How to Track Your Breathing While Asleep with Apple Watch (watchOS 10)

* This article is from our Tip of the Day newsletter. . *

Knowing your sleeping respiratory rate can help you keep tabs on health conditions such as asthma or sleep apnea, and help you gauge when to seek medical attention if necessary. Fortunately, Apple Watch offers an effortless method to track this and other health information in a private and secure way. We'll show you how.

Why You’ll Love This Tip:

  • Track your breathing if you have concerns about your respiratory health, including while sleeping.
  • Apple Watch makes it easy to keep track of your health.
  • You can show your doctor any results that concern you.

How to Measure Respiratory Rate With Apple Watch

System Requirements

To use this tip, you'll need an iPhone SE 2nd Gen or newer running iOS 16 or later and an Apple Watch 3 or newer.

Before you can learn how to track your sleep respiratory rate, you'll need to have sleep tracking enabled. If you like tips about using your Apple devices, be sure to sign up for our free Tip of the Day! Now, here's how to view the respiratory data your Apple Watch collects on your iPhone's Health app.

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  1. Open the Health app on your iPhone.

    apple watch respiration rate
  2. Tap Browse.

    apple watch respiratory rate
  3. Scroll down if necessary and select Sleep.

    respiratory rate apple watch
  4. Scroll down to view your respiratory rates on this page.

    Scroll down to view your respiratory rates on this page.
  5. Or, tap Show More Sleep Data for more information.

    apple watch respiratory rate
  6. Tap Comparisons.

    Tap Comparisons.
  7. Tap Respiratory Rate.

    Tap Respiratory Rate.
  8. Then, you can adjust the top row of settings to see your breathing rate on a graph over different periods of time: one day, one week, one month, or six months.

    Then, you can adjust the top row of settings to see your breathing rate on a graph over different periods of time: one day, one week, one month, or six months.

The Sleep Foundation reports that the normal sleep respiratory rate for adults under 60 is between 12 and 20 times per minute. For adults over 60, between 12 and 28 times per minute is normal. If you have any concerns, please make sure to consult with a medical professional! Your iPhone and Apple Watch are useful tools to keep an eye on your overall health, but they can neither diagnose you nor offer medical advice.

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Author Details

Olena Kagui's picture

Author Details

Olena Kagui

Olena Kagui is a Feature Writer at iPhone Life. In the last 10 years, she has been published in dozens of publications internationally and won an excellence award. Since joining iPhone Life in 2020, she has written how-to articles as well as complex guides about Apple products, software, and apps. Olena grew up using Macs and exploring all the latest tech. Her Maui home is the epitome of an Apple ecosystem, full of compatible smart gear to boot. Olena’s favorite device is the Apple Watch Ultra because it can survive all her adventures and travels, and even her furbabies.