Has anyone experience of using a wearable fitness tracker (like a smart watch) for continuous BP measurement?
Blood pressure using fitness tracker - British Heart Fou...
Blood pressure using fitness tracker
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Tynesider1
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I have an Apple Watch but it doesn’t do blood pressure. I wish it did though. It does blood oxygen and heart rate.
There have been medical research tests on the usefulness of Smart watches but they conclude that they are not as reliable as cuff measurements and are basically not there yet in giving people with heart conditions accurate enough BP results. Even higher end units with thumb readers are also not as accurate as a cuff according to the test that was done.This is basically because most watches BP results are calculated based upon heart rate measurements in the wrist censors not actual readings if BP and the way it is calculated is based on what would be expected in a person without long term health issues.
It means that if you have a condition that causes you Tachycardia it can show a BP far higher than the one you actually have and would be read with a cuff monitor. If you have a low heart rate you can get BP readings much lower than your actual BP. I've tested this on myself when seeing scarily high BP readings on my watch as my heart rate is always over 100bpm even at rest. On my cuff I have low to normal blood pressure.
Interestingly, if you have a condition that causes you Tachycardia the sleep readings on watches are also inaccurate, as the watch expects people to be at rest below a certain heart rate. My watch always registers me as going to sleep an hour after I do and waking up an hour before. As I only get four hours a night anyway I'm always getting alerts to have more sleep.
Smart watches are quite good for the purpose they were used for initially to keep track of your activity , and to monitor your heart rate while exercising or doing physical activities. The heart rate readings can help to make sure that you don't overdo it during activity and help you know that you may need to slow down , rest and breath.
Yesterday have been studies on that too , exercise anxiety increases more with a smart watch, just as anxiety increases if you rely too much on your mobile phone.
Yes I used to have a TECHNAXX Fitnesstracker TX-HR6 I bought cheaply off E bay and used successfully for a couple of years. The results were the same as from a home BP checker. However they recently changed the provider of the App information to a different outfit and I can no longer get on it, probably a job for my eldest grandson! However on reflection, it has been a blessing as I had become rather addicted to it.
Yes , not essential at all , I was thinking of the anxiety that people put on themselves by not doing enough or by looking at the results and getting scared by what they see.Like people whom become obsessed with doing 10,000 steps a day to the point that they become guilt ridden if the don't or dash about in an unhealthy way at the end of the day to make the number right. When , in fact , even the Japanese man whom came up with ten thousand steps a day regime to encourage people to be more active just chose that number because it had a ring to it rather than because it was based on research.
He never anticipated that the number would cause people to become so obsessed and become negative about fitness, or give up if they didn't manage the correct step count for a few days. Much like with hard fixed diet regime's often the rules and gadgets can put people off.
A really good large scale meta-analysis study done over 15 years on people over 50 whom either had , had an illness, heart attack , stroke or cancer and were in post recovery or suffered from a chronic illness proved that you only needed to do less than 2700 steps to maintain your health , from 3400 steps heart and lung health began to improve, and that the improvement plateaued at around 7500 but that this number could slash your chance of premature death by 54%.
Of course , 10,000 steps can help you burn more calories or build more strength but only if you can manage it without forcing you to rest or recover for days if you overdo it , get an injury , or are not enjoying it.
The study is being analysed about effects on improving neurological issues , like Parkinsons and Dementia now too and producing similar results in the same ranges.
MilkfairyHeart Star
nepm.org/regional-news/2021...
jamanetwork.com/journals/ja...
Thanks for adding these , I've only just had chance to see the request after a horrendous vascular migraine floored me for the day yesterday.
You have my sympathy. I have migraines with my episodes of coronary vasospasms.
You understand then , I don't know how yours effect you but my migraines send me into full neurological breakdown, as well as the Tachycardia it the tremors , slurred speech, confusion and shaking , just trying to have a drink or go to the loo becomes a major achievement. I've got used to them but I know it's terrifying for those around me . Still the medication and oxygen did it's job and I'm just in post event " hangover" today so I've got a lot to be thankful for. Take care , Bee
That sounds very unpleasant!
I have an ice pick headache, sensitivity to light and sound. Numbness in the left side of my face and left arm.
My vision is affected too.
I find oxygen helps . I also have botox which has turned the volume down on my symptoms.
I find the combination of these symptoms with my angina challenging, as they say 😖
I am absolutely shattered afterwards.
