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On average, you spend about 25 years of your life just sleeping. To put that into perspective, that’s roughly a third of an average human lifetime.
It might sound like a massive waste of time, just passed out on a bed, but sleep is actually very important to our health. In order to maintain proper cognitive and physical well-being, an adult typically needs at least 6 hours of sleep every night. But simple and natural as it might seem, some of us just have trouble sleeping — the writer here is one of them.
I’ve always had a love-hate relationship with sleep. On the one hand, I love sleeping — mornings are the worst — but on the other, despite all the lavender oils and reading before bed, I just can’t fall asleep before 3am. To make things worse, I am a very light sleeper, so I get startled awake at the tiniest noise and have to begin the entire process of getting my brain to shut down again.
Sleep tracking isn’t really a new technology. Most smartwatches have them, but what really sets the Samsung Galaxy Watch5 Pro apart is the coaching feature that analyses your sleep patterns and provides you with insights on what you can do to improve your sleep, which is a large part of health and wellness.
That’s why, when I heard that the sleep tracking and coaching feature on Samsung Health, paired with the Galaxy Watch5 Pro was being lauded as one of the best in the industry, it piqued my interest.
Part 1: Getting the Initial Sleep Data
Before the Galaxy Watch5 Pro and Samsung Health can give you any insights, it needs data to analyse. So the first step of getting “coached” is getting consistent sleep for an entire week (5 weeknights + 2 nights on the weekend). It doesn’t have to be continuous, but the data has to be complete.
During these seven nights, all I got was standard sleep-tracking stuff that almost every other smartwatch/smartband can provide, just a little more detailed with the inclusion of SpO2 and snoring data.
While knowing when I was in deep sleep or REM sleep did not help much in improving my sleep quality, one good thing came out of this: I was making an effort to actually go to bed every night, if only just to get these first seven days of data. Where I used to stay up all night (because why sleep if I have to wake up again in less than 3 hours), I managed to force myself to get some shut-eye every single night, which is better than nothing.
Part 2: Of Sleep Factors (And Sleep Symbols)
Once Samsung Health gets what it needs, it’ll analyse the data and start your personalised 5-week course of sleep coaching. This is also where you discover your sleep symbol, in the form of the most adorable animals.
According to Samsung Health, I am an Exhausted Shark, which is all the way at the bottom of the list. Just like sharks are nocturnal animals, I “tend to go to sleep and wake up late”, as I “like doing other activities aside from sleeping while lying down”. All true analyses that I kinda already knew before this.
Apparently, stress also contributed to a large part of my inability to fall asleep or maintain deep sleep, which was a new revelation for me. I wouldn’t consider myself stressed, but a quick test on the Galaxy Watch5 Pro proved otherwise (yes, it can measure your stress levels too!).
For the first week of sleep coaching, everything was business as usual while the smartwatch and Samsung Health continued to gather data and provide education. Every day, there are some “missions” that I am expected to read and complete, mostly educational blurbs about the factors of sleep.
Part 3: Of Sleep Routines
The next two weeks are focused on getting regular and consistent sleep by changing various lifestyle habits, including avoiding non-sleep activities in bed and avoiding naps during the day, both of which I’m guilty of. I won’t say I managed to curb all of my bad habits, but this experiment got me to at least try my best.
I coupled the sleep tracking and coaching with some light fitness programs provided by Samsung Health as well, which I’d written about as well previously. Namely, I tried out the bedtime and wake-up stretches, which didn’t quite work as well as I hoped, though I didn’t have much of an expectation in the first place.
Forcing myself to stop having naps during the day did help, though. Towards the later end of the two-week period, I found myself naturally tired and ready to pass out by the end of the day. For a good four or five days, I managed to go to sleep before 12am, which is a huge improvement from before.
Part 4: Of Bedtime Routines & Regular Sleep Patterns
As I approached the end of the 5-week sleep coaching, I was already consciously making myself physically tired out so that I can get to sleep easier. While my total sleep times were now longer, the deep sleep and REM sleep percentage were still unfortunately low, and I was still fitful throughout the night.
Without having enough deep sleep, my body will not be able to have enough time for physical and mental recovery like tissue growth and repair, which happens during deep sleep (as quoted from Samsung Health). This was obviously not ideal, but the sleep coaching program covered that — the next two weeks were dedicated to relaxing before bed and building a regular sleep schedule.
This is where I am now — halfway through the final week while Samsung Health is trying its best to help me establish a regular sleep pattern. This is also the hardest part, alas, despite my efforts, as work and responsibilities call and I sometimes do have to stay up later just to deal with stuff.
That said, I have noticed some significant improvements in my sleep. It might still be a conscious effort to go to bed at the same time every single day, but at least I’m not tossing and turning even after the lights are out. My deep sleep times are up, albeit just a little, and I feel less miserable when I have to wake up early in the mornings. I’m hoping that this will improve the more I follow the sleeping tips, but for now, I would consider the five-week course a success.
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And what’s more, you can also trade-in your old devices and enjoy instant savings when you purchase your new Galaxy Watch5 series. All Galaxy devices are accepted – even some devices from other brands are accepted for trade-in, even ones with cracked screens!
[This post is made in collaboration with Samsung Malaysia]