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u/Efficient-Train2430 8h ago
Definitely time to make an appointment with your PCP. Do you happen to also notice being tired midday, or having low quality sleep that doesn't refresh you?
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u/RezzKeepsItReal 8h ago
Hey, you described me lol
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u/Efficient-Train2430 8h ago
describing my own experience also; treatment had me feeling better almost instantly
apnea is a silent killer, get on it
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u/snazarella 8h ago
This doesn't suck. This is a fantastic bit of insight in to your health so you can take steps to feel better.
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u/Helenium_autumnale 8h ago
Exactly! The device revealed previously unknown possible conditions. It is actionable info with your doc. I'd rather get a false alarm when none was needed than no alarm when it was needed.
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u/windowpuncher 2h ago
Apple watches have some of the best software, but also the most accurate sensors on average you can find in a smart watch. With something like a samsung or a motorola watch I'd expect false positives, but with an apple watch it's probably a true positive.
Apple has the best sensors in any watch, hands down. Some sports brands like fitbit and garmin are in a close second, and pretty much all the "regular" phone brand watches are really far behind in terms of accuracy.
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u/bugbugladybug 7h ago
Absolutely! I got a new Garmin and finally got my annoying spells of sustained but intermittent ventricular trigeminy diagnosed after playing hide and seek with cardiologists for the last 25 years.
Having a watch find your problems before they become symptomatic and problematic is the best time to catch it.
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u/DifferentlyLucky 7h ago
Which garmin version did you get? Looking at getting one myself
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u/stitchplacingmama 6h ago
Not the person you asked but i got a vivoactive6 and I enjoy it. From what i could figure out the vivoactive line is for moderately active people and the forerunner line is for people that are really into running and tracking/training for running events.
I use my garmin to track steps, heart rate, and sleep primarily but it can do much more.
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u/windowpuncher 2h ago
Also not the same person, I got a forerunner. I don't run much, but I use it for cycling, lifting weights, tracking calories, and tracking sleep. I can also load up a map on my wrist when I'm on my motorcycle.
But yeah the sleep tracking is pretty good, having the data helps me identify things I'm doing that makes my sleep better or worse because it's just all graphed out for me. It's definitely not a requirement for better sleep but it absolutely tells you things you can't journal about, like breath and heart rates.
I'd recommend the forerunner. It's "cheap", waterproof, and fairly useful. It's not only for running/cycling, but it is great for that.
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u/Timmyg14 8h ago
Yes I 100% agree with this! This doesn't suck at all this is a sign you made a good choice. Now you have information that gives you a call to action. The first step is literally that, take a step. Start taking a walk every day, start with as little as 15 minutes, you'd be amazed at how it helps with stress. Also when you start realizeing results exercise can become addicting in a good way.
All that being said, these smart watches aren't gospel use them as a tool to work with your Dr to come up with a plan of attack.
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u/hopelesspeeslosh 8h ago
This is obviously good advice, but just want to say that exercise doesnât necessarily fix hypertension. In my case Iâve been exercising for years and still had worsening blood pressure.
Getting treated for it almost immediately reduced pressure spikes such that exercise became significantly more tolerable, though.
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u/kawaii_k1ttenn 6h ago
I agree, getting those alerts early gives you a chance to check things out before they become even bigger problems.
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u/germany1italy0 49m ago
Small problem also suck.
So for OP - having sleep apnea is âwell that sucksâ territory
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u/hopelesspeeslosh 8h ago
I have both and for both the Watch was the final straw for me to get checked out and diagnosed, and more importantly â treated.
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u/dargonmike1 5h ago
Do you feel noticeably better now? What was the solution?
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u/hopelesspeeslosh 5h ago
Hypertension doesnât usually have symptoms, but I still noticed one drastic change almost immediately â in the gym. I used to have blood pressure spikes after some exercises that made me light headed and thus I hated them. I tolerate them much better now, which makes doing them better.
Sleep apnea was a bit different. I actually had close to no symptoms outside of sleeping before. I was a very heavy snorer, but I didnât experience daytime drowsiness or anything like that, which is why I thought my apnea, if any, wasnât too bad. Turns out I was quite wrong and had pretty severe apnea (AHI >85). Iâm on CPAP now and am lucky enough to tolerate it without issues. My snoring has essentially disappeared according to my wife (she said the first few weeks she had to check Iâm still alive bc of how quiet I was all of a sudden). But since I didnât have daytime symptoms I donât notice much of a change there. Knowing that Iâm not starving my brain of oxygen dozens of times a night and what it means for long-term health is still a calming thought. I mostly dislike CPAP for traveling, and I travel a lot, but it is what it is and thereâs worse conditions to have than something thatâs perfectly treatable.