Yes , that feeling in every muscle that you spent the morning on a waltzer , got off then got beaten up with sticks and then finally got thrown into a washing machine on high spin! The trouble us that both sets of symptoms bash heads. The migraine triggers higher Tachycardia and then that Tachy in turn triggers worse migraine pain. The effect of both together sends the rest of the body into sensory overload,
I found some years back that the anaesthetic and Botox did nothing for me. It was only when I got a full Ehlers Danlos diagnosis that I discovered the local anaesthetic and Botox oddly don't work for very long on people with EDS. Explained the years of torture in a dental chair though.
Ive just recently been prescribed supplemental oxygen and a daily use of a Vagus nerve stimulation device called Gammacore to help with my Cluster Headaches and it seems to be helping with my variety of Migraines in general ( I have just about every type in the book ) , having less but also reducing the severity. Good luck with it all , if we can't say anything else it keeps life interesting! Hugs , Bee
I quite often have a bp of 80/50 or lower , I drink mass as of water and use salt as advised by Dr , however I am totally exhausted most days/nights . I wonder if it’s because of low bp?
Thank you in advance .
Yes I think it probably is as I felt the same and my cardiologist reduced my BP medication, I also stopped eating bananas and its back to 118/66 as we speak and no more tiredness. Speak with your GP again.
That's interesting as usually it helps to increase your potassium intake as well as the water and sodium to improve the BP . Just goes to show how differently it can effect everyone. And how important it is to remind our GP to regularly check our kidney function and electrolytes with a simple blood test , not just for our kidney health , but for our heart and brain health too.My BP and heart issues were not stabilised until they finally checked my Vitamin B 12 and Folates too. I was B 12 deficient and that effects heart function a lot. Getting the injections was the final piece in the puzzle if helping to keep my heart rate down but increase my BP from these very low levels.
Yep but I was replying to Torvi whose blood pressure is low with symptoms. Bananas lower blood pressure as does excess medication for high blood pressure so my Cardiologist reduced my medication and I reduced the bananas and it is now optimal. As excess potassium reduces BP and excess salt increases BP and can cause hardened artheries I decided to stop the bananas.
I Don't think any offer BP as surely they'd need to mimic a cuff monitor using a lot of power and needing placed on the upper arm? My huawei watch app allows manual BP input for a health analysis but not from the watch itself.
I use the aktiia wristband monitor, it only reports bp and heart rate (no other smart functions etc) but it has taken away a lot of my anxiety as it gives an average across the whole day. It’s not perfect and to get good amount of measurements I needs to rememberer to consciously keep my hand still now and again as it only reads when detects your at rest. Its calibrated with a cuff once a month.
Yes, I've been referred to Aktiia by a friend. I've also found that FTIVII fitvii.com (not to be confused with Fitbit) are offering wearable BP monitoring devices, not sure how good they are, though.
Following this post with interest as I get a lot of dizziness 4 months post ablation when out & about.Normal measurements at home but lower than previously.Will probably go for wrist BP monitor and allow for different to Arm cuff.
A smart watch which measures heart rate would probably be quite informative for you , especially when you are out and about . If you experience the dizziness take the reading straight away , note the results of both heart rate and blood pressure in a note book. Let yourself have five minutes seated rest then take the readings again , noting both heart rate and BP again. Not just high but low heart rate or blood pressure results can cause these problems.
Take note of what type of activity you were doing when the dizziness occurred as well.
You are likely to discover certain activities , involving certain quick movements or changes in your body position bring on the dizziness. Then you can either adapt those activities by changing the position you do them in or moving more slowly as you do them.
The weather can also have an impact and cause more symptoms.
Finally , just in case you don't do this already , have a bottle of water with you all the time and drink regularly while you are out and about or physically active. If you avoid sudden movements of the head and upper body this can help. If you drink water quickly before changing position from sitting to standing and vice versa , standing to walking etc. it helps the nervous system cope with change and can prevent the dizziness.
The same is true with exercise and activity. Before starting to walk or exercise drink before you get up , pause when you stand and drink again , then start moving and drink regularly while doing your activity. When it's time to stop , stand , pause and drink, then sit and drink again.
It also helps in the morning if you have a drink at hand , sit up in bed have a drink before sitting at the edge of the bed, drink again then stand up , pause and drink then walk away or get dressed.
If it keeps happening and your heart rate and/ or BP shows big swings in your reading when you are out and dizzy discuss it with your doctor and have the results with you to show at the appointment, it can help them diagnose the issue , choose which tests you need , or alter your medication and treatment to help the problem.
Hope you don't mind me interrupting in your chat with the original poster to offer up these tips and that you find them helpful. Take care , Bee
Glad to have you interrupt.I have a smartwatch with HR monitor.Fibricheck that checks rythm & these are fine.Occasionally have irregular heart rythm after doing too much like bowling for too long in sun or up hill to view water falls but not AFib.Only thing I can't monitor when out is BP.
