Samsung Gear Sleep Tracker: What You Need To Know

Samsung smartwatches are among the best smartwatches and fitness trackers on the market. Beyond tracking health metrics and exercises, the devices can also monitor your sleep. This includes the quality and length of your sleep and the factors contributing to a good or bad night’s rest. The Samsung Galaxy Watch is a great sleep tracker and can be used with the Samsung Health app.

Sleep tracking with Samsung Health

Samsung Health's sleep monitoring feature on the Galaxy Watch can help you track and improve your sleep quality. The app provides a sleep score, which shows how long you spent sleeping, as well as your sleep time in hours and minutes, and the calories burned. It also shows how long you spent in various sleep stages, including Awake, REM, Light, and Deep sleep cycles. Additionally, the app measures your blood oxygen levels during sleep and provides snore detection, which records the amount of time you spent snoring. You can also use the sleep coaching options to guide you through the best way to get a better night's sleep.

To use the sleep monitoring feature on the Galaxy Watch, make sure your watch is connected to your phone via the Galaxy Wearable app. Then, open the Samsung Health app on your watch and enable the sleep tracking feature. You can also adjust settings such as the detection of snoring, how long to store recordings, and more. When you're ready for bed, wear your watch and connect your phone to its charger, placing it near your head on a stable surface.

The next morning, you can check your sleep data by swiping left on the watch home screen until you see the Sleep tile, and then tapping it. Here, you'll be able to view your sleep score, sleep time, sleep stages, blood oxygen levels, snore detection data, and sleep consistency. You can also access this information on your connected phone by opening the Samsung Health app and tapping the Sleep tracker.

It's important to note that the sleep coaching settings can only be adjusted from the phone and not from the watch itself. Additionally, the snoring measurement and recording are done on your phone, so it's important to place your phone near your head to ensure accurate detection.

Samsung Health's sleep monitoring feature is a great way to track and improve your sleep quality. With detailed data and personalized advice, you can work towards achieving healthier sleeping patterns and enhancing your sleep habits effectively.

Snore detection

The Samsung Health app has a snoring detection feature that records and alerts you to the sounds you make while you sleep. It shows you how much time you spent snoring and how often. To use this feature, you need to enable it in the app settings. You can also record your snoring by tapping the switch next to "Record audio". To do this, you will need to place your phone near your head while sleeping. You can also automatically remove the audio recordings after a set amount of time (7 days, 31 days, or 100 days).

The Snorek app also provides a similar function. It listens to you at night when you sleep, and if you snore, it warns you by vibrating your Samsung Gear 2 paired Smartwatch. After installation, follow the easy instructions on the screen to communicate your SmartWatch with your smartphone. Then, leave the phone next to you and fall asleep. Your Smartwatch will provide you with information about how many times you snored that night, along with how long you slept and the vibration length.

The Sleep As Android app also has a snoring detection feature, but it only works with the Galaxy Watch 3 and other Tizen-based wearables. It is not clear if this app has a snoring detection feature for the Galaxy Watch 4.

It is important to note that the snoring detection feature on the Samsung Health app is only available on the Galaxy Watch 4 series. To record snoring while wearing the Galaxy Watch, place your smartphone on a stable surface, such as a bed or tabletop, with the bottom of the smartphone facing you.

Sleep score

The Samsung Health app on the Galaxy Watch provides a sleep score that shows how long you spent sleeping. The sleep score is part of a set of data that includes sleep time, sleep stage, blood oxygen during sleep, snore detection, and sleep consistency. To access your sleep score, swipe left on the watch home screen until you see the Sleep tile, then tap it.

It is important to note that sleep scores may be calculated differently across various apps and devices. Some factors that may contribute to your sleep score include sleep duration, sleep stages (including REM and deep sleep), heart rate, restlessness, and restoration. By understanding the specific metrics included in the calculation, you can better interpret your sleep score and work towards improving your sleep quality.

Sleep stages

Sleep is divided into four stages, including one rapid-eye movement (REM) stage and three non-rapid eye movement (NREM) stages. Each sleep stage plays a part in allowing the mind and body to wake up refreshed. The sleep cycle is also important for understanding sleep disorders such as insomnia and obstructive sleep apnea.

The first sleep cycle of the night is usually the shortest, ranging from 70 to 100 minutes, while later cycles tend to be longer, ranging from 90 to 120 minutes. The first stage of sleep is N1, which occurs when a person first falls asleep. This stage normally lasts from one to seven minutes, and the body and brain activities start to slow, with brief movements. It is easy to wake someone during this stage, but if they are not disturbed, they will quickly move into stage 2. As the night goes on, an uninterrupted sleeper will not spend much time in stage 1 as they move through further sleep cycles.

Stage 2 is light sleep, but deeper than stage 1. Brain waves slow down and have noticeable pauses between short bursts of electrical activity. Experts believe that these bursts are the brain organizing memories and information from when the sleeper was awake. Stage 2 accounts for about 45% of total sleep time and is the stage that people spend the most time in. Sleepers will go through multiple rounds of stage 2, and each round is usually longer than the last.

Stage 3 is deep sleep, and it is difficult to wake someone during this stage. The body takes advantage of this very deep sleep stage to repair injuries and strengthen the immune system. Brain waves are slow but strong, and the same bursts of brain activity that happen in stage 2 can also occur in stage 3. Stage 3 makes up about 25% of total sleep time in adults, but babies and children need more of this stage.

After stage 3, the body moves back into stage 2, which is the gateway to REM sleep. The REM stage is when dreaming occurs. After the first REM cycle, the body starts a new sleep cycle and goes back into stage 1 or 2, and the cycle starts over. A person will typically go through four to six sleep cycles per night, but the duration of each stage and cycle can vary.

Blood oxygen saturation

Oxygen is essential to life, and our bodies need a certain amount of oxygen to function properly. All of our cells require oxygen to create energy efficiently, and our bodies need this energy to carry out their processes, such as digestion and even thinking. Our blood oxygen levels are tightly regulated by our bodies because low blood oxygen levels, known as hypoxemia, can lead to many serious conditions and damage to individual organ systems, especially the brain and heart.

There are two main ways to measure or test blood oxygen levels: through a blood draw test and through pulse oximetry (using an oximeter). A blood draw test provides much more information about your oxygen levels than an oximeter does. A pulse oximeter is a non-invasive device placed over a person's finger or toe, and it can quickly and harmlessly check if someone's blood oxygen level is too low. It is a useful tool for healthcare providers and can also be used at home.

Samsung's Galaxy Watch Watch4 series can also measure blood oxygen saturation during sleep. The watch uses the Samsung Health app and Sleep tile to view sleeping time, record snoring, and use sleep coaching options. The Sleep tile shows data such as sleep score, sleep time, sleep stage, blood oxygen during sleep, snore detection, and sleep consistency. To use this feature, you need to enable it in the Samsung Health app and wear your watch to bed.

Frequently asked questions