So, you’ve been diagnosed with sleep apnea and have been handed a fancy machine to help you breathe at night. While these machines can be helpful for improving your breathing at night, let’s be real–it’s not fun or ideal to snooze with a machine strapped to your face.

When using a CPAP machine, you can find yourself dealing with side effects such as dryness in your nose and throat, skin irritation, or discomfort from added pressure. Let’s talk about these side effects and how to address them if they show up.

Is There an Alternative Worth Trying?

If you’re having trouble with your CPAP machine, you may be wondering if the sleep apnea monitor features of a Fitbit and the Oura Ring can be an effective substitute, or if Apple or Samsung Health can monitor sleep apnea effectively.

Think of these devices and apps like a pre-game, not the main event. They are helpful to pick up on trends while you sleep, but they’re not going to solve the problem. They’re great for tracking your sleep patterns, oxygen levels, and heart rate, but they won’t help you breathe better at night. 

These gadgets can bring some big health issues to your attention, like oxygen dips or irregular breathing, but they’re not designed to provide the continuous airflow that a CPAP machine does. If you’re seriously struggling with your sleep apnea machine, it may be worth asking your doctor if there’s another treatment plan worth trying.

Commons Side Effects and Struggles

Now, let’s get into the nitty gritty of sleep apnea machines and the side effects and struggles many people deal with. Here are some of the most common ones:

• Sinus congestion
• Dry nose and throat
• Facial pain/irritation
• Dry eyes
• Claustrophobia
• Bloating
• Chest pain
• Impacts on your partner’s sleep

Most of these issues can be dealt with through lifestyle changes. Using a humidifier in your room, making sure your mask fits just right, or adjusting the machine’s pressure settings can remedy a number of the issues above. Make sure you talk with your doctor as well, as they could have recommendations to reduce your pain.

Can You Ditch the CPAP Machine?

At Optimal Circadian Health, we recognize the added problems a CPAP machine can bring to your life. This is why we try to address sleep apnea at its root. We’ve successfully helped several people make lifestyle changes that allowed them to sleep without a bulky machine!

We focus on teaching you how to restore your natural breathing, because if you can train your airways on your own, you may not need a machine’s help. Our book, Sleep Apnea Solution, has a number of resources worth reading about that can help you get your sleep back on track. When you read our book, here’s what you’ll get:

• Better understanding of the science behind sleep apnea
• The truth about CPAP and how to work with your doctor to request different treatments
• Lifestyle changes worth making, from nutrition tips to nervous system resets
• Breathing routines that may help you sleep easier at night

We sleep for about a third of our lives, so shouldn’t we be comfortable and at peace while we do it? That’s our goal for you!

If you have a newer model of the Samsung Galaxy Watch, did you know you can use the Samsung Health app as a tool to monitor your sleep apnea? Though this tool is not meant for treatment, the Samsung sleep apnea detection feature can help identify early signs of moderate to obstructive sleep apnea. 

There are distinct sleep monitor differences between the Fitbit and the Oura Ring, but to fully understand how they compare to the Samsung Health app, you need to understand how each of them works.

How Samsung Health Works

If you find yourself waking up, gasping for air, or choking on your own breath while you sleep, it may be worth using the Samsung Health app to see if you may have any symptoms that point to sleep apnea. Your doctor will know how to monitor sleep apnea best, but if you want to try and collect trends and data yourself, this can be a good option to start with.

Here’s how the sleep apnea detection feature works:

1. The first step is a no-brainer–make sure you have the Samsung Health app installed on your watch and your smart phone.
2. Enable the sleep apnea feature.
3. For best results, make sure your watch fits snuggly on your wrist. You’ll need to wear it for two nights to collect enough data.
4. No booze before you snooze! Drinking alcohol, smoking, or taking sleep medication can mess with the accuracy of your results.
5. The sleep apnea feature turns off on its own after two nights. Then, your results are ready to go, and you can view them on your phone.

