A smart watch's assessment of your vitals and sleep might convince a doctor to set you up for a proper over-night polysomnography at a sleep clinic. The watch gives a quick 'n dirty assessment that is useful to see how you're doing one night, and then it can accumulate and integrate data for months running and let you know of a trend. But a proper sleep lab will measure brain wave, periodic limb movements, stages of sleep, and also measure hypoxia and apneas/hypopneas during sleep.

You may also need the benefit of an endocrinologist, or at least a measure of your thyroxin levels if they are wonky.

I have an Apple Watch that tracks sleep, blood pressure, etc. It works for me . I have General anxiety disorder that is being treated by many different meds throughout my last 20 years. The Watch shows me my heart BPM so I know what’s going on.

The watch tries to track your sleep based on your heart rate and how much you move around. It's reasonably accurate to get a rough idea of what's going on. It hopefully will be enough to at least get your doctor to order a sleep study for you. They do them at home now by sending you a sensor kit. When I had mine done years ago I had to go to a sleep clinic and have lots of electrodes attached to my skull.

Agree with others that Apple watch gives a quick and dirty overview but a sleep study is the gold standard. One thing that really helped me was switching from CPAP to APAP. The APAP regulates the amount of air you actually need rather than continuously blowing air at the same rate. I think my frequent awakenings were due to having a blast of air that I didn't need.
Good luck. I still have some awakenings but not nearly as bad as it was before the APAP

louiserivers @louiserivers
I can fall asleep, but wake up several times at night. My go to is Chamomile tea.
I went through at home and at hospital sleep study. I was prescribed a Bi-PAP sleep machine (Bi-PAP one pressure inhale and different pressure exhale, plus backup - monitors how often stop breathing and makes sure I don't fall below a set level). The "stop breathing" events were 47 times per hour (and oxygen level dropped to 77%) and now events are down 5 to 7 times per hour (oxygen level dropped to 87%, but getting better. below 88% not good).
I wear a smart watch, not apple, which has sleep, heart rate and blood pressure (not as accurate as sleep study). My sleep doctor mention that the jumps on heart rate showed how often stop breathing - the body gasp for air.
I have the ResMed AirCurve 10 ST. The sleep doctor can remotely make changes to the pressure settings, speed of breathing and some other areas. ResMed also has an App that I can monitor and website where I can down load basic charts (sleep doctors charts are more advanced).

Best Wishes
🍀

I have both Apple and Fitbit smart watches and have worn them at night on both wrists to see which one more accurately mirrors my nightly sleep pattern and Fitbit seems to be a little more accurate. As for your sleeping issue, I used to have a problem but after spending time with a sleep specialist, I no longer have trouble getting a decent night's sleep. The key is never to go to bed unless you are really, really tired. I'm wondering why you go to bed at 8pm because it seems like a very early time to do so, unless perhaps you're a shift worker or something of that nature. For a large part of the year, you're trying to sleep while it's still light outside which has to be difficult.

I am a sample size of 1, so I can't predict what your doctor(s) will say. But I've been using an Apple Watch to track my sleep, mostly out of curiosity. I've done a little research and most reputable reports seem to say that smartwatches (regardless of brand) tend to over or under-measure certain metrics.

In my case, I recently established with a new sleep medicine doctor (my insurance changed) and asked at my first visit of their thoughts about what I was seeing from my watch. Now, this is a major academic hospital/medical system in North Carolina. They weren't particularly convinced of the reliability of the results of any smartwatches.

I wasn't totally surprised, given the accuracy issues noted in the medical journal articles I'd read. Also, my watch is a little older (SE) and I think the newer ones have improved capabilities. My sense from what I read online is that rings (like the Oura) are slightly better (more reliable/more accurate) but (in my opinion) not sufficiently better than my watch to justify the additional expense.

Before buying a smartwatch (some are expensive!), I'd check with your doctor(s) on their opinions (in case they differ from what I was told). As someone above mentioned, an overnight (in their facility, if possible) sleep study is considered the gold standard for assessing sleep issues. [I've had two over the years, and am scheduled for a third in a couple weeks.]

I’ve had Apple smartwatches before I thought about tracking sleep.
I have problems with sleep, balance etc and use many Apple health features - my neurologist was so impressed
she’s recommending a smartwatch to patients. I wake 10-15x per nt, walking asymmetry is poor, heart rate good.

I compared some watch readings (heart rate, blood oxygenation, b/p, etc) in my doc’s office to check accuracy and readings were close.

Read all the features of the smartwatch and get one if you need several features.
Ask your doc if the Apple Watch or a competitor offers the specific features best for you.
I’m Not a techie but find the watch easy to use.

My Apple Watch helped me bring my sleep issues to the attention of my doctor. That led to a sleep study And now a CPAP machine.

I can see on my watch and phone that my breathing disruptions have improved substantially with a CPAP. That’s consistent with a read out on the CPAP.

It has certainly helped me to have a watch, and another CPAP.

I whole heartedly support you trying the iPhone 17e and the Apple 🍎 Watch. I am 81 well retired and I AM NOT A SALES PERSON.
I have used these Apple 🍎 products after experiencing what you are. This decision was life changing.

🙏 Mort