You can take care of your health through your Apple watch and you can monitor your health information yourself with the features it provides. It doesn’t take any extra time and this information is mostly true.
You can quickly monitor things like your heart rate, VO2 level or blood oxygen no matter where you are. These things are very important for people who depend on medicine and those who have an irregular heart beat. Because this allows them to monitor their health and change their daily activities to suit them.
In addition to these simple health features, Apple Watch has ECG, high/low heart rate warning and fall detection. This gives you a lot of value. Also, Apple Watch has several lesser-known important capabilities that measure everything from the present to the future. Now let’s see some of these Apple Watch health features. I am very sure that all these will give you a good information about your health. You may already know some of these features. Some things you may not have used. So don’t wait any longer, let’s go see the features right away.
Table of Contents
1. ECG
2. Accurate Heart Rate
3. Blood oxygen reading
4. Fall detection
5. Noise level notifications
6. Afib history
7. Medication tracking
8. VO2 Max
1. ECG
The ECG app offered by Apple Watch is one of the best health features in Apple. According to the Mayo Clinic, this app detects cardiac electrical signals and can take care of heart problems like irregular rhythm. The
Apple Watch cannot tell if your arteries or if you have had a heart attack. But you can tell your doctor if you experience chest pain or tightening, give a clear picture about it.
To use this feature, open the app on your watch and place your finger on the crown for about 30 seconds. Meanwhile, keep your hand on your lap or on the table. If you have an irregularity after the reading, the watch will tell you about it. This will give you a good idea about your heart beating.
2. Accurate heart rate
Among the health features that can be found in any fitness tracker or watch, the heart rate monitor of the Apple Watch is at the top. It manages this by bulit in photodiodes. It detects this with a series of flashing green LED lights. This allows this watch to track the flow of blood passing through your arteries. This gives a chart of how many times your heart beats per minute.
However, do not consider the Apple Watch heart rate monitor as medical grade. It is similar to a fitness tracker on a wrist band. When tested against an EKG machine, the Apple Watch measured 91% accuracy.
3. Blood oxygen reading
The blood oxygen monitor is one of the best features that the Apple Watch has to offer its users. When you use it, it can measure the oxygen saturation of your blood in roughly 15 seconds. This uses an algorithm to calculate the color of your blood. Bright red blood has more oxygen than dark red blood.
Healthy blood oxygen saturation level range is from 95% to 100%. The Cleveland Clinic says to see a doctor if your rate is less than 92%. Low blood oxygen level can also affect organ damage. So the best thing is to consult your doctor about your oxygen rate.
4. Fall detection
This will be very valuable for old folks. Also, this is the best tool for Apple Watch lovers who work like hike, bike or climb. When the watch notices that you have fallen, it vibrates from your wrist and sounds an alarm and in addition gives a visual alert. You can then choose to notify emergency service or dismiss the alert.
Also, if the watch detects that there is no movement for a minute, it starts a 30 second countdown with a vibration and a sound. But if there is no movement, it automatically calls for help and sends an alert to emergency contacts about your location.
5. Noise level notifications
The Apple Noise App measures nearby sounds and can detect how loud it is and how long it lasts. If you are around a loud noise for a long time or if the decibel level of the noise is unsafe, the watch will give you an alert through a short vibration.
However, you can disable this feature completely and in addition you can turn it on only when it is between 80 and 100 decibels. According to the CDC, staying under a sound around 70 decibels for a long time can damage your hearing.
6. Afib history
Being able to track Afib history through your Apple Watch is a major benefit. Afbi is a disorder in which the heart beats quickly and irregularly. This constant irregular heartbeat increases the risk of heart failure and stroke. If you have been diagnosed with Afib, you can use this feature to track your heart rhythm. Also, you can easily know where the rhythm changes and whether it is serious enough to seek medical care.
Also, the companion health app can track other things affecting your Afib, such as sleeping, exercise and weight. And it can identify when arrhythmias always occur, that is, like time of day or a certain day of week. That way, your doctor can easily think about the treatment to be given.
7. Medication tracking
This health app helps you get your medication right. This not only keeps track of your medication but also alerts you when you need to take it. Also, this app allows you to enter all consumed medications and thereby helps you keep track of when and how much you’ve taken.
Also, if there is a negative interaction between the drugs you take and other substances, Apple medication tracking can also track that. For example, if you take alchol, if it has a negative interaction with your certain medication, it will affect you negatively. This is tracked by Apple. In this feature, you have to upload a photo of your medication along with all the warnings associated with it. Then they are added to the Health app and profile
8. VO2 Max
You can tell about your cardio health by tracking your VO2 fitness levels or maximum oxygen consumption. It can get the maximum amount of oxygen taken during a workout. The watch uses the heart rate monitor and motion sensors to configure the VO2 level between your activities.
Having a higher VO2 level means that your body can get more oxygen. This is very important for activities that require higher oxygen intake like swimming, running or biking. When in good shape, it varies from 42 to 47 for a man and 33 to 36 for a woman.