Benefits of Wearable Tech 

Wearable tech, like Samsung’s sleep apnea monitor, can make keeping tabs on your sleep health much easier than heading to the doctor right away. If scheduling an appointment with your doctor is difficult or takes time, you can use these gadgets to get information in the meantime. 

These devices can also give you real-time information on things like your sleep patterns, heart rate, and blood oxygen levels, which is great information to have if you aren’t ready for a full sleep study. However, don’t make the mistake of thinking this information can provide you with a full diagnosis. 

After all, these machines are just pieces of technology, not medical professionals. If your results skew towards sleep apnea trends, make an appointment to chat with your doctor, schedule that sleep study, or look into a treatment plan. 

Sleep Apnea Post-Diagnosis

After you’ve been formally diagnosed, treatment plans can vary from person to person. You might be prescribed a CPAP machine, which can come with its own headaches. Not only will you have to deal with a bulky machine strapped to your face, other sleep apnea machine side effects can include dryness in your nose and throat, skin irritation from the mask, or some discomfort from the added pressure.

At Optimal Circadian Health, we believe in addressing sleep apnea head-on. This can include introducing new breathing exercises into your daily routine, eating a balanced diet, exercising more often, or resetting your nervous system. Our book, Sleep Apnea Solution, has resources for all of these things and more. Give it a read if you’re on the hunt for some relief in your rest!

If you find yourself waking up often, gasping for air, or feeling like you’ve been hit by a truck the next morning, it may be time to talk about sleep apnea with your doctor.

Monitoring sleep apnea can be important for your health, and today’s technology makes it easier than ever. Sometimes, all you need is a smartphone, a fitness tracker, or heart monitor! 

When it comes to sleep apnea monitoring, wearable devices are becoming quite popular, but how do they compare? Do you choose the Oura Ring or the Fitbit for sleep apnea monitoring? What’s the best app to monitor sleep apnea? How does an Apple Watch stack up to Samsung Health to monitor sleep apnea? 

Keeping Score of Your Snores

These days, technology has completely revolutionized the way we are able to keep track of sleep apnea. A simple app on your phone or wearable device can watch your sleep patterns, measure blood oxygen levels, and even detect disruptions that might hint at underlying issues.

Tools like the Oura Ring or Fitbit use sensors to monitor everything from your heart rate variability to your breathing, helping to identify possible red flags and giving you critical data to share with your doctor.

What Tech to Choose?

Choosing the right tech or app to monitor your sleep apnea depends on your needs, budget, and how deep you want to dive into your sleep data. Here are a few options currently on the market:

• Oura Ring: Offers detailed reports on sleep stages, heart rate variability, and blood oxygen levels
• Fitbit: More advanced models track similar metrics as the Oura Ring, including daily readiness scores
• Apple Watch: The latest watches track sleep patterns, heart rate, and blood oxygen levels, and provide a holistic view of overall wellbeing
• Galaxy Watch: Has similar features to the Apple Watch, including sleep tracking, heart rate monitoring, and blood oxygen reading

App and Tech Monitoring Limits

These apps and gadgets can be quite cool, but let’s not assume that they’re the ultimate sleep apnea experts. They can give you a general sense of your sleep patterns and flag issues like snoring or low oxygen levels, but they’re not your doctor. To get a full sleep apnea diagnosis, you’ll probably have to talk to your doctor and undergo a sleep study.

What does that process entail? During a sleep study, sensors are placed on your body to monitor things like your brain waves, heart rate, oxygen levels, and breathing patterns while you sleep. The results will give your doctor a clearer look at whether you’ve got sleep apnea or if you’re simply a snorer.

From there, they’ll be able to work with you on finding a treatment plan that works best for you.

Feeling Stuck with Sleep Apnea?

Once you’ve received that dreaded diagnosis, you may feel stuck. Are you really going to be snoring forever or wearing an uncomfortable CPAP machine for eternity? The truth is, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution.

At Optimal Circadian Health, we recognize that there are many different options for relief. Training your breath through new breathing routines, eating a healthy diet, exercising more, resetting your nervous system, or improving your sleep hygiene can all help.

