Samsung is touting the Galaxy Watch 5 and Galaxy Watch 5 Pro to offer the world’s most advanced sleep tracking technology. In a press conference in New York shortly after the Galaxy Unpacked last week, company executive Yang Tae-jong said that the new watches are the best partner for healthy sleeping habits. Yang is the head of health research and development at Samsung.
The Galaxy Watch 5 series debuted last Wednesday with several major improvements over the preceding models. The company claims the pair will set new standards for smartwatch health experiences. The new watches pack an innovative bioactive sensor. It combines Optical Heart Rate (PPG), Electrical Heart Signal (ECG), and Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA) for comprehensive health monitoring.
The technological advancements Samsung has made this year allow for more accurate sleep monitoring, Yang said. He noted that the company has been working on sleep-tracking technologies for the past several years. Its watches monitor different stages of sleep and detect snoring and blood oxygen levels. The data is then shown to users comprehensively so they can easily determine how well they sleep.
Additionally, the Galaxy Watch 5 offers customized sleep coaching programs that enable users to improve their sleeping habits over time. Yang added that Samsung develops these programs in collaboration with Samsung Medical Center. Customers get access to those for free. Many fitness tracker and smartwatch brands charge a premium for such programs.
Set up for sleep tracking using the Samsung Health app
If you haven’t done this already, we must ensure sleep tracking is correctly configured.
First, you need to pair the Samsung Galaxy Watch with a smartphone. While you can use sleep tracking independently, a smartphone keeps the results over days, weeks, or even months of sleep tracking. And that’s a good way of motivating yourself to do better.
To pair your Galaxy Watch with a smartphone:
- Install the Galaxy Wearable app on your phone (Android/iOS)
- Enable Bluetooth
- Open the Galaxy Wearable app with your Samsung Galaxy Watch nearby.
- Pick your Galaxy Watch
- And complete the pairing process by following the on-screen instructions.
Install the Samsung Health app
Once pairing is complete, download and install the Samsung Health app if it’s not already on your phone and watch. You’ll use this app to monitor your sleep patterns using your Galaxy Watch. Once installed, don’t forget to set it up using your Samsung account (or create a new one.)
In the app itself, you could have an option to turn on Heart Rate Monitoring, REM Sleep Recording, Blood Oxygen Level Monitoring, and Snore Detection.
The Sleep Tracking
Using sleep tracking means that you are going to have to wear the watch on your wrist while sleeping. That’s because smartwatches rely mainly, if not entirely, on movement to analyze your sleep habits. After a decent night’s sleep, you should get the below results:
- Time in bed: The overall time you spent laying down – regardless of how much of it was while sleeping.
- Sleep score: The final score that resembles the overall quality of your sleep for that night by measuring all of your stats.
- Actual sleep time: This Shows only how much time you spent sleeping – regardless of how much time you spent in the bed.
- Awake: How much time do you spend awake while lying on the bed?
- REM: The overall time you spent in the REM stage “Rapid Eye Movement.”
- Light: How much of your sleep was light sleep?
- Deep: How much time do you spend in the deep sleep stage?
- Typical range: The range of minimum and maximum averages for a healthy adult of your age, gender, and body weight. Typical ranges are identified by the white diagonal lines in the graph.
- Weekly average: How much time you spend sleeping on average every week.