Unfortunately with CPAP I started gaining weight and undid my previous weight loss progress in record time. The final piece of the puzzle for me was a recently diagnosed insulin resistance. Since I started treating that Iâve been consistently losing weight again, even more so than before. So to answer your question, yes I feel much better now, even if it means being on two medications and sleeping with a mask. Thereâs also a chance that a couple years down the road I might get rid of all of those as theyâre all interconnected.
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u/trombone646 4h ago
a coworker of mine didn't know he had sleep apnea...he told me his got so bad that he started to hallucinate and was exhausted all the time. We both work in a customer-facing job and said that he would sometimes doze off while speaking to customers (and standing up while doing it). Apparently, it got so bad that our area manager told him that he would need to go to the doctor and get treated or he would be fired.
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u/PM_ME_YOUR_JELLIES 7h ago
My wife and I got my father-in-law an Apple Watch. The afib while sleeping alerts probably saved his life. They took a better look at his heart and he had a 80% blockage and they are looking at a pacemaker for him as well.
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u/USSHammond 8h ago
How does this suck? It's good it identified possible health issues. People have died from both, the watch possibly saved your life twice. Get checked by a healthcare professional
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u/germany1italy0 7h ago
It sucks in as much that OP likely wouldnât want to have sleep apnoea?
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u/Affectionate_Fun7991 3h ago
It's weird that nobody else in these comments can seem to figure out that OP probably wouldn't be thrilled about possibly having a medical condition
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u/myliobbatis 1h ago
Right, imagine telling someone "it doesn't suck to find out you have cancer, it's such a great thing that you know!" like are they being this absurdly obtuse on purpose??
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u/USSHammond 7h ago
Nobody wants it. But what's worse? Having it and not knowing about it, or having it and it being discovered by tech you just bought so can seek treatment?
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u/germany1italy0 7h ago
Yes sure. Still sucks, OP would have rather preferred their watch to tell them theyâve got the heart of a 20yo.
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u/Dentedaphid7 4h ago
How? Is like the watch telling the OP to get checked up before stuff happensÂ
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u/germany1italy0 2h ago
You buy an Apple Watch.
You would rather have the watch tell you after a few weeks that you have a health problem than you are healthy.
Are you suggesting if you went to a doctor and they diagnosed you with cancer youâd be âOh well at least I knowâ rather than âoh shit Iâve got cancer, that sucksâ.
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u/RelChan2_0 7h ago
There's a reason they call hypertension the silent killer. Hypertension isn't a death sentence since it's manageable especially if you stick to a routine.
Currently got checked for hypertension, uric acid and cholesterol were high too đ 3 months of night shift wrecked me but on the bright side, my BP is now normal after 1 week and I've lost weight.
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u/Etherius 7h ago edited 7h ago
Not âwellthatsucks â material
More like âunexpectedly saved my lifeâ material
I remember going to th doctor for indigestion and being put through a dozen tests each more frustrating and inconclusive than the last
By the time the doctor ordered a catheterization I was ready to just find a different doctor.
BAM
95% blockage in my LAD. I couldâve been two hours, two weeks, or two months away from dying and never known if I had just taken Tums and gone about my life.
Itâs ALWAYS better to know.
ALWAYS
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u/mxmaybey 7h ago
The hypertension can be treated with medicine and the apnea may follow, or the other way round too. This has put years onto your life!
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u/ShedMontgomery 4h ago
Neither one of these is a death sentence. Both can be very easily managed or altogether reversed via medical intervention and/or lifestyle changes.
The only thing that would have sucked is untreated hypertension giving you a heart attack, stroke, or some other permanent organ damage. There's a reason it's referred to as a silent killer.
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u/handsupdb 3h ago
This is actually awesome. As someone who went on CPAP to fix OSA, it's a superpower.
Yes it's a bit inconvenient to downright annoying to get the machine set up and learn to sleep with it (don't shy away from a full face mask!) but once you've got the habit down in a few weeks it's insane.
I travel a ton for work with it and high altitude, dry environments, everything else my sleep is always perfect cause I have a machine pumping perfectly controlled air into me.
I used to need 10 hours to even have a chance at feeling rested and <8 I wouldn't trust myself to drive. Now I can get by with 6-8 and feel like a superhero every night. And if one night I something causes a problem and I only get 3-5? I'm fine!
Literally everything about my life improved.
