The Apple Watch is deemed as an essential wellness tool by some because it enables consumers to monitor their own well-being everywhere they go. Where once you had to constantly and actively visit a doctor to access your health records, you can now monitor your health from anywhere in the world, at any time, just by wearing a device on your wrist.
The aim of these features is to keep you safe and to alert you to serious health problems, as getting this information in real-time can potentially save your life. The Apple Watch health features include:
1. Apple Watch noise-monitoring feature
This feature alerts users when the noise in their surroundings reaches harmful levels so that you can take the necessary precaution to protect your hearing. Usually, hearing loss happens slowly and gradually due to a combination of genetic and environmental factors and most people are caught by surprise and rarely notice it until it’s too late.
2. Ability to track menstrual cycle
As part of monitoring your overall health, this feature helps you keep track of your menstrual cycle by logging in your periods and any notes that you may have about them for that particular month.
This is very important because if your cycles are irregular for example, this could be an indication of several health problems like infertility or polycystic ovary syndrome just to mention but a few and a visit to the doctor can help resolve these problems before it is too late.
3. Heart-monitoring features
The ability to record an electrocardiogram or what is commonly referred to as an ECG directly from the wearer’s wrist and receive warnings if irregular heartbeats are detected can save your life. The ECG app uses pulse from your finger to enable it to detect if your heartbeat is irregular, rapid or skipped heartbeat.
Irregular rhythm notification feature helps detect Atrial Fibrillation (AFib) by using the optical heart sensor to detect the patient’s pulse wave at the wrist. If it detects irregular heart rhythm, it will send a notification. It will also record on the health app the time, beat-to-beat heart rate and the date. These tests can help prevent stroke, heart failure and even clotting of blood. If you receive an AFib alert, kindly visit a doctor as soon as possible.
4. Detect falls
This Apple feature will sound an alarm if you fall down and hurt yourself. An alert will appear that will allow you to call emergency services easily or dismiss the alert. If you won’t be able to respond for about a minute or the app doesn’t sense any movements on your part, it will automatically call and a message will be sent to your emergency contacts. For the users who are 65yrs and older, this feature is enabled automatically.
5. Import Health Data
This feature enables users to import their health care information from multiple institutions alongside their other patient-generated data. The information could range from allergies, records of blood pressure, Important immunization record and how many hospital visits one has undertaken which could be very helpful in case of an emergency.
6. Medical ID on the lock screen
In order to be prepared for medical emergencies, you need to set up your Medical ID on the lock screen. This will allow first responders to access very critical and life-saving information without having to use a passcode. Here, one can list important information like allergies, organ donor preferences, blood type, age and weight, and emergency contacts.
7. Apple Watch Rings
These rings are meant to keep you active and to help you avoid a sedentary lifestyle. First, activate the Activity App and fill in your age, your gender, your height and also your weight so as to be able to estimate how many calories you are burning. There are three goals and each goal is represented by a ring in the icon.
When a goal has been completed, the ring which represents that particular activity will automatically close. The Move goal, represented by the outer red ring, is tailored depending on your current level of activity and it’s measured in calories. The Exercise goal, represented by the green ring in the middle is meant to help you do exercises for at least 30 minutes per day. The activities may include walking, cycling, house chores or playing outdoor games.
The Stand goal, represented by the blue ring at the center is aimed at helping you stand and move about for at least a few minutes every hour for 12 hours. You will get notifications reminding you to stand 10 minutes before the hour if you have not stood from your couch at all so that you can remember to stand up. You should use this opportunity to climb some stairs instead of the lift, walk to the market to get some groceries, do some sit-ups or jog on the spot and so on.
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