Is The Apple Watch Heart Monitor Accurate?
What’s more to look for when you can get a heart monitor in hand at all times? With the Apple Watch’s integrated features, you can now monitor your heart’s functioning accurately and precisely, at the mere distance of your wrist. This is a great leap in the field of medical advancements to maximize the safety factor of one’s heart health. With an Apple Watch, staying up to date with your heart is going to give you enhanced care and evaluation to assist you in making timely and informative decisions regarding what the watch tells you. Based on the practicalities of heart attacks and heart failures, an Apple Watch can prove to be a life-saver for many. In the article below, we’ve provided an analysis of how accurate the Apple Watch’s heart monitoring feature is.
How Does the Apple Watch Heart Monitor Work?
The technology applied here is based on optical sensors at the level of the wrist. The Apple Watch makes use of green LED lights and light-sensitive photodiodes on the watch’s casing on the part that touches the skin. Blood appears red in color because it absorbs green light and reflects red light. As blood flows through the wrist, the green light emitted from the LEDs is absorbed, hence the greater the absorption, the greater is the blood pumped, and hence a higher heart rate. This technique is used to monitor heart rate and health.
The latest improvements in the Apple Watch Series 4 enable the user to perform an ECG with recorded data. The ECG or EKG recording is primarily due to the built-in electrodes at the back of the watch in the Digital Crown. Placing your finger on the Digital Crown conducts electrical impulses from the chest, which are displayed in the Heart App in the form of an electrocardiograph. This is much quicker and feasible than paying a visit to the hospital for an ECG. However, hospital ECGs are more accurate with detailed analysis, but for a general routine examination, the Apple Watch is a good choice.
How Accurate is the Heart Monitor Feature?
The Apple Watch’s heart monitoring is sure a great feature, but just like all other devices, it might not be highly accurate in every situation. The watch is good to go for everyday tracking of the heart health during exercises and breathing sessions, plus it gives notifications in case of any kind of abnormalities. Moreover, Apple watches maintain the most accuracy in their readings at all paces as compared to wrist-monitoring watches from other brands. However, wrist-based heart tracking always falls behind when compared to a chest strap. A chest strap gives 99% matching results with a professional EKG, but a wrist-monitor shows varying results. This brings us to the conclusion that the Apple Watch heart monitor is an accurate device for measuring the heart rate but not much reliable for serious heart patients. It might give misleading results with reduced accuracy at higher levels of activity.
How to Improve the Watch Accuracy?
A great deal of variability in the readings is observed because the watch might not be tightly strapped on the wrist, especially during strenuous exercise. While exercising vigorously, the excessive arm movements cause minimal contact between the skin and the photo-sensing cells. This consequently results in an error in readings during heavy exercise and arm action. A simple and effective method to improve accuracy is by using a snug fit to tighten the watch’s band. When the back casing is in contact with your skin at all times, the photodiodes give optimal results.
Apart from this, certain other factors also influence the watch’s accuracy. Sweat accumulating at the back of the watch not only affects the sensitivity of the sensors but also makes the back slippery enough to move during a reading constantly. Make sure to use a microfiber cloth for keeping the back sweat-free.
Features of the Apple Watch Heart Monitor
Apple has come up with an innovative and accessible device to improve heart health. With the numerous features it offers connected through a Heart App, it provides notifications to keep you updated regarding your heart.
- Heart Rate
Apple Watch tracks your heart rate at all times and provides a complete record in the Heart App. It also checks for background low or high rates and gives you notifications accordingly. Tachycardia and bradycardia can be diagnosed through this feature.
- Arrhythmias and Fibrillations
This feature tracks down any cases of atrial fibrillations to give you an early indication that it could be life-saving if you visit the doctor in time. Irregular rhythm notifications alert you in case of variable pulse wave or beat intervals at rest. Such irregular heartbeats can lead to stroke and cardiac failure if not treated at the right time.
- ECG or EKG
Apple Series 4 introduced a new and improved ECG technology to generate an electrocardiogram by catching electrical signals from the chest. The waveform, date, time, and any symptoms are also given in detail for a complete round-up on your heart’s functioning. With the ECG app, it becomes much easier to diagnose arrhythmias, sinus rhythms, heart blocks, etc. However, ECGs are more accurate and reliable when measured with a chest strap.
Using the Apple Watch Heart Monitor
Overall, the Apple Watch can be used effectively to monitor heart health, rate, functioning, etc. It provides a detailed analysis of your heart so that you can make timely decisions. Most users rely on wrist-monitors during workouts, breathe sessions and intense fitness sessions to measure their heart activity in quite a narrow range, so if you’re looking for greater precision, try pairing the Apple Watch with a chest strap. Patients having a history of heart attack or a pacemaker can benefit greatly from the heart monitor feature. Detecting atrial fibrillation or skipped heartbeat could be a lifesaver for anyone. However, sometimes the false results on an Apple Watch can trigger alertness and panic for no reason at all. It all comes down to using the watch correctly and cautiously. Visit your doctor in case of any symptoms observed because doctors are surely much more experienced than a watch.
Our Values and Features
We at South Florida Cardiovascular Specialist ensure that every patient gets the care and respect he/she deserves. We guarantee to provide you with excellence in terms of medical help and care. Our skilled and experienced team of doctors reinforced with medical instruments of the highest standards, are bound to make you feel you’ve made the right decision by placing your trust in our clinic. We are specialized in treating all sorts of heart problems in an atmosphere that ensures the highest possible patient care and compassion.