Our book, Sleep Apnea Solution, covers all that and more! It’s our mission to help you find relief that works for you, because sleep is sacred, and you deserve a good night’s rest.

Are you on the hunt for a new way to keep track of your sleep apnea symptoms? Looking for a detailed sleep monitoring feature comparison of the Oura Ring and Fitbit? You’re in the right place.

The truth is, the best app to monitor sleep apnea may depend on what you need to learn from tracking it. Some apps may only be able to detect and record your snores, while others, when combined with wearable technology, can track your heart’s activity over the course of the night.

How Do Sleep Apnea Apps Work?

Sleep apnea apps use advanced technology to monitor and analyze your breathing patterns during sleep, helping identify signs of disrupted breathing or snoring. Here are a few ways they may be able to help you:

• Measuring how much sleep you get
• Tracking the quality of your sleep
• Monitoring your sleep stages
• Evaluating your sleep hygiene (room temperature, how much you move, level of darkness, etc.)

Much of the time, these apps can pair with your smart phone or other pieces of wearable tech, such as a smart watch, ring, or bracelet, to detect sudden sounds, movements, and changes in heart rate.

Noisy Nights

Apps that keep track of your snoring can be helpful for monitoring and analyzing the sounds you make while you sleep. These trackers often use your smartphone’s microphone or pair with other wearable devices to listen for snoring, providing you with useful data on how often you snore, how long each snore lasts, and how intense they are. 

This data can help you and your doctor pinpoint trends in your sleep and identify potential triggers, such as sleep position, alcohol consumption, or congestion. This information can be useful on your way to getting a night of sleep free from snores.

Follow Your Heart

Your heart activity can tell you a lot about how you sleep. Can a Holter monitor detect sleep apnea, for example? It can certainly help you notice a pattern.

When you have a sleep apnea episode, your breathing stops for a moment. This can cause your oxygen levels to drop and lead to a stress response that raises your heart rate. Heart monitors and other wearable devices have heart rate sensors that can pick up on these changes.

These tools can give you invaluable data that your doctor can analyze and use to assess if you may have sleep apnea. 

The Benefits of Wearables

When it comes to knowing how to monitor sleep apnea, wearable tech can be a gamechanger. Smart watches, rings, and fitness trackers all come equipped with sensors that can pick up on changes in your heart rate, oxygen, and sleep quality.

Many wearables also sync with apps. These apps often provide a report on your sleep health and provide you tips for peaceful slumber. 

Each wearable device is a little different:

• Oura Ring: The Oura Ring cannot diagnose sleep apnea, but it can offer insights into sleep quality, for example, by detecting reduced deep and REM sleep, which may appear as increased awake time in the app.
• Fitbit: Similarly, Fitbits can keep track of your heart rate, oxygen saturation, and movement to highlight irregularities in breathing and sleep quality.
• Apple Watch: These days, Apple Watches have a sleep apnea feature that monitors your breathing during sleep and alerts you if it detects consistent signs of moderate to severe sleep apnea.

Dealing with the Symptoms

Once you’ve figured out that you have sleep apnea, how do you deal with it? At Optimal Circadian Health, we recognize that the answer looks different for everyone. 

Our book, Sleep Apnea Solution, has tons of resources designed to help you on your journey to a good night’s rest including:

• New breathing exercises to try
• Nutrition tips
• Ways to reset your nervous system
• Regulating your circadian rhythm

And much more! Our goal is to find something that works for you and your health, because you deserve good sleep as much as anyone else.

Did you know your heart could hold clues about the quality of your sleep? A Holter monitor, which is a small device designed to track your heart’s activity, can be used to diagnose heart issues like arrhythmias. Recent studies show it could be of use for detecting sleep apnea, too.

According to health experts, a sleep study is still recommended for diagnosing sleep apnea. However, a Holter monitor can pinpoint trends worthy of mentioning to your doctor. Sleep tracking with an Oura Ring or Fitbit can also help you take note of your sleep trends, as well. 

