JOHANNESBURG, South Africa – 20 October 2026 – No matter who you are or what you do, we all have one constant companion we rely on every single day: our heart. Unseen but always at work, it beats around 100,000 times a day, keeping pace with us through every moment. Yet for something so essential to our lives, taking care of our hearts is often overlooked until it’s too late.

Heart disease is the number one cause of death worldwide,¹ which is why the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the World Heart Federation decided to recognise and commemorate Sept. 29 as World Heart Day. It is a reminder that the choices we make today can make a meaningful difference tomorrow.

These choices don’t have to be big. From choosing when to go to bed to making time for even just 30 minutes of exercise, the small choices we make every day add up to a healthier lifestyle. The good news is that Samsung Galaxy Watch can help you make proactive prevention part of daily life. By monitoring your sleep, activity level, stress and blood pressure, Galaxy Watch helps you to better understand what’s happening in your body and what steps to take to ensure your heart is doing its job well.

Understanding Your Body at a Glance: Heart Health Score

The American Heart Association recommends looking at Life’s Essential 8² as key measures for improving and maintaining cardiovascular health: diet, exercise, sleep, weight, blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol and smoking cessation. But knowing what matters raises an important question: how do these factors change the choices we make every day?

Samsung Health’s Heart Health Score³ is designed to help you in this journey. It tracks and analyses complex health indicators such as sleep duration, daily activity level, body composition⁴ and vascular load,⁵ converting them into a single, simple score that anyone can intuitively understand and follow.

Think about what happens if you miss your daily exercise for a few days: your Galaxy Watch recognises when your moderate-to-high intensity activity level has decreased, reflects this change in a lower Heart Health Score and makes a recommendation to go for a run. With convenient insights right from your wrist, Galaxy Watch delivers personalised insights that make it easier to recognise changes, understand your habits and take the next step toward healthier ones.

Advanced Sensor Technology: From Measurement to Meaning

Samsung Galaxy Watches are equipped with an advanced BioActive Sensor which integrates three precision sensors in one: an optical heart rate sensor (PPG), an electrocardiogram sensor (ECG)⁷ and a bioelectrical impedance analysis sensor (BIA). 

With calibration just once every four weeks using a home blood pressure monitor, you can easily check your blood pressure⁸ from your wrist anytime, anywhere. When you place your finger on the watch’s side electrode for just 30 seconds, the watch measures an electrocardiogram to detect signs of abnormal heartbeats like atrial fibrillation or ectopic beats.

The Irregular Heart Rhythm Notification (IHRN)⁹ feature, which detects abnormal heart signals – monitors the user’s heart rhythm throughout the day and provides a proactive notification if abnormal signs are repeated. Even small reminders like this have the power to save lives. In several countries, these notifications¹⁰ have led to early detection of risks such as atherosclerosis or myocardial infarction.

Around-the-Clock Care: How Galaxy Watch Proactively Monitors Your Health Even During Sleep

Your heart is a constant you can count on and it works whether you’re awake or asleep. When you wear your Galaxy Watch to sleep, it analyses five major vital signs: heart rate during sleep, heart rate variability,¹² respiratory rate, skin temperature and blood oxygen saturation. These signals are compared against your personal baseline.

When you wake up, your Galaxy Watch will send a notification if it detects meaningful deviations from your baseline. By highlighting meaningful changes early, it gives you an opportunity to rest, recover or seek medical guidance before small issues become larger concerns¹³.

Heart to Heart: Connected Care that Adds Peace of Mind

Looking after your own heart is only one side of the story. From parents to partners, siblings to grandparents or even friends, the burden of caring for the hearts of those around you weighs heavily. Samsung Health’s Health Data Sharing¹⁴ function lightens the load by sharing agreed-upon data items (number of steps, blood pressure, heart rate, medication adherence to name but a few) with loved ones in real time. You can check if your parents who live far away have completed their daily walk or taken their prescribed medication on time, just as if you were right there with them.

World Heart Day coincides with the seasonal transition from winter to the summer season. As the temperature gap between day and night widens, blood vessels constrict – sharply increasing the risk of cardiovascular disease. The key to preventing heart disease lies not in reactive treatment, but in proactive habits of paying close attention to the subtle signals your body sends every day. Start managing your heart health with Galaxy Watch, a reliable health partner that stays with you around the clock.

