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Okay, serious question: The author of this blog post sleeps with his partner, and then discovered he spent 20 seconds of each minute gasping for breath, 40 times per hour. (Something like ~this). How did his wife not notice and tell him? Now I'm paranoid that I have sleep apnea.

What's the cheapest wearable or device that can probably tell you if you have apnea?



> or my compassionate and frequently anxious wife, would rouse me with the words, "WAKE UP, YOU'RE NOT BREATHING!"

She did notice. The people I have known with sleep apnea were originally alerted by their partners walking them to tell them they’re not breathing.

The article mentions the Withings Sleep Analyzer. Is about US$130.


> What's the cheapest wearable or device that can probably tell you if you have apnea?

Years ago I was once concerned I might have had sleep apnea. I did see a doctor, who said I almost certainly didn't have it. I also bought a $40 pulse oximeter that could do logging, and taped it to my finger over a couple nights. I didn't see my oxygen level drop below 90% (or something, I can't remember), so I figured I didn't have it.

My understanding is oxygen level is one of the most important factors to track for sleep apnea. I am also super-skeptical of movement-based sleep tracking. Since my impression is it's typically half-assing with cheap sensors that aren't very suited to the task (on their own).


Smart Watches often can track sleep and approximate blood oxygen levels.

Does anyone know how accurate Samsung or Apple Watch are?


You might want to check this youtube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/@TheQuantifiedScientist

Reviews of health tracking devices, often comparing their performance with medical equipment.


How did his wife not notice and tell him?

You don't really understand how heavily some folk sleep - and you can sleep through quite a bit. Including snoring.


I can sleep through incoming and outgoing artillery fire, .50 cal machine guns and humvees running over land mines (allegedly, they may have been messing with me), people snoring, all kinds of stuff. Someone talking and I’m wide awake.


There are more than a few free apps that can record audio of you the entire night in a zoomable, scrollable way (i.e. you look for the spikes in the waveform and listen to them) I used these for a bit in figuring out my own CPAP needs.


Thank you! This sounds like a very simple and free solution.


The second paragraph has his concerned wife waking him?


Not a doctor but an audio recording of a night of sleep could help while you wait for a different device.


Video cameras on everything now and are so cheap and easy plus you could see yourself gasping. The sound may be too low to pick up and video may supplement the recording.




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