How Does it Work?

When you wear a Holter monitor, it keeps track of your heart’s activity, usually over a span of one to two days. These machines can provide a big picture look at what’s going on with your heart over time, tracking patterns and any irregularities that may not show up in a traditional electrocardiogram.

For sleep apnea, a Holter monitor can keep track of changes in your heart rate and rhythm during the night–changes that usually happen when your breathing stops and starts. It can provide an easy way to collect more insight about your sleep health. So, can a heart monitor detect sleep apnea? It may be worth trying it and reporting the results to your doctor! 

Holter Monitor Limitations

A Holter monitor can only track your heart health, and there are other factors you may need to check before getting a full sleep apnea diagnosis.

Undergoing a sleep study can reveal some helpful information about your oxygen levels and brain activity while you sleep. For example, sleep studies can detect drops in oxygen levels caused by interrupted breathing, and they can monitor brain activity to identify how often you’re waking up, even if you don’t remember it happening.

By using information gained from a Holter monitor and a sleep study, your doctor will be more likely to be able to determine whether you have sleep apnea, how severe it is, and what treatment plan might work for you.

What to Do After Getting Holter Monitor Results

So, you’ve been wearing your Holter monitor and letting it do its job. The data you receive about your heart will help you make the next step.

If the monitor indicates irregular heart rhythms or patterns that could suggest sleep apnea, your doctor may recommend more testing to be sure of the diagnosis. In some cases, you may also be referred to a sleep specialist. 

If your Holter monitor doesn’t find any issues but you still feel symptoms like excessive sleepiness or poor sleep, you should talk with your doctor about other possible causes.

Dealing with the Diagnosis

Once you’ve gotten a sleep apnea diagnosis, you may find yourself buying a CPAP machine or searching for the best app to monitor sleep apnea. These are just some of your options.

At Optimal Circadian Health, we firmly believe no one should have to suffer because of their sleep apnea and that there is hope for finding relief. We often recommend addressing the root of the issue. This can mean implementing new breathing exercises or making key lifestyle changes like improving sleep hygiene or weight loss. 

Our book, Sleep Apnea Solution, comes with insight you may find useful on your sleep apnea journey, including breathing routines, nutrition tips, sleep advice, and more. It’s our goal to help you find a way to sleep soundly!

What if you could find out you had sleep apnea just by wearing a piece of technology? Turns out, this may be possible!

Studies have shown that heart monitors, especially portable devices like Holter monitors, can reveal some signs of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Other wearable health tech can track sleeping habits, too, but how?

By measuring something called heart rate variability, heart monitors can detect patterns that might indicate breathing problems while you sleep. This can make spotting sleep apnea much easier, especially when a traditional sleep study isn’t available.

If you’re weighing your options between wearing a heart monitor or want to compare the Oura Ring sleep tracker and the Fitbit sleep tracker, read on.

How Do Holter Monitors Work?

Can a Holter monitor detect sleep apnea? First, let’s look at how they work.

Holter monitors are small devices that record your heart’s activity over the span of twenty-four to forty-eight hours. They’re most commonly used to check for heart issues, but according to some studies, they can also be used to help detect sleep apnea. 

When you have sleep apnea, your breathing stops and starts while you sleep, which impacts your heart rate. Holter monitors can note certain changes, like irregular heartbeats or shifts in your heart rate, which can help determine if sleep apnea is the culprit.

Monitors and Trackers Versus Sleep Studies

Heart monitors and sleep trackers can be very handy for keeping an eye on your sleep patterns, but when it comes to fully diagnosing sleep apnea, you may be better off going the old-fashioned sleep study route.

Monitors and trackers mostly rely on things like movement and heart rate to estimate your sleep stages. They can be a great way to see how well you’re sleeping or help you notice trends in your sleep habits, but they’ll never capture everything a sleep study can.

Diagnosing Sleep Apnea

If you’re picking up on a trend either on your heart monitor or your wearable health tech, it may be worth mentioning to your doctor. Only they can determine if you have the condition or not.