1. Source: World Health Organisation (WHO), “Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs)” Fact Sheet (July 31, 2025), “The top 10 causes of death” (Aug. 7, 2024). ︎
2. Source: American Heart Association (AHA), “Life’s Essential 8” (2022). ︎
3. Requires a compatible Samsung Galaxy phone, Samsung Health app v7.0 and Samsung account. Requires initial setup wearing watch for 24 hours (including while awake and asleep). Heart Health Score software functions are not intended for use in the diagnosis of disease or other conditions, or in the cure, mitigation, treatment or prevention of disease. ︎
4. Not intended for use in the diagnosis or treatment of any medical condition. If you have health concerns, be sure to see a medical professional. Vitals requires sleep data of at least 7 nights. Vitals is available on Android phones (Android 11 or above) and requires the Samsung Health app (v7.0 or above). Samsung account login required. To use Vitals, it is necessary to wear a Galaxy Watch or Galaxy Ring while sleeping. ︎
5. Vascular Load feature measures the degree of stress placed on the cardiovascular system during sleep and displays the trend of change compared to a baseline value. It continuously analyses changes during sleep to provide a comprehensive score. ︎
6. Disclaimer for the caption: Image simulated for illustrative purposes. Actual UX/UI may be different. ︎
7. Electrocardiogram (ECG) feature records and analyses subtle electrical signals of the heart when the user places a finger on Galaxy Watch’s top button for about 30 seconds, detecting atrial fibrillation (irregular and rapid quivering) and ectopic beats (premature irregular beats). ︎
8. Blood Pressure feature measures systolic and diastolic blood pressure by analysing pulse waveforms with Galaxy Watch’s optical (PPG) sensor. An initial measurement using a separate cuff-type blood pressure monitor is required, and recalibration is needed every 4 weeks (28 days). ︎
9. Irregular Heart Rhythm Notification (IHRN) feature detects irregular patterns that may indicate atrial fibrillation through pulse monitoring and provides an early alert. ︎
10. Disclaimer for the caption: Image simulated for illustrative purposes. Actual UX/UI may be different. ︎
11. Heart Rate Variability (HRV) feature analyses minute-to-minute variations in the intervals between heartbeats to show autonomic nervous system balance. It is automatically recorded during sleep and resting states. ︎
12. Heart Health Score and Vitals features are supported on the Samsung Health app (version 7.0 or higher). ︎
13. Requires a compatible Samsung Galaxy phone, Samsung Health app v7.0 and Samsung account. Requires initial setup wearing watch for 24 hours (including while awake and asleep). Heart Health Score software functions are not intended for use in the diagnosis of disease or other conditions, or in the cure, mitigation, treatment or prevention of disease. ︎
14. Health Data Sharing feature requires user consent, and users can independently choose which health data to share (including steps, workouts, sleep, weight, body composition, food intake, heart rate, stress, blood pressure, blood glucose, medication and vital signs). ︎
15. Disclaimer for the caption: Image simulated for illustrative purposes. Actual UX/UI may be different. ︎

Next week, Samsung will share its latest line-up of innovative products designed to enhance users’ everyday lives, including updates that empower fitness and wellness routines. Ahead of the unveiling, we’d like to take the time to reflect our philosophy, achievements, and progress that we have made as we approach our most recent step in our health journey.

The world has entered a new era of wellness, seeing a growing desire for a more nuanced understanding of overall health. In the past, health was a simple concept with a single definition. Now, everyone defines health and wellness by what it means to them. To accommodate everyone’s health goals, Samsung is committed to ensuring everyone has access to the resources they need, so they can work towards the best version of themselves. To that end, we are focused on setting new standards for health experiences through our Galaxy Watch series, and across our broader product portfolio. We have established three key pillars to help people reach their own goals: sensor innovation, connected wellness and industry collaboration.

