TAMPA, Fla. - Many people wear smartwatches or use some type of wearable device that tells you about your health and your heart, but a Tampa cardiologist said it’s important to know what you’re looking at and when it’s time to see a doctor.
The backstory:
Aaron Shaffer pays more attention to his heart rate these days, but he didn’t start off that way.
"I was a little more tired than my peers, but I never really thought anything of it," said Shaffer.
Then a couple of years ago, he got an Apple Watch as a Christmas gift and discovered something was happening while he slept.
"I started looking at my health data a little bit more, and I noticed that my heart rates were getting down into the low 40s," said Shaffer.
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Shaffer will attend medical school in Florida in August, so he said he knew what to look for with his heart rate.
Dig deeper:
As an active 23-year-old, that wasn’t normal for him.
So, Shaffer brought it up to Dr. Jesal Popat, an interventional cardiologist with Orlando Health in Tampa.
Dr. Popat said he gets a lot of questions about smartwatch data.
"So, the context really matters. It depends on how you’re feeling at the time," said Dr. Popat. "For example, if you’re just watching TV and you’re getting a high heart rate alert, that may be more concerning than if you were taking a walk or if you were at a theme park riding a rollercoaster."
In Shaffer’s case, the context led to a sleep apnea diagnosis.
"I’d have no idea because no one is watching you sleep," said Shaffer. "It’s the smartwatch that caught that initially, and then it required further testing, which is why I saw the pulmonologist and that’s how I got diagnosed."
Big picture view:
Whether you use an Apple Watch, Garmin, Oura ring or something else, your smart wearable device can help you know when something’s wrong, especially with your heart.
"If you are checking your pulse, and you notice that it’s irregular, and you’re getting an alert on your device that’s saying you’re having an irregular heart rate or if you do a little EKG and some of the Apple watches do, and it’s telling you that you have an arrhythmia, this is a time when you would want to see your doctor," said Dr. Popat.
You can even help you try to get ahead of sickness.
"If you’re noticing that your heart rate variability is very low, your respiration rate is higher, or that your heart rate is higher, that could be indicative of an infection, that you might be ill, coming down with an upper respiratory infection or a cold," said Popat.
The next time you get an alert, pay attention to what it tells you.
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"Be aware. Do your own research but don’t be your own doctor," said Shaffer.
February is American Heart Month, and heart disease is the leading cause of death in the U.S. Dr. Popat said sleep plays a big part in heart health and having a smartwatch or ring that monitors your sleep is a good investment.
The Source: The information in this story came from interviews gathered by FOX13’s Briona Arradondo.