Wake up one day to a message from your Apple Watch saying you may be at risk for having sleep apnea. Alarming as that can sound, it could be that this is perhaps one of the life-saving instruments to come our way.
Sleep apnea occurs when a person stops breathing repeatedly during sleep; one may never know about it unless deep investigations are run to uncover the problem: thus, such a disease may cause very serious health issues like high blood pressure, heart attacks, and strokes if left unchecked.
There is now an app available for Apple Watch Series 10 and some previous models that may identify symptoms of sleep apnea.
Over the course of 30 days, the watch measures breathing interruptions during sleep using wrist movements and notifies users if it notices numerous pauses.
Despite its shortcomings, this technology acts as an early warning system for users to seek expert care. According to Apple’s studies, the watch diagnoses severe sleep apnea with 89% accuracy.
To establish the problem, specialists advise seeing a doctor again or having a thorough sleep study conducted.
Stanford University’s Dr. Robson Capasso adds that although this tool is useful, it shouldn’t make people anxious. Rather, it gives people a great chance to address a potentially dangerous health issue, particularly those who cannot obtain sleep studies.
