Fitness watch freaking me out

[CreatingHavoc]

So I got a Huawai band 8 fitness watch last week and it has been largely fine thus far. But apparently at 3am and 4.10pm today it said my spO2 blood oxygen level was 88% and 87% respectively. This is likely a blip and inaccurate isn't it? Surely I would notice if it dropped that low, especially during the day. I definitely felt ok at 4.10 pm. I'm guessing it just slipped out of place? I've never had a fitness watch before so pretty new to it all.

I don't see why your sats would drop that low and go back to normal randomly.

Likely just slipped and wasn't getting a proper reading. If your strap is a little loose or you moved so your arm was pushed under the pillow which shoved the watch strap out of place.

I think the readings are done at intervals so it says it was at 88% at 3.11am and 3.20am and then back to normal at the next reading at 3.31am. In the afternoon it says 87% at 4.10 and normal at 4.30, which the next reading.

I think maybe I'm reading to much in it and it just lost its connection for a bit. Especially as it's been normal every other time.

do you snore?
if you have sleep apnoea then this sould make sense

@bluecomputerscreen not that I'm aware and every other night has been fine for the past week. Also I don't think that would explain the drop at 4.10pm as I was awake and pottering about the house with dd. I don't know much about sleep apnea though.

I thought you were going to be worried about your pulse…

ABSOLUTELY do not worry about your SpO2 reading from a smart watch: you can get iffy readings from the tech actually designed specifically to do the job (ie fingertip pulse oximeters); and Smartwatches, even when worn in ideal conditions, are significantly less accurate, becoming frankly wildly inaccurate once exercise enters the equation. (Perfect for the asthmatic wearer, yes…) Your specific watch wasn’t included in that study, but unfortunately, as the paper’s authors’ noted, not much has been written on the matter.

Please don’t worry about random weird readings like that. If you were to observe a pattern of feeling unwell that lined up with the readings; &/or a change in other readings at the same time, that’d be something to keep tabs on & make a GP appointment about. (Or readings suggestive of sleep apnoea, of course, as mentioned by a PP.) But as it is, you have a piece of very clever tech reminding you that it is not that clever.

@RosaMayBillinghurst thank you, that's very reassuring! I don't have much experience with these things so it's great to hear that. I'll take it all with a pinch of salt. I've already figured out that the sleep tracker is not particularly accurate as I was awake when it said I was asleep 😆

@CreatingHavoc

Am glad I could help 🙂
They’re very clever things & can be great for spotting general trends of things (or for features like fall alerts, or to persuade social care you don’t need a link line necklace in your 30s…) but they’re also prone to producing some pretty out there readings. Hopefully you can just enjoy the useful features now - well, & puzzle over the sleep/wake mistakes 😄