New health-oriented features are coming to Samsung wearables in an upcoming update. Samsung announced on its official news blog today that One UI 8 Watch will include four new health and wellness features centered around activity, sleep, and nutrition — including one off-the-wall function that can purportedly measure antioxidants present in your skin to give you an Antioxidant Index score.
Some of the new features Samsung announced today are relatively standard on modern wearables. A feature called Bedtime Guidance tries to suggest a bedtime that’ll promote “alertness” the following day by analyzing “both sleep pressure and circadian rhythm” over a period of three days. Many wearables suggest a chronotype that may align with your habits, and some, including rings from Oura, will recommend a specific bedtime window to target to keep a consistent schedule.
A new Vascular Load feature approximates the stress your circulatory system undergoes while you’re awake and while you’re sleeping, and suggests simple at-home remedies to help improve your heart health, like limiting your alcohol intake and prioritizing better sleep.
Running Coach can rate your running performance on a scale of one to 10 after a 12-minute evaluation run, and create a personalized running plan that includes tailored runs and real-time feedback about your runs. It can help train for specific challenges, like running a 5K or a marathon, and Samsung says that users can “level up” by performing better in subsequent runs.
Finally, the new Antioxidant Index feature sounds either impressive or fantastical, depending on how closely it actually correlates with conditions in your body. Samsung says that the BioActive Sensor in its Galaxy Watch wearables can measure carotenoids — a type of antioxidant found in some foods — present in your skin. Based on the levels the watch detects, Antioxidant Index gives you a numeric antioxidant score out of 100.
As described, Antioxidant Index should at least roughly correlate to how many fruits and vegetables you’ve eaten lately, so while it may not be a medically reliable metric, it could still help encourage eating highly nutritious foods.
Coming to Galaxy Watch with One UI 8 Watch
These features will be available in One UI 8 Watch, which Samsung says will be available in beta on late-model Galaxy Watches (Watch 5 series or newer) and is slated to begin soon for users in Korea and the US. If you’ve got a compatible watch in an eligible market, you’ll be able to sign up for the beta in the Samsung Members app.