How will you get a diagnosis? Your doctor should work with you to evaluate your symptoms, which could look like:

• Extreme daytime fatigue
• Snoring
• Choking
• Gasping for air 

All of these are possible signs of sleep apnea. To be fully diagnosed with the condition, you’ll likely need to undergo a sleep study, but in some cases, your doctor can prescribe an at-home test or heart monitor.

How do sleep studies work? You’ll stay overnight at a sleep clinic while doctors evaluate your health in several different ways, such as by measuring your brain waves and oxygen levels. This can help give them a clearer picture of what’s going on while you snooze.

If you go the sleep study route, how long does it take to get sleep apnea test results? 

On average, it can take between a few days and a few weeks to hear back, depending on the type of test(s) you take.

Dealing with Sleep Apnea

Once you’ve received a diagnosis, what’s next? There’s no easy, one-size-fits-all treatment for sleep apnea. Some may be told to try a CPAP machine, while others may be recommended lifestyle changes like weight loss.

At Optimal Circadian Health, we believe in addressing the condition at its core. To us, that means focusing on breathing routines, sleep hygiene, and other lifestyle changes to find you some relief. 

Our book, Sleep Apnea Solution, is full of educational resources to help you get started on that journey. In our book, you’ll find tools like:

• Breathing exercises
• Nutrition tips
• Circadian rhythm care
• Nervous system reset methods

It’s our goal to empower people to find what works best for them so they can sleep better, feel more energetic, and improve their health on the whole!

A sleep study can tell you whether or not you have sleep apnea, and it can also guide you in managing the condition and testing the accuracy of a sleep-tracking device comparison.

A sleep apnea test usually takes one night to complete. For a polysomnograph (PSG), you sleep in a clinic overnight and leave the next morning. Similarly, home sleep apnea tests (HSATs) take a night to complete. Afterward, you’ll get the results in one to three days (or up to three weeks, in some cases) after the test, depending on your healthcare provider.

How Does a Sleep Apnea Test Work?

A sleep apnea test uses sensors to measure the quality of your sleep. Its results can determine if you have sleep apnea or other sleep-related conditions, show how it manifests in your body, and help you figure out a targeted way to overcome your symptoms.

There are two main types of sleep apnea tests. The PSG is the golden standard of sleep studies, as it is more comprehensive than HSATs and requires more time to prepare for and analyze. HSATs are limited in what they can measure (which is usually only three to five variables) but are more convenient.

Electroencephalography (EEG)

An EEG detects and records the electrical activity in your brain (brain waves). Different brain waves happen in your sleep cycle. Checking this activity helps identify sleep issues.

Electrocardiography (ECG)

An ECG picks up the electrical activity in your heart. This allows you to see if there are any abnormalities in the pattern or rhythm of your heartbeats. 

An ECG similar to a heart monitor. If this information makes you wonder if a heart monitor detects sleep apnea, it can’t. However, it could point to signs of the condition. 

Electromyogram (EMG)

An EMG tracks muscle movement to understand how frequently and intensely you move in your sleep. EMGs in sleep studies don’t activate muscles as they do in standard diagnostic EMGs.

Electrooculography (EOG)

An EOG looks into your eye activity during sleep, which could inform you when you’re in REM (rapid eye movement) and non-REM cycles. This determines how long your body is in a deep state of rest.

Breathing Sensors

Breathing sensors detect the air movement through your mouth and nose with sensors attached to these areas. 

Respiratory Inductive Plethysmography (RIP) Belt

An RIP belt measures the expansion of your torso, particularly around your chest and belly, when you breathe as you sleep.

Pulse Oximeter

A pulse oximeter is a small device that attaches to the tip of your finger and monitors your pulse and blood oxygen level. 

Video and Audio Monitoring

Audio and video monitors may be used in a sleep apnea test to see and hear how you behave while sleeping.

What Happens After a Sleep Apnea Test?

