Besides driving a wedge in relationships and ruining quality sleep, snoring can be a serious health concern. Did you know studies show habitual snorers are at a 46% higher risk of stroke?
But health-tech innovator Ultrahuman and leading AI sleep technology company Sleep Cycle are stepping in to help.
"Awareness is the first line of prevention”
Mohit Kumar, CEO of Ultrahuman
Today, the partnership are launching the Respiratory Health PowerPlug for Ultrahuman Ring AIR users, a programme designed to help you understand and tackle snoring.
The best sleep trackers on the market all detect snoring to some degree, but the Respiratory Health PowerPlug will delve deeper into your respiratory habits. This will give a more clear picture of what's causing your snoring and how you can handle it, whether that be consulting a medical professional or changing lifestyle factors.
“Snoring is treated like a joke in popular culture, but physiologically, it’s one of the earliest warning signs that something isn’t right," CEO of Ultrahuman, Mohit Kumar, says.
"Most people never see their own snoring patterns, which is why problems escalate silently for years."
Respiratory Health PowerPlug: Why it's important
As mentioned above, snorers are at a higher risk of serious health conditions like stroke.
What's more, research in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine has found one third of regular snorers may have undiagnosed obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).
OSA is a condition affecting nearly 1 billion adults worldwide. This occurs when the upper airway narrows or collapses during sleep and it can cause hypertension and cardiovascular disease.
Plus there's a gender sleep gap at play. Women snore nearly as much as men — just nine minutes less on average — but massively under-report their snoring, contributing to widespread under-diagnosis of sleep apnea in women.
There's a lot of value in people being aware of their own snoring
Dr Mike Gradisar, Head of Sleep Science at SleepCycle
That said, Dr. Mike Gradisar, Head of Sleep Science at SleepCycle, says habitual snoring (snoring three to four times a week) is linked with many health consequences (stroke, cardiovascular issues, diabetes, hypertension) without actually having sleep apnea.
"There's a lot of value in people being aware of their own snoring and potentially understanding what might cause it and what they can do about it," he explains.
But with Ultrahuman x Sleep Cycle's new software, all snorers can be more aware of their overnight respiratory habits. This means they can get the help or make the changes they need to curb health issues down the line. As Kumar states, "Awareness is the first line of prevention.”
Respiratory Health PowerPlug: Features
The Respiratory Health PowerPlug combines Sleep Cycle’s proprietary AI sound software with Ultrahuman’s advanced biomarker tracking. The result? One of the most comprehensive consumer tools ever built for understanding nighttime respiratory stability.
"By pairing respiratory sound analysis with real-time biometrics, Ring AIR now shows users the signals they routinely miss — the breathing disruptions that fragment sleep, impair recovery, and are linked to long-term cardiovascular risk," Kumar explains.
Across your smartphone and Ultrahuman Ring Air, the new software is able to detect snoring, coughing and respiratory disturbances that disrupt sleep quality.
By revealing when snoring or coughing intensified, and showing how those events corresponded with drops in HRV, elevated nighttime heart rate or repeated awakenings, Ultrahuman ring wearers gain a more clear understanding of how respiratory habits impact overall recovery and health.
“My hope is that, by Ultrahuman integrating our tech into their ring, we'll get a lot more people that will be able to be much more reflective about their health, and get more curious about what snoring can be — that it isn't benign,” Dr. Gradisar says.
In turn, users can take measures to improve their overnight respiratory health - and hopefully pull the plug on snoring, so their partner can rest better, too.
These measures may include cutting down alcohol (booze relaxes the throat muscles which equals more snoring), side sleeping (this position helps open airways), losing weight (fat narrows airways), or consulting medical professionals.
Respiratory Health PowerPlug: Availability
Starting today, the Respiratory Health PowerPlug is now open to Ultrahuman users. Access is rolling out via the waitlist in the Ultrahuman app.
But the new programme comes with a fee. It costs $3.99/£2.99/€3.99 per month or $39.99/£29.99/€39.99 per year. For that you get a daily morning report with data including HRV, resting heart rate, movement patterns and sleep fragmentation, alongside trends in your respiratory health.
If you're not yet a Ultrahuman user, you'll need to purchase the hardware too. You can shop the Ultrahuman Ring Air for $244 at Ultrahuma now (was $349).
Sleep Cycles algorithms provide additional tools to monitor snoring and this will be combined with biometrics from Ultrahuman. Then, through the Ultrahuman interface you'll find your complete sleep report, along with actionable tips on how you can reduce snoring and improve sleep quality.
And if this all sounds a little invasive, rest assured that all respiratory audio is processed, stored and managed entirely on the user’s device. No sound files are uploaded to Ultrahuman or Sleep Cycle servers, and users can delete recordings at any time.
