What you need to know
- The5KRunner leaked details about Garmin's new "Sleep Coaching" feature.
- It will use HRV, stress, training load, and past sleep data to judge your sleep quality and give recommendations.
- For the first time, Garmin watches will track naps and daytime sleeping, in as small as 10-minute increments.
- Garmin Sleep Coaching could launch with the Garmin Venu 3 this fall, as well as come to older watches with heart rate variance data.
Many smartwatches with sleep tracking only register sleep data at night, ignoring power naps or morning rest after all-nighters. For Garmin users with odd sleep schedules, Garmin's lack of manual sleep tracking messed up their workout recommendations and Body Battery data. But a recent leak indicates a useful fix is coming.
The5Krunner reports that Garmin Sleep Coaching should arrive soon, possibly alongside the leaked Garmin Venu 3 next month. And among other things, it will automatically register sleep at any time — so long as it lasts 10 minutes or more — or let you manually record a nap via your watch or app.
Garmin already has sleep tracking to inform your Body Battery and Training Readiness data, but Sleep Coaching users will receive "tailored feedback comparing their sleep data against a personal baseline, with an emphasis on HRV insights that evaluate stress and well-being," according to the report.
This means that Garmin's Sleep Coaching will probably only come retroactively to Garmin watches from the last couple of years — including the last-gen Venu 2 — since it was the Elevate 4 sensor that first added heart rate variance (HRV).
Garmin will also incorporate this Sleep Coaching into the new Morning Report widget; when you say you're ready to read the report (signaling that you're done sleeping), you'll see that night's sleep data to see how well your body bounced back.
In terms of actual coaching, this leaked report suggests Garmin will mostly focus on pushing its users to "maintain consistent sleep patterns." It's not clear yet if you'll receive a score like the Galaxy Watch 6 sleep coach offers or if the watch will buzz your wrist when it's time to rest. We should learn more once Garmin officially announces the feature.
Even though the best Garmin watches sometimes feel a bit bulky for sleep tracking, they already offer insights on energy recovery and how factors like stress can limit that recovery. This Garmin Sleep Coach rebranding sounds like more of a good thing, and we're looking forward to testing it out.
