WHOOP · Your reading
My WHOOP Sleep Performance is poor. Should I still train?
Usually yes, with the intensity eased. One poor night (under 70%) costs most at the hard end: intervals, heavy lifts, technical work. Keep easy aerobic work, trim or move the hard session, and treat a run of poor nights as a reason to recover deliberately.
What the score is made of.
Sleep Performance is WHOOP’s main sleep score, a percentage for each night. It used to compare the hours you slept with your sleep need alone. WHOOP now builds it from four factors, each weighted by its effect on sleep quality.
Sleep sufficiency compares your total sleep with your Sleep Need, which WHOOP sets from your baseline sleep, the day’s Strain, your sleep debt and naps. Sleep consistency looks at how regular your bed and wake times are. Sleep efficiency is the share of your time in bed spent asleep. Sleep stress measures physiological stress while you sleep, which WHOOP says can come from illness, hard Strain, mental stress, late meals or alcohol.
Each factor has its own bands, so the Sleep breakdown shows which one let you down. Sleep also feeds the next morning’s Recovery: hours against need, and time in light sleep and awake, are among its inputs.
What each range means for today.
| Score | Level | What to do today |
|---|---|---|
| 85%+ | Optimal | Train as planned. Sleep isn’t the limiting factor today, so check HRV and resting heart rate and, if they agree, do the hard session. |
| 70–84% | Sufficient | Train as planned if Recovery agrees. If it’s well below your normal, or sufficiency was the weak part, train trimmed: same session, intensity a notch down, last hard rep left behind. |
| <70% | Poor | Switch the session to easy aerobic, technique or mobility work and move the hard day two or three days out. If it’s the third poor night running, recover deliberately and put the effort into tonight’s sleep. |
Educational, not medical advice. With chest pain, a fever or feeling unwell, rest and see a doctor.
What the score can’t see.
One poor night is an adjustment, not a verdict. A short night costs most at the top end, where speed, power and coordination live. A meta-analysis of acute sleep loss found exercise performance lower after nights of six hours or less, across every type of exercise it looked at. A run of poor nights is a different conversation.
Read the parts, not only the total. A poor score from a late, irregular bedtime is a different problem from one driven by high sleep stress, which can be the first sign of illness or too much load. Compare with your own normal too: 75% is a rough night if you usually sit above 90%.
If you feel ill or have a fever, rest and see a doctor rather than training through it. px reads your WHOOP Sleep Performance every morning alongside your HRV, resting heart rate, recent training and calendar, and sizes the day from all of it, telling you why.
Sources
Your WHOOP scores, explained.
Questions
What is a good WHOOP Sleep Performance score?
WHOOP calls 85% and above optimal, 70–84% sufficient and under 70% poor. Each part of the score has its own thresholds on the same three levels: sleep efficiency above 90%, for example, is optimal.
Should I work out after a bad night’s sleep?
Usually, with the intensity eased. Easy aerobic work is fine after one short night; maximal intervals and heavy, technical lifts are the sessions to trim or move. After several poor nights in a row, move gently or rest.
Why is my Sleep Performance low when I slept eight hours?
Hours are one of four factors. An irregular bedtime, a lot of time awake in bed, or high sleep stress from alcohol, a late meal or illness can pull the score down even when you slept long enough.
Do naps count towards Sleep Performance?
Not directly. WHOOP says naps aren’t factored into Sleep Debt or Recovery, but they do change your Sleep Need. Some recent naps can be converted to sleep in the app.
px reads your WHOOP Sleep Performance every morning.
Alongside your sleep, HRV, resting heart rate and calendar, so the day is sized from all of it, not one number. You get the plan and the reason.