The best smartwatch for AFIB monitors your pulse. It notifies you when an arrhythmia occurs and provides data for a physician to evaluate.
Many of these devices have a built-in heart rate monitor, accelerometer, and even GPS. These features can be used in combination to collect data on the frequency, duration, and heart rate variability of AFib. This information can be sent directly to your physician through a wireless network.
AFib is the most common complication in the heart’s electrical system. It is a type of arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat) that could increase your risk of stroke.
A smartwatch can be a useful tool to help you keep track of your health. It can monitor your pulse and alert you if it detects an arrhythmia. It can also collect data on the frequency and duration of your episodes, as well as your heart rate variability, which can be sent directly to your physician.
While a smartwatch is not a substitute for regular medical check-ups and blood work, it can be helpful in monitoring any changes in your heart rate.
Smartwatches & Fitness Trackers that can Monitor AFib
The best smartwatch for AFIB is the one that can accurately detect the onset of arrhythmia and inform you to seek immediate medical attention. Here is the list of top medical watches that can assist you in this cause.
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What is AFib?
AFib is a type of irregular heartbeat. AFib — which stands for Atrial Fibrillation — causes blood to flow through the heart in an irregular way, which can lead to blood clots. A clot can travel to the brain and cause a stroke.
AFib affects somewhere between 3 million and 6 million Americans, most of them over age 65. In some people it’s silent, causing no symptoms. In others, it causes heart palpitations, dizzy spells, and shortness of breath. Whether or not a-fib causes symptoms, it quadruples the risk of having a stroke.
A small percentage of people with a-fib can convert to normal sinus rhythm on their own. But the majority need medication or an electrical device to restore a normal heartbeat.
A pacemaker is most frequently used because it can be implanted under local anesthesia and doesn’t require a power source. Medication has its own set of risks, including interactions with other drugs and serious side effects such as vision loss.
How Smartwatches are becoming increasingly popular for Heart Patients?
Smartwatches are becoming increasingly popular. They’re not just for tech geeks anymore. A smartwatch is a wearable gadget that connects with your smartphone. It can give you updates on news, weather, and stock prices, as well as control music and video playback. You can even use it to pay for goods at retail stores or transfer money at the ATM.
They are equipped with a variety of sensors that enable them to be used for health monitoring, fitness tracking, weather alerts and more. In fact, smartwatches even have health apps specifically tailored towards heart patients.
Smartwatches are fast becoming a popular choice among people who suffer from AFib. Some even claim that their smartwatch improved their overall quality of life.
Here are some tips to help you get the most out of your smartwatch:
🔔 Turn on notifications
Turn on your smartwatch’s notifications to stay informed, even if you don’t have time to look at your watch every time it buzzes. This is also a great way to receive alerts about important messages like emails, text messages, and Facebook posts.
🎗️ Set reminders
If you’re in the habit of forgetting things, this tip will be very helpful. Smartwatches can remind you when something important is coming up, like a meeting or an appointment. You can also use this feature to remind yourself to take medications at the right time or before going for a jog.
⏳ Don’t waste time looking at your smartwatch
Research shows that if people wear smartwatches all day, they generally only glance at them a few times per hour. This creates an opportunity for you to use your watch as a tool rather than as a toy. It’s better to glance at your watch a few times per hour than constantly check it throughout the day.
1. Apple Watch Series 5: All-in-one Medical Watch for AFIB
The Apple heart study released in March 2019, conducted at Stanford University, looked at 400,000 volunteers who had an apple watch on their wrists to test the new technology of detecting the wearer’s pulse and measuring the blood flow. The participants were AFib patients.
From the study, researchers came across the conclusion that wearable Apple watches technology can successfully identify heart rate irregularities.
The Apple heart study released in March 2019, conducted at Stanford University, looked at 400,000 volunteers who had an apple watch on their wrists to test the new technology of detecting the wearer’s pulse and measuring the blood flow. The participants were AFib patients.
From the study, researchers came across the conclusion that wearable Apple watches technology can successfully identify heart rate irregularities, and thus smartwatch is a great choice to detect AFib.
Last year, Apple CEO Tim Cook tweeted that how an apple watch saved the life of an 18-year-old girl who said the device was the fortunate cause of saving her life.
Optical HR Sensors: Flashing Light on the Wrist
Actually, Apple is getting sued for encroaching on a patent that uses Optical HR sensors for detecting AFib.
How optical heart rate sensors work?
