Your next Samsung Galaxy Watch could ‘significantly reduce’ your risk of injury with this smart feature

New research suggests smartwatches could predict fainting episodes
This would give you time to minimize the risk of falling
The research was commissioned by Samsung

Most of the time, fainting spells happen unexpectedly, leaving a split second for someone to support you before you start hurtling toward the ground. But what if your smartwatch could alert you to the likelihood that a fainting spell was imminent before it actually happened? It sounds like something from science fiction, but it could one day come to fruition.

That’s the idea behind a clinical research paper commissioned by Samsung, which concludes it might be possible for a wearable device to warn you that you might pass out minutes before it happens. This would potentially give you time to get to a more comfortable place – like a couch – so that the sudden loss of consciousness doesn’t send you crashing onto the hard floor.

In the study, researchers from Chung-Ang University’s Gwangmyeong Hospital in South Korea said Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 6 may be able to predict vasovagal syncope (a condition that can lead to fainting) up to five minutes before it occurs.

Not there yet

A person monitoring their heart rate on a Samsung Galaxy Watch.

(Image credit: Samsung)

Vasovagal syncope is a common condition. Indeed, “up to 40 percent of people experience vasovagal syncope during their lifetime, and a third of them experience recurrent episodes,” said Professor Junhwan Cho of the Department of Cardiology at Chung-Ang University Hospital in Gwangmyeong. If a smartwatch is able to help you minimize the risk of falls resulting from this condition, it could be a huge benefit for many people.

Indeed, as Professor Cho noted, “early warning could give patients the time needed to get into a safe position or call for help, which would significantly reduce the incidence of secondary injuries.” »

Although the results of this study are promising, it is worth noting that this weak prediction feature is not yet available in any of the best Samsung smartwatches. Instead, it was more of a proof of concept for the idea that a wearable device can predict a fainting episode in advance.

But with the PPG sensor already present on board many of Samsung’s smartwatches, it’s not a stretch to imagine a feature like this appearing in a future version of the company’s devices. Many of the best smartwatches on the market, including the Apple Watch Ultra 3 and Garmin Fenix 8, also come with PPG sensors, meaning this feature could theoretically emerge in a handful of other devices in the future.

That said, additional clinical testing and regulatory approvals will be required before any of this becomes a reality. When – or if – this happens, it could save you from a nasty fall with plenty of time to spare.