It can take as little as a few days to as long as three weeks before you get the results of a sleep apnea test. This will depend on the type of test you did (PSG results take longer than HSAT results) and your healthcare provider. 

Once your tests are complete, your doctor or sleep specialist will review and interpret the data to properly diagnose you. You can also learn how to read sleep apnea test results to get a better grasp of what you’re dealing with. If the test confirms you have obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), your healthcare provider may schedule a follow-up visit and recommend ways you may be able to overcome or manage your condition.

I Have Sleep Apnea, What Now?

If you have OSA and are looking for ways to enhance natural sleep, check out our book Sleep Apnea Solution for tips and guides on breathing techniques, lifestyle changes, and diet adjustments that may promote better snoozes!

The results of a sleep apnea test don’t just tell you if you have the medical condition–it gives you a peek into how the disorder affects your body and provides insights into how to approach your symptoms. 

Sleep apnea tests inform you about your apnea-hypopnea index (AHI), oxygen saturation, heart rate, and more. Results typically provide references on how to interpret your results and check whether you fall within a normal or abnormal range. That said, a formal diagnosis from a professional is highly recommended.

Diagnosing Sleep Apnea

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is an underreported condition, despite being common in adults. The medical disorder is undiagnosed in an estimated 85% of patients, leaving many unprepared and misinformed about how to approach their symptoms. 

This is alarming, considering that OSA can cause other serious illnesses, such as heart-related issues. For example, obstructive sleep apnea affects pulse pressure and plays a key role in the development of hypertension in patients. If you’re experiencing any signs of sleep apnea (e.g., heavy snoring, disrupted sleep, and daytime fatigue), it’s a good idea to get tested.

Generally, OSA is diagnosed by sleep technicians using a polysomnograph (PSG), the gold standard of sleep studies. However, the rise of home sleep apnea tests (HSATs) has made testing and sleep-tracking comparisons more accessible and easier to do.

Taking a Sleep Apnea Test

There are four types of sleep apnea tests that you can take:

• A PSG done by a sleep specialist at a clinic
• A comprehensive exam similar to a PSG that you can take at home
• A portable HSAT device that measures up to seven different variables
• An HST that records up to three variables

Before you can take a sleep apnea test, you need to get a prescription from your doctor.

How long does it take to get sleep apnea test results? You can receive HSAT results in a few days, but PSG results often take two to three weeks to generate. Your healthcare provider should get in touch with you once the information is in.

Reading Sleep Apnea Test Results

Sleep apnea test results record several variables. Here are the most common readings and how to interpret the results:

AHI

AHI is the number of apneas or hypopneas events recorded per hour of sleep. It’s meant to differentiate how severe your breathing disturbances are. The readings could be:

• None/minimal: Less than five per hour
• Mild: Greater than or equal to five, but less than fifteen, per hour 
• Moderate: Greater than or equal to fifteen, but less than thirty per hour 
• Severe: Greater than or equal to thirty per hour

Oxygen Desaturation

Sleep apnea patients often experience low blood oxygen levels because they have gaps in breathing during sleep. Normally, blood saturation should be at 96% to 97%. Levels below 92% are mildly low, the 80% to 89% range is moderately low, and below 80% is severe.

Heart Rate

When you temporarily stop breathing in your sleep, your body goes into fight-or-flight mode to get you to start breathing again. This results in a spike in heart rate. A normal pulse is sixty to one hundred beats per minute. Anything above this number during sleep is concerning.

Sleep Time and Quality

Sleep apnea tests measure how long you sleep (conclusions can be drawn from just four hours) and how much of your sleep time was in REM (rapid eye movement) cycles. This will show if your body wasn’t in restful sleep mode.

Snoring

Some sleep studies use a microphone to record how often your snores reach a certain decibel. In some OSA cases, patients wake up from their loud snoring. 

Responding to Sleep Apnea

If you are diagnosed with OSA, it’s important to find ways to approach this condition to get your body performing optimally. Find our book Sleep Apnea Solution on Amazon today! It offers several easy and natural methods to help overcome OSA.