I’ve been wearing the Apple Watch Ultra 2 (almost) daily for three months now, only taking it out when I’m showering, cooking or that one night when I had been out the whole day and night, and fully drained the battery to below 20 per cent. Extremely tired, I left it charging while I crashed into bed. It was the only time I had ever charged the Watch to its maximum capacity. Most of the time, I’d leave it in the charger for 30 to 45 minutes when I’m going through my morning routine. Even then, I occasionally forget, tossing the Watch onto my bed while I’m in the bathroom.
The battery life on the Apple Watch Ultra 2 is incredible. It can supposedly last for 36 hours on a full charge, but based on real-world experience, it continues ticking for a lot longer than that. Even when the battery needs a boost, put it on the charger for an hour and it goes from 30 to 80 per cent. That’s more than enough to last you for three to four days if you’re not engaging in anything too strenuous such as GPS tracking or diving.
I even wear the Apple Watch Ultra 2 to sleep every night, save for that one fateful evening. A data fiend, I love tracking all aspects of my life, from the number of calories I burn every time I’m at the gym to my resting heart rate. Of course, it also displays where you’re falling short. For example, I really need to sleep more, as you can tell from the numbers below.
But instead of beating myself up over it, I see it as a way to improve constantly. If something is not measured, it’s not managed. And the only way you can take control of your life—and everything that happens in it—is by studying the data and taking accountability.
Speaking of accountability, sleep quality is getting a lot more attention, with more studies showing the importance of not just how long you sleep, but the time you spend in each stage: REM, Core, and Deep. REM and Deep sleep stages are important for your brain’s healthy functioning. If you’re wondering how the Apple Watch determines which stage you’re in, there’s a lengthy deep-dive on the Apple website, which you can access here.
In a nutshell, Apple uses the in-built 3-axis accelerometer to track motion, even those generated from breathing. What I found fascinating was that my Apple Watch showed I was awake, even though I don’t recall waking up before returning to slumber. According to Apple, these brief awakenings might go unrecognised by us.
More importantly, the Apple Watch also tracks your blood oxygen level and respiratory rates when you’re sleeping. These two lifestyle indicators are symptoms of sleep apnea, which is when your breathing stops and starts repeatedly while you’re in dreamland. They can remain undetectable for years, especially if you sleep alone, since the only obvious symptom is loud snoring. Most people get sleep apnea because their airway collapses and the body forces air into their nose and mouth to get oxygen, causing snoring.
The Apple Watch Ultra 2 detects five vital signs: heart rate, wrist temperature, sleep duration, respiratory rate, and blood oxygen. The latter two will spike and descend, respectively, if you have sleep apnea issues. More importantly, the Watch tracks these vitals over a prolonged period. So, one night of outliers shouldn’t cause alarm. However, if your data repeatedly falls outside the typical boundaries, the Apple Watch will nudge you to get a check-up.
If you’ve been using the Apple Watch frequently in the past few years, the mainstays, including workout tracking, cardio fitness, running numbers, and walking steadiness, have experienced incremental improvements. Apple also frequently updates the data tracking points. (I’m still waiting for the padel workout option, Apple!) It’s always fun to dive into the numbers, study your progression—or regression, which is normal, and understand what you can do to improve.
But, the sleep indicators are massive quality of life changes, which is why I highly recommend getting the Apple Watch Ultra 2, especially if you have high levels of discipline and motivation. It might be a significant investment at the start. But I suggest thinking of the Watch as preventive wellness, which is all the rage nowadays. All of us can live longer and better lives. The Apple Watch Ultra 2 makes that easier.
The information in this article is accurate as of the date of publication.