Smartwatch uses heart rate sensors for AFib. When blood circulates throughout the body, it causes changes in the tissues. Optical heart rate measurement uses light to measure these tissue changes. Hearts beat with a certain volume, low blood volume causes in returning more light whereas high volume results in returning less light to the optical sensor.
By taking time into account between high and low light returning intensities, the device measures beat-to-beat data. This data is used as raw data in calculating the heart rate.
Now, the question arises how light can do this? If it’s a bit confusing for you ___ let’s simplify it.
It’s quite easy to demonstrate. Put a flashlight on your fingertip. It looks entirely red. But with a perfect light sensor, you can easily notice that the intensity of redness varies according to one’s heartbeat.
Although it is expensive it worth it. If you don’t want to spend more money then you can also use the Apple watch series 4.
Other Impressive Features of Apple Watches
- Apple smartwatches came with great tech innovations in health, fitness, and activity tracking.
- A smartwatch that can work with an AFib patient to detect irregularities in ECG and show you the data on the wrist would be no other than the Apple Watch. It is a rich, reliable gadget to spend money on. It worth it.
- Apple watch can make you healthier and keep you alert and safe from serious problems.
- Protect against hearing damage: Apple has the ability to fight back uncertain environmental conditions. Its Noise app detects harmful noise and sends you a notification.
- It can keep track of the menstrual cycle and potentially indicates several possible conditions.
- Detects falls and calls for help. Falls detection works by sending you a push notification asking if you are OK. If no action is recorded, you do not tap. Then it calls emergency service.
- Can measure your stress level. So, it helps in times of stress by it’s a lot of meditation apps. But if you do not have installed meditation apps, you can go with the built-in Breath app. It can instantly slow you down brings you in the normal moments.
Apart from the AFib identification and measurement, Apple watches grab tons of essential information and data about health. such as sleep apnea, hypertension, atrial fibrillation, and diabetes. It is a multisport podcasting watch with GPS mapping, music, pace monitoring, and many more.
3. Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2
Atrial Fibrillation monitoring is cleared for Samsung Watch active 2. It is a solid choice for consumers who are looking for an AFib monitor. This is especially for android users outside the IOS sphere.
According to South Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, Samsung Watch active 2 is approved to measure heart rhythms by using its Electrocardiogram (ECG) feature.
The Samsung health monitor app also received approval for measuring blood pressure. So, in this way, this wear for AFib monitoring is conveniently able to measure ECG and BP. And give consumers a better picture of their overall health status.
Samsung galaxy watch active 2, as the name implies it is a smartwatch that can also be used as a fitness tracker. Active 2 is a 44mm watch with 1.4 inches AMOLED screen and a resolution of 360×360. The AMOLED panel of Active 2 is vibrant and bright. The chipset installed in this watch is a powerhouse, known as Exynos 9110. Active 2 also includes 768MB of ram and 4 GB of storage.
Sensors in Active 2, heart rate monitor, accelerometer, GPS, gyro, LTE, barometer, and a light sensor. The body of this watch is made from brushed aluminum and some of the models come with a stainless steel body. The speaker and microphone quality is the best that one can find in a smartwatch. Straps are quite nice and comfortable, removing them is also easy and one can find a lot of alternatives for it on the market. Active 2 comes with a 349mAh battery which can last up to two days if you are a heavy user.
The operating system in Active 2 is Tizen OS 4.0. This galaxy watch comes in three basic colors black, gold, and silver.
Samsung health in Active 2 is one of the best health tracking services in the current era. It contains almost all the basic features: step counter, heart rate monitor, stress monitor, calorie counter, and sleep. The health app in this watch can help you to calculate your calorie intake and then based on your BMR it will tell you about how much calorie difference you have created. With the help of this app, you can make your own custom running plans.
With the help of GPS and heart rate sensor, it will calculate your pace, distance, and calories that you burnt. Active 2 can also perform an ECG. So, it is also included in AFib watches. The running coach in Active 2 will help you to monitor your activities in real-time. Active 2 is not just a fitness watch, it can also be used as a normal smartwatch. You can easily use it for some music or for some notifications.
Apart from all the debate, the watch is also a great companion while training for the marathon.
How Samsung is able to measure AFib?
For this purpose, the Samsung watch uses advanced sensor technology that enables users to measure and track their heart rhythms. It will indicate the irregularities in AFib. To measure the ECG, a needs to open the app and then place his smartwatch on some reliable, flat surface. Now, place his fingertip of the other hand on the top button of the smartwatch for about 30 seconds for better results.
On the basis of raw data provided by the ECG sensor, the app classifies that whether a heart rhythm is a regular (Sinus rhythm) or AFib. When the heart beats irregularly, it’ll be considered as AFib.
