Apple announced that the series 4 Apple Watch would feature a new health feature which was the ability to generate an electrocardiogram (ECG) which is a medical test that detects heart problems by measuring the electrical activity generated by the heart as it contracts. This was finally released in the latest Watch OS update. Strangely, those, like me, that were running the beta versions of the Watch OS, had to wait a few more days before we got the feature.
I found it very simple to set up and to take an ECG an, in conjunction with Apple’s Health app on your iPhone, you can store the data or share it easily with a medical professional. I shared mine with my nurse practitioner, who is basically a wise guy, and she said I should do it again when I am walking up a steep hill. That might have to wait for Vermont since there ain’t no hills here in Key West!
But seriously, there have already been stories of people discovering that they have a serious medical condition with their heart rhythm by using the Apple Watch. Apple’s commitment to providing tools for health goes beyond just closing your exercise rings and with this ECG function it goes to diagnosis. I can’t wait for them to figure out how to measure blood sugar, too.
First step in getting this function is to rush out and buy an Apple Watch series 4 from Small Dog Electronics. Okay, you don’t have to rush, but we do have some in stock if you are interested. Next, you must be sure to have the latest Watch OS which is 5.1.2 and the latest iPhone OS which is 12.1.1.
Once you have updated your watch and your iPhone, launch the new ECG app on your watch. The first time you run the ECG app it will tell you to set up the ECG function within the Health app on your iPhone. That threw me at first since I could see no place to set it up in the Health app. But, after I restarted my iPhone, it was right there and simple to set up.
From there, doing an ECG is wicked easy: launch the ECG app, place your finger on the crown of the watch, and wait while it counts down 30 seconds.. For 30 seconds, the electrical activity of your heart will draw a red trace across the watch’s screen. That’s it. You can do it anytime that you have 30 seconds to spare.
When you set up ECG in your Health app on your iPhone it will ask you if you want notifications of possible Atrial Fibrillation. Now, I know that too many notifications is a real hassle, but a notification that your heart is acting up is probably one that you want to turn on. Atrial fibrillation occurs when the heart beats in an irregular heart rhythm where the upper chambers of the heart beat out of sync with the lower chambers. Afib can cause blood to clot in the heart which can lead to heart attack, stroke or other complications.
You can view the ECG in the Health app on your iPhone, and it has a button to export a PDF for your medical professional. This is just one of the ways that Apple is using its technology to help you manage your health.