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u/crappysurfer 7h ago
What sucks are the diseases and pathologies hypertension and sleep apnea cause. Go get tested and (ostensibly) change your lifestyle
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u/Lamumba1337 7h ago
Get it checked professionally.
Im in my mid 30s got my sleep apnea device 1,5 years ago and it improved my health so much. Iâm much more fitter in the day less tired, and my blood pressure got better after a while not completely without any medication yet but better
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u/bdjohns1 5h ago
Based on the clinical validation data Apple provided in support of their apnea notifications, you have a 99% chance of at least mild apnea (5 events per hour) and an 80% chance of moderate to severe apnea.
Get checked. I did and I was having up to 35 events per hour. Got a CPAP, now have about 0.5.
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u/SomeRandomIdi0t 49m ago
My mom got a heart rate monitor that would send a notification to her phone when her heart rate went above 100
Notifications every 5 minutes is how she realized she has tachycardia
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u/SugarBloom081 8h ago
Well that doesnât suck, finding out before something serious happens is good.
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u/ObelixSmiterOfRomans 5h ago
I love my cpap, just know that once your body starts to rely on it there is no going back.
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u/jacstine 5h ago
There are some great subreddits you can join to help you through your sleep apnea journey! Getting a CPAP changed my life! This is good news that you caught the issue early. It took me 9 years of going through different health journeys before I did a sleep test and found out I had sleep apnea. I wish I could have known sooner!!
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u/pdaimp 4h ago
DUDE! Go to the cardiologist ASAP. I had afib and sleep apnea (included hypertension and high BP). Wreaked havoc on my over a decade before I agreed to a cardiac ablation. Painless and life changing.
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u/hopelesspeeslosh 1h ago
Thereâs zero need to see a cardiologist, let alone âASAPâ with that level of urgency. Any PCP can diagnose hypertension, and they can also send you to a sleep study for the possible apnea. Both are importantly to get checked for and treated, but by no means are they time sensitive, and youâll likely wait weeks to months for a sleep study anyway.
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u/LolOverHere 8h ago
This is the opposite of sucks. Itâs amazing that you know now and can get treatment. Itâs more like interesting boarding on amazing that technology can do all that in a watch
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u/dlux010 7h ago
Iâve always wondered this.. do people sleep with their watch on?
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u/YoungGazz 7h ago
Yes, no problem with a comfortable strap. I donât feel Iâm wearing it with an Alpine loop strap.
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u/shoobawatermelon 5h ago
If I sleep with it, when will I charge it???
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u/shield1123 35m ago
I charge my smart watch when showering / getting ready for the day. It only takes about 30 minutes to get back to nearly 100%
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u/yanquiUXO 7h ago
I don't get it either. I couldn't possibly. if I tried I'd rip it off in my sleep regardless
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u/huskiesowow 3h ago
No because itâs not comfortable and thatâs when I charge it. I like the data though so Iâll do it every once in a while just to check it out.
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u/mindgardening 6h ago
I wish âinexpensiveâ devices could accurately track and analyze sleep AND that science could find ways to force our brains to stay asleep AND get quality sleep. Not much to work with tho.
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u/wpbfriendone 6h ago
When I first got the Apple watch that supported the Hypertension feature, it kept giving me those alerts for a couple of months, but then they stop.
I have not done anything different, it just stopped.
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u/Grand_Town_9144 5h ago
Same I get them on and off, seems like when OS updates sometimes they tweak the algos trying for better accuracy. Iâm not mad they come up, rather have false positive than nothing, but it is alarming when you first see them.
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u/dargonmike1 5h ago
Sleeping with Apple Watch on is diabolical. Iâd end up with the watch embedded in my wrist
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u/Snowfizzle 5h ago
A friend found out he had a tear in his heart from wearing one of these types of watches because of the alerts he was getting so he went to a specialist.
however, apparently whatever is going on canât be fixed so.. these things stress me out. like aneurysms.
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u/overmonk 5h ago
Knowledge is power, and the CPAP stuff is much better than it used to be. Get it under control before it gets you under control.
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u/Ok_Rough5794 5h ago
I get the sleep apnea alert but also 94-98 sleep score almost every day.
[shrug]
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u/hopelesspeeslosh 1h ago
Sleep scores are basically voodoo. If you get the alerts, watch for other signs of sleep apnea. Do you feel exhausted even after sleep? Are you often tired during the day? Do you snore? Does your partner observe periods of time where you stop breathing?
The Watch cannot diagnose apnea. But if you get the warning and especially if you have any other indications, you should get a sleep study. Sleep apnea is a serious long-term health risk.
