It’s fair to say there weren’t many positives to come out of the pandemic, but for Brits, it would appear there was one big bonus.
We slept better.
That certainly won’t have been everyone’s individual experience. None of the stresses of that time – working from home, furlough, home schooling, caring for relatives, food supply issues and, of course, trying to avoid the virus itself – were particularly conducive to a good night’s rest.
Nevertheless, sleep data collected by Samsung and its global network of smart watches (with permission) suggests, overall, we slept longer and more efficiently. The US saw the biggest increase in overall duration, while South Korea fared worst, with its citizens getting the least sleep.
‘We don’t know why that is,’ says Samsung’s chief medical officer Dr Hon Pak. ‘But you were doing something right.
‘There was some interesting data, but the bottom line is that sleep really has oversized implications on our health.’
Dr Pak is speaking ironically early from the US as Samsung prepares to release a new suite of health-related features for its watches. He probably didn’t get his full eight hours last night, but is keen to stress that everyone else strives to do so.
‘As a physician, I’ve spent my career trying to improve the health of my patients,’ he says. ‘Initially one at a time as they came into my office, but recognising that I knew very little of the context [of the issue] or what’s happening outside the walls of the clinic or hospital.
‘Throughout my career I’ve been trying to make the biggest impact I can, and part of joining Samsung had to do with the billions of people using our devices. I feel very strongly that we have the ability to really make it easier for our users to improve their health holistically, and that includes sleep as the main focus.
‘We all know what our attention and energy levels feel like the morning after a bad night’s sleep, but what is less well known by consumers are the correlations between [poor sleep] and chronic diseases, specifically cardiovascular disease, diabetes, depression and obesity.’
That took a rapid turn. However, there is a significant body of work examining and confirming the relationships between sleep disorders, including insomnia and sleep apnoea, and other health issues.
‘Sleep has many different flavours,’ says Dr Pak, who began his career in dermatology before pivoting to digital health. ‘If you look at the top three factors affecting sleep efficiency and duration, first is sleep apnoea, then insomnia, followed by restless leg.’
Restless leg syndrome is exactly as it sounds – an overwhelming irresistible urge to move the legs, often accompanied by a crawling or creeping sensation.
The thought of that alone might be enough to give anyone insomnia, and while it could be argued that worrying about sleep is itself counterproductive when it comes to achieving a good night’s rest, Dr Pak is a firm believer in not just providing data, but offering insight to help instigate behavioural change.
Phones and child mental health ‘a huge issue’
While for adults a smartphone may be a simple tool for boosting their sleep or fitness, for children it can do the opposite even more easily.
There is widespread concern around the effects of social media use on children and teenagers’ mental health, including late-night use disrupting sleep.
‘It’s a huge issue,’ says Dr Pak. ‘I think it has impacted mental health in ways it is difficult to measure, but I think it’s obvious. Our devices have a way [for parents] to track the number of hours spent on the phone, so it’s measurable now and monitored. Then it’s up to the parent to decide how best to manage that.
‘The advice I give to young parents is before you give children a phone, set a time in the evening that it has to be plugged into Mom and Dad’s room. I think doing that creates discipline, but you have to do it before they get the phone – after they get a taste of it, it’s hard.’
‘If you are tracking sleep, it probably means you have some concerns – and sometimes perhaps obsessions – about the lack of sleep,’ says Dr Pak. ‘And that can potentially cause worry, which can keep people up and in a cycle they can’t quite get out of.
‘But our first approach is to make sure users understand their sleep patterns without trying to cause additional tension. Giving things like number of hours slept, duration of sleep stages, when you moved, snore detection and blood oxygen levels.
‘That helps create a sleep score which offers a baseline, from which you can begin to see what things would change your actual sleep efficiency.’
The sleep score is part of the One UI 5 Watch software due for release later this year, aimed at helping users ‘better understand their sleep patterns, build healthy habits and establish a sleep-friendly environment’.
Healthy habits recommended include avoiding caffeine after 9pm, meditation and avoiding naps – which may come as a shock to some.
‘After you track your sleep pattern over about seven days, the program assigns a character depending on the pattern – like a lion or a deer – then it guides you through a coaching programme and habits to promote a good night’s sleep,’ says Dr Pak. ‘It’s a personalised approach based on the goal you have.’
Finally, One UI will also help develop better ‘sleep hygiene’.
‘We also recognise that setting a sleep-friendly environment is important,’ says Dr Pak. ‘This allows you to control a wide range of smart home products manufactured by us and our partners to do things like close the bedroom blinds at a certain time, turn the lights off or aircon on, stream a relaxing story or guide you through a meditation at a scheduled bed time.’
When the user does drift off, the smart watch triggers Sleep Mode, which mutes notifications and dims the watch and paired phone screens.
However, while sleep is one of the core pillars of good health, Dr Pak and Samsung aim to take care of another – activity.
‘We’re really focused on movement and sleep,’ he says, citing their watches’ fitness tracker as the single other most important contribution to user health.
‘We’ve added more personalisation and goal setting, allowing users to set five personalised workout intensities.’
Workouts are set based on user heart rate, which also aids in developing customised interval programmes and offers real-time running analysis.
Current Galaxy Watch Pro users may be familiar with Route Workout, which has now been expanded to include walking and running, alongside the previously available hiking and cycling options.
‘As I’m getting older, what I’ve come to realise, as validated by the science, is that the more movement there is, the healthier you’ll be,’ says Dr Pak. ‘That’s really why we’re on this journey, to help you sleep well, move well – and frequently, so we’ll nudge people.
‘Ultimately it’s really about behaviour change. It’s one thing to provide data, another to provide insight, but it’s also knowing how to get that user to have a sustained behavioural change.
‘Of course, we know everyone’s on a different life journey – work happens, relationships happen, there are moments of stress and other things. So how do we help them identify these moments when they can stop and reflect, or be encouraged to the right content that will help them through these stages, these trials and tribulations to help them sustain the type of wellness that they want – and deserve.’
That wellness doesn’t come for free – a smart home full of connected devices isn’t a cheap one, nor should good mental and physical health be the domain of the affluent.
But as more and more people purchase an ever growing array of personal and wearable tech, it’s only right that they should benefit from it, not be controlled by it.
‘Really, we are excited about our leadership role in providing care at home through the multitude of devices that we have,’ concludes Dr Pak.
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