Samsung’s Galaxy Watch Ultra Has Gamified My Sleep

Last night, my official Sleep Score was 95. It was 87 the previous night. I’ve even earned an achievement for ‘excellent’ sleep this week via Samsung’s handy Health app. And because I’m a gamer, the digital badge has awarded me a delicious—if fleeting—burst of dopamine. It’s like getting a PS5 trophy by simply dreaming. Maybe the Platinum pops after surviving a proper nightmare? We can save that idea for potential dystopian Neuralink applications.

Basically, now that bedtime has become a competition of sorts (with myself), I want to sleep well every single night. I need to get that high score, as if I’m playing an endless sleep-fueled marathon of Donkey Kong Jr. Or Returnal, for those of you born after the Spice Girls broke up.

Yes, the Galaxy Watch Ultra has turned deep rest into my own personal esports event. While the disagreeable side of me hates how easily it created such an addictive gameplay loop, the rational side of me is rather grateful. I’ve always struggled with insomnia and changing my perspective on sleep duration and perhaps more importantly, sleep quality, has proven seriously beneficial for my waking hours and general productivity.

Let’s start with the glaring downside of wearing the $649.99 titanium-build Ultra while sleeping: It’s a big, chunky smart watch with a striking Super AMOLED display. To be clear, the beautiful screen isn’t a downside; it’s crisp and vibrant and obviously not a problem when it comes to sleeping, unless I decide to wake up and stare at it to fill my retinas with horrific blue light. However, the bulky watch-head, which is built specifically for rugged outdoor activity, feels less ideal for relaxing and laying down.

Also, my review unit shipped with a bright orange Marine band, which is designed for oceanic adventure and with maximum breathability in mind, largely to facilitate quick drainage and drying when surfing (bro). I am partial to the striking neon color, but the texture feels less pleasant and more, well, intentionally durable. I’d like to try out one of Samsung’s PeakForm bands at some point, since they seem more tailored toward comfort and could be better for sleeping.

That said, I found myself struggling to find a sleeping position wherein I wasn’t annoyingly aware of the Ultra’s hulking presence. Eventually, I settled into a sort of ‘wrist above my head on the pillow’ kind of deal, and this eventually allowed me to forget I was even equipped with a huge sleeping accessory. This is partly why I’ve been reticent about using sleep tracking software in the past, because I haven’t yet found a smart watch that feels natural enough as to be practically unnoticeable. Maybe I’m just sensitive. Actually, yes, I’m probably just sensitive.

The next day, you get to see how much detailed data the Ultra has gathered, and it’s worth the nighttime discomfort, because opening the Health app is like tearing into presents on Christmas morning. The recorded monitoring includes info on your sleep stages (Awake, REM, Light Sleep, Deep Sleep), blood oxygen levels, skin temperature, heart rate, and respiratory rate. This data all gets compiled into feedback on your sleep time, physical recovery, restfulness, mental recovery and sleep cycles, which in turn get fed into the aforementioned and overall Sleep Score.

If your phone is plugged in and charging, you can also get data on any potential snoring which might be occurring, complete with somewhat embarrassing sleep recordings. You can also have the Ultra check for sleep apnea, although despite multiple attempts, I never got this feature to work. The app encourages you to hike the watch up farther on your arm for more accuracy, but sleeping with a smart watch on my wrist is already uncomfortable enough, and judging from my non-snoring recordings and relatively normal respiratory rate, I think I’m good.

Yes, I’m a bit late to the whole sleep tracking game, but it’s really altered how I think about rest. Over the past year, I’ve pretty drastically changed my lifestyle and lost a decent amount of weight, and of this I’m proud. I eat healthy and clean, and I exercise daily, but the component I’m tackling last, sleep, has surprisingly been the most difficult habit to alter. I’m a night owl by nature, but having all this interesting data flood in every morning and getting a measurable Sleep Score to compare against other nights has definitely changed things.

It’s even nudged me to give up energy drinks entirely, and limited my last daily intake of caffeine to the afternoon. If you knew me, you’d realize how truly insane that is. Anything to see that Sleep Score go up, I suppose, and to increase the even more meta Energy Score, which pulls in not only sleep info but activity info as well.

So while I can’t stand that Samsung didn’t include a physical rotating bezel on the Galaxy Watch Ultra, or the fact that some of its best features (sheer size/build quality) makes it difficult to fully recommend for sleep tracking, I’m all in on using this tech tool to better my overall health. I just wish the battery lasted longer than a day and a half, at least in my experience. And it charges slower than molasses.

Still, I’ll catch you all on the astral plane tonight, and I dare you to beat my Sleep Score. I’m going for 97 this time around. In the words of Wayne Campbell: Game on.

Disclosure: Samsung provided review product for coverage purposes.