watchOS: CoreMotion data, Watch goes to sleep and disconnects during tests

Hello, I am working on a Iphone app and companion Watch app that prompts the user to go through a few activities like walk, sit, etc and collects the CoreMotion data from the Watch. The phone app coordinates the actions and sends a command to the watch to start/stop the measurement. My problem is that the Watch keeps on disconnecting after a few seconds and that is messing up the data collection. Is there a way to keep the watch awake and not sleep during the duration of these tests? I also used a HealthKit session to try and keep the watch awake and measuring.. but none of these methods are reliable.. Can you please suggest how to keep the watch and phone connected and awake during the data collection? (The whole test takes about 4-5 minutes).. I have spent many days on this problem.