Advanced Sensors for More Meaningful Insights

To create healthier habits and reach goals, it’s important we know ourselves better. For our users, this journey starts with Samsung’s ground-breaking BioActive Sensor. The BioActive Sensor delivers accurate and comprehensive health data and provides actionable insights and guidance users can leverage during their health and wellness journey.

First introduced with the Galaxy Watch4, the BioActive Sensor uses a unique single chip that combines three powerful health sensors – Optical Heart Rate (PPG), Electrical Heart Signal (ECG) and Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA) – into one compact unit. Its streamlined design enhances performance and fits comfortably for increased accuracy and 24/7 usage. This helps users deepen their understanding, encourages action, and strengthens good habits to help them achieve their goals.

Our sensor provides insights across all aspects of health, but we’d like to highlight two key areas: sleep and body composition. Sleep is often an afterthought when establishing a solid wellness routine, but it is essential for holistic health. At Samsung, we’re serious about helping our community get better sleep. We’ve introduced various sleep quality tracking tools and launched a tailored sleep coaching program all aimed to help users get a more restful night’s sleep.

When it comes to fitness, in particular, everyone’s goals are different. That’s why BioActive Sensor also measures body composition, which deepens users’ knowledge of their physical health, far beyond merely losing weight. The sensor sends micro-currents to measure weight maintained, skeletal muscle gained, body fat lost and body water levels, relative to goals set, helping users hit targets and keep track of what matters to them.

Across these advancements, we remain intensely committed to the secure and private collection of data to give our users peace of mind during their wellness journeys. All health data is encrypted and secured on the device itself and guarded by Knox, ensuring users’ information remains isolated from unauthorised sources.

Wellness That Spans All Devices

We are also providing tools that allow consumers to track overall health and wellness — whether they’re at home, in the gym, or on the road. The Samsung Health app, with more than 200 million active global users, is at the centre of Samsung’s health experience across an extensive range of devices, from smartwatches to smartphones to tablets and even TVs. The app — a holistic health hub that consolidates fitness, wellness, and health monitoring capabilities — records and compiles all kinds of health data and activity information, presents them intuitively, and gives guidance on how to leverage that data to maximise results. The collected information is comprehensive, easy-to-understand, and encourages positive action. More connected devices mean a more seamless and enhanced user experience. While following guided workout or meditation programs on Samsung Smart TVs or Galaxy Tabs at home, for example, your calorie count and heart rate are tracked on your Galaxy Watch but viewed on the larger screen for easier access. Your Galaxy Watch also recognises when you fall asleep and automatically dims lights and turns off air conditioners in response.

Open Collaboration Means Better Health Experiences

To give our users the best experience possible, we partner with other leaders in technology and wellness. We have built a strong foundation with our technology, and we welcome collaboration on our open ecosystem — one that often serves as an incubator for exciting new applications, services and features. In collaboration with Google, we co-developed Wear OS and Health Connect so that more users can join the unified platform and take advantage of new services and solutions to meet everyone’s needs.

Samsung works extensively with third-party experts, research centres, and universities to further advance wearable tracking and insight capabilities, including the National Sleep Foundation for sleep, the University of California San Diego Sleep Laboratory and the University of California, San Francisco Hypoxia Research Laboratory for sleep and blood oxygen research, and Louisiana State University, Pennington Biomedical Research Centre and the University of Hawaii Cancer Centre for BIA research, to name a few. We’re also committed to researching new ways our health solutions can be used in the medical field. In the coming months, we’re focused on developing more tools and resources that will support the medical community and give our users a more holistic view of their health records.

The Promising Future of Health and Wellness

In the last few years, many people around the world have adopted new habits and interests. For many, these include a greater awareness of physical, mental and sleep health. To meet this demand, Samsung is excited to continue expanding our Galaxy Watch line-up to better cater to the many unique needs of our users — especially those with a passion for the outdoors.

Our work, however, does not stop there. We are constantly innovating and investing in research and development and exploring new ways to work with our trusted partners. Through open collaboration and focused innovation, we will ensure our users are equipped with advanced technologies that empower them to better understand their own minds and bodies for a truly integrated, holistic experience of health and wellness.

We can’t wait for you to see what’s next. Please be sure to tune in to Galaxy Unpacked on August 10 at 15:00 CAT on Samsung.co.za