Amazfit smartwatches get REM sleep tracking boost

It’s been one helluva busy week for Huami with the shiny new Amazfit GTS 2 and GTR 2 both going live but that doesn’t mean that older Amazfit smartwatches are being forgotten about.

The Chinese company has started rolling out a software update to the original Amazfit GTS, GTR and GTR Lite that adds one of the key sleep tracking aspects of the next-gen Amazfit smartwatches: REM monitoring.

REM, which stands for Rapid Eye Movement, is one of five stages of sleep. We tend to hit REM sleep within the first 90 minutes of falling asleep and and REM sleep occurs several times nightly as we progress through a sleep cycle. It makes up around a quarter of the total sleep for adults, up to half for children.

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The reason that it's important to track is that dreams occur during REM sleep, and the sleep stage is thought to play an important role in learning, memory, and mood.

To tap into the improved sleep tracking features of your Amazfit smartwatch, you need to head into the Zepp app to switch it on. Somewhat confusingly, the option to enable it is within the heart rate settings under 'Detection method'.

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The addition of REM tracking as part of the sleep monitoring feature on both the Amazfit GTR and GTS arrives as part of a software update, which also adds GPS positioning improvements for the smartwatch duo as well.

REM tracking has been included on all the latest Amazfit devices - not just the new flagship GTS 2 and GTR 2 watches - but also on the likes of the Amazfit Band 5 (pictured above) and the Xiaomi Mi Band 5.

Yes, the Mi Band obviously isn't an Amazfit device but it may as well be; Huami and Xiaomi have a deal whereby the former develops wearables for the latter (a deal that has just been increased by a further three years).

According to the guys at TizenHelp, the update is now rolling out in Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam with other regions to follow.