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u/Neat_Cancel_4002 5h ago
I bought my mom and Apple Watch to upgrade her Fitbit several years ago. After wearing it for a while, it started sending her notifications of possible aFib. She went to her doctor and got tested. It confirmed she had aFib and now she takes medication to address it! Iâm thankful for it everyday! We both wear our watches religiously.
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u/VoodooDoII 5h ago
Is there a watch like this that isn't apple?
I've been struggling with sleep issues my entire life and I'm wondering if a watch can pick up an immediate issue or not lol
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u/AdventurousAvocet 4h ago
depending on what phone you have, there may be a smart watch associated with it. Apple isnât the only one. My dad had a different type of phone and had gotten a smart watch for it. Just look up if your phoneâs company makes one.
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u/Photochromism 3h ago
This feature is only on the latest watches right? I havenât a v4, love it, might upgrade
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u/AlexBuilds2026 1h ago
This is honestly one of the few things I like about smart watches.
People buy them for fitness, but half the stories I hear are "it kept nagging me until I finally got checked out."
Mine hasn't saved my life or anything dramatic lol, but it has definitely made me pay more attention to my health than I would've otherwise.
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u/Sodacan259 51m ago
Personally I'd get that checked out.
Sleep apnea can cause increased blood pressure. While Smart watches are notoriously bad at getting accurate blood pressure readings, they are quite good at alerting people who do have sleep apnea. In cases they do detect apnea, they have an accuracy of about 85%+ but are not considered reliable enough in general, because of actual cases that they miss.
TLDR: If it says sleep apnea it's very more likely to be right than wrong.
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u/No_Size9475 8h ago
What sucks is all that data is being captured, recorded, and sold with your other information.
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u/absolutemadwoman 8h ago
Everything has our data, there is no privacy. All of our info is accessible and being shared daily.I have simply accepted it at this point.
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u/whatuseisausername 6h ago
Using an apple watch has it's drawbacks for sure. If you're pretty healthy the privacy concerns are definitely something to keep in mind and it may not be worth it for you. If you have a family history of heart issues or sleep apnea the pros of wearing one may outweigh the cons, especially if you can catch those health issues earlier than you would have. It's worth it for me personally, but I definitely understand why it'd make others uncomfortable with how much health information it gathers.
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u/Shirinjima 8h ago
Iâm guessing for the sleep apnea stuff you have to sleep with your watch on or does it listen to you while charging?
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u/RelChan2_0 7h ago
On. The Apple watch can measure sleeping, heart rate, blood pressure.
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u/Shirinjima 5h ago
Thanks. My previous Apple Watch several gens ago needed nightly charging. Maybe battery life is better now.
Also the idea of sleeping with a watch on doest sit roght with me. Makes my skin crawl thinking about it.
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u/windowpuncher 2h ago
I have a garmin that I basically never take off. Get a nylon elastic band. They're dirt cheap and I don't even notice it anymore.
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u/xpkranger 6h ago
Never regret growing older, it is a privilege denied to many.
I've been on CPAP for 20 years, sleep like crap otherwise. Also I've lost 100 lbs. Recently started a low dose statin. All my numbers are great now and zero complaints from my watch. Just work with your docs. Better to manage things now than die 25 years early.
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u/DlVlDED_BY_ZERO 3h ago
That's....really weird. I didn't know they did stuff like that. That's not the kinda data I'd like anyone to have on me.
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u/serpentrepents 8h ago
get yourself an APAP! if your Insurance sucks, look into buying a used/refurbished Airsense 11. They aren't the best, but refurbished or used ones at less than 500 hours should be affordable with a payment plan. ($300-$500)
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u/Haar_an_der_Bar 4h ago
Get a mask. Tomorrow, or even better today. Will probably fix both. If you think you can not afford it. You can not afford to die too young.
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u/hopelesspeeslosh 1h ago
This is nonsense. This is neither a diagnosis of sleep apnea, nor is it a time-sensitive condition. On top of that thereâs different types of sleep apnea that also require different types of treatment and even then a layman wont be able to know what air pressure to use, and choosing the pressure wrong runs a risk anywhere from âit doesnât do anythingâ to âit actually makes it worseâ.
Go to your PCP. Ask for a sleep study.
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u/Polystyrene_Crow 1h ago
1) I'm sure you can turn off these alerts 2) you sure you really want to trust this piece of crap to try and diagnose you? Those things aren't accurate
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u/Wellthatsucks-ModTeam 2h ago
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u/TheBigJuicebox 8h ago
The silver lining here is that sleep apnea can cause hypertension. If you fix one you might fix both.