The Samsung Health Monitor app just got the green light from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its sleep apnea feature. This feature will detect signs of sleep apnea when using a compatible Galaxy Watch and Samsung phone combination in the US.
If you’re wondering which Galaxy Watch will receive this feature, it’s still unclear. Samsung’s press release doesn’t provide specifics, but it’s likely that at least the Galaxy Watch6 series will have it. In Korea, both the Watch6 and Watch5 families already support the feature, which was previously approved by authorities there.
The sleep apnea feature will allow users to detect signs of moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea over a two-night monitoring period, starting in the third quarter of this year. It is scheduled to launch between July and September.
To use it, users simply need to track their sleep twice for more than four hours within a ten-day period. Users must be over the age of 22 to use the feature.
Sleep apnea is a common and chronic sleep condition that often goes undiagnosed and untreated. It causes individuals to stop breathing while sleeping and can disrupt oxygen supply, leading to low sleep quality and daytime fatigue. Untreated sleep apnea can increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension, coronary artery disease, heart failure, cardiac arrhythmias, and stroke.
According to the National Sleep Foundation, about 25% of men and 10% of women in the US experience sleep apnea. Samsung’s new feature will make it easier for more people to identify and seek medical care for the condition to reduce potential health-related complications.