But I will certainly try some of your tips.Thankyou.
Thankfully Milk Fairy sent you through some good links and the second one takes you to the main study , that has a link to the more detailed paper , which can be read on the Nih gov site too , as there is one version for men and women including those with illness, and a longer study of women alone , again with a large cohort of those that had chronic conditions or had recovered from cancer and heart conditions. What I found most interesting was that it didn't matter if the step count had been achieved by deliberate exercise or " incidental" steps , meaning the steps you would normally do doing activities during the day, the benefits to health from both types of step activity were the same.
I know, from your name, that you are one of the members that can still manage running and more athletic activity , but for many, many of us on the forum even thinking of a long walk can be a struggle so it is good to know that even keeping as active as we can in our daily routine , or choosing small strolls , we can still benefit and improve our health and mortality as much as someone doing a run in the park.
Sorry , I didn't get back to you sooner , I had a horrendous vascular migraine yesterday and it's taken until now to manage to get back to my normal again. Bee
It might have played a part. It's not necessarily the heat that causes a trigger unless it's getting super high, it's the swings in barometric pressure.It was hotter last week but not humid so taking the sensible measures made it quite pleasant , and as the warmth helps reduce my muscle and joint pain from EDS and Fibro I could do more activity. Even enjoyed a couple of swims in the sea , which has been impossible in the last few years as the water temperature never rose enough to prevent my Raynaud's kicking off.
The onset of the swings in pressure because of thunderstorms and the mugginess from the cloud is what causes the problem.
I've seen a lot of different studies about the similarities of the effect to heart and muscle health between low impact activity and high impact cardio, In essence , both types of activity put the body through the same process of mechanical and electrical changes just at varying speeds or periods of intensity. So it's not so surprising to believe that incidental activity and day to day activities can keep us as healthy as deliberate exercise.
In fact, it's why certain types of normal activity like vacuuming , carrying shopping or climbing stairs are total No,No's for certain types of long term heart condition because of the more intense stress it puts on the mechanical and electrical systems to achieve them , not because you may not be muscularly strong enough.
The process of tissue damage and healing to produce muscle mass is no different between exercise activities its is just that the lower impact activities take a longer period of time to produce obvious effects , but , with an added bonus that they reduce the level of delayed muscle onset soreness and post exercise Fatigue which gets in the way if healthy daily physical activity .
Low impact activity allows people with various conditions exercise consistently and feel positive both mentally and physically were as trying to do the high impact activities and triggering symptoms and injuries can make people feel , unfairly , like a failure ,or a lot of unnecessary pain.
I know many people whose lifelong activities have only ever been low impact like tai chi , yoga and low cardio swimming whose muscle tone , strength and flexibility is as good , and sometimes better than their running and cycle racing counterparts.
And a lot of stay at home parents whose activity with children and housework gave them as much , and sometimes more , endurance strength and stamina than their partners whom got their exercise going running or to the gym. A point quite often proved in the parents races at school sports day or while playing in teams made up of families in "friendly' games on a day out.
For those like myself , or with illnesses that cause high heart rates even with no activity at all , even standing up is our cardio ( seriously , just sitting now in my chair my HR 110) , when I go to make a drink my HR raises as high as 140 so a ten minute potter around my house is the equivalent in cardio activity of pounding a treadmill at a run,
I have to take care exercising too. I have to keep my heart rate under 140bpm, otherwise, I'll get more chest pain later.This delayed response to exercise is a common symptom for people living with vasospastic angina.
I can't run or do any exercise that increases my heart rate for more than a few minutes.
I walk 3 miles every day with my dog, practice Tai Chi and yoga.
My triggers are like yours a sudden change in the weather, my husband believes I am a human barometer.
The cold, mental, emotional and physical stress.
I had a stress echo last year. I could exercise then my chest pain kicked in once I stopped.
Same happened when I was given adenosine during my perfusion MRI.
Ended up in A&E my coronary vasospasms were so bad.
Yes, I have called myself a Human Barometer in the past.I've clearly had this heart condition since birth , as I used to hide under the cupboard when I was little if a thunderstorm happened , not because I was scared but because of the massive migraine , and eventually tremors or fits, that happened after it was passing. I have Chronic Dysautonomia caused by Sinus Node Reentrant Tachycardia with Atrial Ventricular Arrhythmias and vasospastic angina and severe P.O.T.S.
