Samsung Galaxy Watches will soon be able to detect sleep apnea in users: Here’s how

Samsung’s Galaxy Watches have always seen a lot of hype around them, owing to the barrage of health-tracking features they offer. However, one such feature amongst them has received even more attention than the others – namely, sleep tracking. Now, in addition to tracking your sleep parameters though, Samsung Galaxy Watches will soon also be able to help detect sleep apnea in users, through the Samsung Health Monitor app. Here’s all you need to know.

Sleep Apnea detection on Samsung Galaxy Watches: How it works

Samsung has just received a nod from the US FDA to release a sleep apnea detection feature in Galaxy Watches to users in the US. The feature, in essence, tries to detect signs of moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea via breathing disruptions, over a two-night monitoring period. All users have to do, is track their sleep twice for more than four hours within a 10-day period. Should they happen to indeed have sleep apnea, the watch will give them a heads-up about it.

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Sleep tracking was first made available for users starting with the Samsung Galaxy Watch4, and is already capable of tracking several key sleep parameters. These include sleep timings and duration, the number of times a user wakes up, and for how long, amongst others. What’s more, the watches can even track how much a user snores while sleeping. Based on these parameters, they can assign users a sleep score, which would help them better track the quality of their sleep.

Why you should pay attention to the feature

Obstructive sleep apnea causes a person to stop breathing while sleeping, leading to reduced oxygen supply, decreased sleep quality, as well as increased fatigue in the daytime. Moreover, if left untreated, the disease can also greatly enhance the risk of hypertension, coronary artery disease, heart failure as well as arrhythmia and strokes in a person.

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The new sleep apnea detection feature, according to Samsung, can help people more proactively track and detect sleep apnea, should they happen to be suffering from it, and seek medical intervention in time. The feature, as mentioned above, will be made available to Samsung Galaxy Watch users in the US for now starting later this year. However, the company didn’t mention just which models will receive the feature, or if and when other international markets, including India, will get it.