The app records the rhythm’s history keeping exact track of the user’s health. So, a smartwatch for AFib like Samsung enables them to share reports with their doctor to help make more informed decisions about one’s health, especially when combined with BP measurement.
Other Important Features of Samsung Watch Active 2
- Samsung watch for AFib seems cool with offline Spotify. It brings you millions of songs.
- Samsung included an upgraded heart rate sensor. So, it’s a Heart rate watch with ECG, accelerometer, barometer, and light sensors.
- Going with this watch will take you to great sleep, fitness, and stress tracking right on your wrist.
- Smartwatch comes with two connectivity modes: one with Bluetooth + WiFi and another with Bluetooth + WiFi + LTE.
- Statement about the storage is Watch active 2 only comes with 4GB of onboard storage. That may not enough for some users but it is still enough to store few hundreds of songs for offline playback.
- I’m going to point you towards diabetes watches. As a brief overview, the Samsung watch has plenty of social features to dive into. It does a nice job of making user’s activity and health trends easily accessible.
I have no problem recommending you this high-end Samsung Galaxy watch active 2 for tracking AFib on android. It’s a really nice wear OS having access to a speaker and touch-enabled embezzle.
4. Withings ScanWatch Review - AFib Tracking Watch
According to Withings, the ScanWatch is the most advanced medical smartwatch till now.
The Withings ScanWatch is clinically validated for notifying wearers about AFib warnings and sleep apnea. It encapsulates these abilities via electrocardiogram (ECG) and photoplethysmography (PPG).
ScanWatch offers a medical-grade pulse oximeter which is helpful for any malfunction or disorder.
Atrial fibrillation (AFib) affects millions of people each year. This can be a silent killer whose sudden attack may vanish one’s lifeline. The problem arises when you have sudden intercepts in your ECG and they are not present at the moment of the doctor’s visit. Here a wearable like Withings ScanWatch comes in handy. It keeps tracking and makes a history of diagnosis about the mainstream. You would tell your doctor about it at the time of visit.
This best smartwatch for AFib immediately sends ECG results to your phone. So you can monitor all the stats on your handheld device.
It notifies about the things that one should pay attention to.
Now let’s talk about the overall look and other features that add value to this smartwatch for AFib pick. It looks pretty posh and while at the same time it is a classic timepiece. The face is rugged and protected by a sapphire glass lens. So you don’t have to worry about scratches and cracks.
The stainless steel case makes it elegant, lightweight, and strong. Therefore, the watch is not only a medical and health tracker but it is also a handsome pick.
Leather straps look pretty cool and fancy in the office, work fields, and at home too. Eventually, it is comfortable, and durable.
Smartwatch Buying Guide for AFib: Bonus Tips 🔥
- Pick a watch with GPS and heart rate sensors. These are the basic needs for an irregular AFib patient. These help in walk and other outdoor activities tracking.
- Buy a watch compatible with your smartphone. apple watches only work with iPhone while Google’s wear OS and Samsung watches work for both iPhone and Android phones.
- Pick a smartwatch with greater battery timings. Analog watches are more optimized and have the longest battery life. But these do not have touch screens and multiple important features needed for AFib detection and monitoring.
The Danger of AFib and Consequences
Although it seems weird and frightening, an “attack of AFib” is not as harmful by itself. But the real danger is the rise in the danger of stroke. AFib can greatly increase the risk of stroke and other heart-related problems.
It has been said in a clinical case report published by John Wiley and Sons Ltd states: “Atrial fibrillation (Afib) is associated with 15%‐25% of strokes.” In this case tech accessories like Apple’s, Samsung’s, and other Fitbit’s editions are greatly encouraged for their ECG. It can increase the probability of detection of AFib and hence causing more chances of saving a life. Early diagnosis and treatment decrease the risk of stroke.
AFib leads to Heart Failure
Heart failure means the heart is not pumping enough blood to meet the body’s needs. In AFib, heartbeats irregularly, faster so that it never properly fills up the blood in the required amount to throwing in the body.
As a result, when the heart never pumps the blood efficiently with strong contraction and relaxation, symptoms develop.
Conclusion
There is crystal clear evidence of smartwatches saving lives, but these are not medical equipment. Smartwatches are capable of detecting AFib, but these infallible and not a substitute for a trained cardiologist.
Apple and Galaxy watches are good at detecting AFib. Firstly, you should go with Apple watches due to their reliability and durability. Along with the fact, Apple is the world wide largest tech brand. Samsung Galaxy watches are another pick for android users.