I’ve been using the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic for the past week, and for the most part, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time with the wearable.
I really like the approach to Wear OS 6, with its redesigned tiles and notification systems making it much easier to get the info you need at a glance. The fact that Gemini works with Samsung apps, allowing you to initiate exercise tracking with your voice, is another underrated touch.
However, it’s the Galaxy Watch 8’s sleep apnea monitoring that stands out to me the most. Yes, it’s not an entirely new feature, but it has only recently become available in the UK and EU after regulatory approval, so it was the first time that I truly got to test the tech out.
And reader, I think it might’ve caught my undiagnosed sleep apnea in full effect.
Moderate to severe sleep apnea warning
Upon setting up the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic with my Galaxy Z Fold 7 and downloading the necessary apps to utilise its functionality, I thought it’d be a good opportunity to test one of the new features – sleep apnea monitoring.
The tech is activated within the dedicated Samsung Health Monitor app and essentially requires you to wear the wearable to bed twice – ideally, two nights in a row – before it delivers its verdict.
As I was testing the regular sleep tracking for the wearable, that wasn’t a problem for me. I went to bed with the wearable two nights in a row – and woke up on the third day to a somewhat unnerving message on my phone and watch.
“Signs of moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea detected”.
That’s not something I wanted to see, especially first thing in the morning, all bleary-eyed.
Tapping on the notification, I got a little bit more context. “Your watch detected enough breathing disruptions to indicate moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea”, the app explained. “Talk to your doctor about this result”.
Samsung is so confident in its technology that it even states there’s no need to rerun the feature, as I wouldn’t get a different result. I like confident tech, but that’s a little bit too confident for me.
There might actually be something to it
As someone who reviews tech for a living, it’s easy to disregard some health features as they tend not to be medical-grade (or even remotely accurate in some cases), but that’s not the case with the sleep apnea detection on the Galaxy Watch collection.
In fact, the feature has been approved by health regulatory bodies in over 70 markets, including the CE marking in Europe, FDA approval in the US, Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, Brazil’s health regulatory agency ANVISA and more. This highlights the confidence both regulators and Samsung have in the technology.
More importantly, though, there is a history of sleep apnea in my family – and I got diagnosed with mild sleep apnea a few years back. However, after slimming down a few pounds and doing a follow-up test six months later, the risk had disappeared – or at least wasn’t prevalent enough to be an issue.
The problem I had was, how would I know if/when it returned? I only found out the first time because my partner witnessed me stop breathing for a few seconds while I was asleep one night.
That’s what makes the sleep apnea detection on the Galaxy Watch series such a game-changer – and maybe even a lifesaver, because undiagnosed sleep apnea can be fatal.
Sleep apnea is more deadly than people think
Obstructive sleep apnea is fairly common, with claims that over a billion people suffer from the issue worldwide, but it’s way more than simply snoring loudly. The issue is that, with obstructive sleep apnea, the muscles in your throat relax when you’re asleep and stop you from breathing.
Imminent dangers of not breathing while asleep aside, sleep apnea can increase the risk of stroke by 86%, it can double the likelihood of heart attacks with the constant drops in blood oxygen and even contribute to high blood pressure.
It also makes people more tired, more irritable, more prone to making mistakes when driving and can even cause mental health issues.
On a personal note, a close family friend died from an episode of sleep apnea after leaving it untreated for years. That’s a rarity, with obstructive sleep apnea usually not being the direct cause of death – but it can still happen if you’ve got pre-existing issues with your heart or lungs.
With all that in mind, I’m taking the warning of moderate to severe sleep apnea way more seriously than I might do with other wearable-based fitness features, and I’ve booked a GP appointment to get to the bottom of it all. Wish me luck…
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