Your next Samsung Galaxy Watch can “dramatically reduce” your chances of damage thanks to this one smart feature

New research suggests smartwatches can predict fainting episodes
This will give you time to minimize the risk of a fall
The study was commissioned by Samsung

Most of the time, fainting episodes come out of the blue, leaving a split second for someone to support you before you start hurtling toward the ground. But what if your smartwatch could warn you about the likelihood that a faint is imminent before it actually happens? It sounds like something out of science fiction, but it could one day become a reality.

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

In the study, researchers from Chung-Ang University 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) as much as five minutes before it occurs.

Not here yet

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

(Image credit: Samsung)

Vasovagal syncope is a common condition. In fact, “Up to 40% of people experience vasovagal syncope during their lifetime, with a third experiencing recurrent episodes,” said Professor Junhwan Cho from the Department of Cardiology at Chung-Ang University Gwangmyeong Hospital. If a smartwatch is able to help you minimize the risk of a fall as a result of this condition, it can be a huge benefit for many people.

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

Although the results from 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 can predict a fainting episode ahead of time.

But with the PPG sensor already onboard 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 top smartwatches on the market — including the Apple Watch Ultra 3 and Garmin Fenix 8 — also have PPG sensors, meaning that this feature could theoretically appear in a number of other devices in the future.

That said, further clinical testing and regulatory approval will be needed before any of this becomes a reality. When – or if – it does, however, it can save you from a nasty fall with plenty of time to spare.