

Sleep represents one-third of our lives and is a sensitive indicator of overall wellness, stress levels, and chronic health status. As shelter-in-place measures ease and new behavioral norms emerge, continued monitoring of these metrics will be essential.