As a child I was originally misdiagnosed with juvenile epilepsy, it took nearly 50 years and the onset of more severe Dysautonomia for them to finally diagnose what was really going on. The Ehlers Danlos Syndrome that I have with Marfanoid characteristics is basically what has caused a genetic macro electrical fault in my heart and Autonomic Nervous system dysfunction . Among other things I do take an adenosine inhibitor , especially before exercise to try to prevent activity onset and icepick migraines from the spiking heart rate. Unfortunately, it is unlikely that an ablation or pacemaker would be successful for me , in fact the surgery could make it worse because it may not heal properly and the system could become more lax because of the EDS. It causes the problem and prevents the cure. So surgical routes are being kept for the last chance saloon.
Consistent low impact exercise , allowing me to keep my muscles strong enough to reduce my joint dislocations and reduce the pain from Fibromyalgia is what works . I have my Nordic Walking Sticks both for support and to prevent falling if I go dizzy but also to improve my posture and work my arm muscles without the torture.
I find that I can walk on flat gentle routes for a reasonable distance because although the initial spike in heart rate occurs , it can then settle a little lower and stay on that level no matter how long I go . I have to drink constantly as I go to maintain that and reduce any sudden movements or changes in my position.
I find the same with swimming and aqua exercise. Although the method of getting in and out must look very odd to onlookers.
I have drink after I reach the water then get in , wait , my OH gives me my water to drink , then go off . Getting out I come to the side before I put my feet down the OH gives me a drink then I pass the bottle back, I stand up , get the bottle for another drink , walk to the edge , another stop and drink , especially if it's steps, another pause and drink once out before the walk to the changing room, all to stops the dizziness and chance if fainting.
As you say , it can be as bad when you stop as it is when you start because of the way the autonomic nervous system responds ( or should I say overreacts) to the change.
I have a recumbent bike at home because I can't cycle with my legs down , as I don't know about you but sitting with legs down can raise my heart rate higher and cause more pain than standing or continually moving. I couldn't afford the fanciest version with an inbuilt fan to react breeze , so I just attached some mini fans to the front. I have my bike placed in front of the TV and then put on one of the many virtual cycle ride films on YouTube to watch to give me the feeling that I'm out on the road.
If I can't safely go out for a walk or can't do too much I often walk on the spot with my sticks for support in front of a YouTube walking tour or nature walk video , it's really uplifting and makes you feel like you are still enjoying the great outdoors, I've walked the Great Wall of China by doing that!
I practice a very careful form of tai chi and qui gong but I can't do yoga ( except the simplest relaxation moves) the changes in head position bring on the symptoms , plus the EDS causes overextension of the joints and subluxations in most held yoga positions.
I am sorry that you live with such a smorgasbord of health problems.
Just out of interest how was your vasospastic angina diagnosed?
The BHF has this information about vasospastic angina it includes a link to a Facebook group which you might be interested in joining.
bhf.org.uk/informationsuppo....
I have certainly encountered other patients with vasospastic or microvascular angina with Elhers Danos syndrome and the other problems you are encountering.
The connection of the automatic nervous system in particular the vagus nerve is often not appreciated perhaps as it should be.
Considering the fact that Dysautonomia can become the most disabling part of most chronic and acute illnesses and hamper both treatment and recovery , especially highlighted during the pandemic with the onset of Long COVID, it really doesn't get enough interest and is little understood.Even in the field of Neurology, there are very few Specialists with any expertise or interest in the Autonomic Nervous System and very little work has been done in trying to control its random and distressing effects on the patient, which seems bizarre , considering it is half of the field of Neurology.
Trying to find any specialist with specialism in this has been a major issue in my diagnosis and treatment. There is only one Dysautonomia Unit in the UK and most of the very few Cardiologists with an interest in treating Chronic Dysautonomia only list a specialism in P.O.T.S , which definitely isn't the whole picture.
It took me four years to get my full cardiac diagnosis seeing three different Cardiologists and the VA was done as part of that full diagnosis as I live in Wales and could not get my health board to give me approval for a cross border referral to the London Unit ( which I could have got from any hospital department if I lived in England).
At the end of the day it was my own research and looking painstakingly into the types of tests done at the London Unit that helped the final Cardiologist to pinpoint and diagnose things, I did my home stress and holter tests in a precise way , keeping a detailed and timed diary and doing a poor man's tilt table test twice a day at specific times for a week ( taking my own cuff results at the precise times of movement and positional changes to show the cardiologist and to compare with the holter results). Finally , I was lucky. Both the Consultant and the Cardiac Physiologist checking these results had at least a basic knowledge of what they were looking for in wave variations , most don't, which is why it was missed so many times before so the SNRT , P.O.T.S and arrhythmia were found. Being given the adenosine and having an adverse reaction to it which nobody was prepared for happened to me in an A and E situation a few years before was a bit of medical history nobody else had spotted. They did the VA check in the controlled way during an angiogram and the last jigsaw piece was found.
Part of the problem is that most doctors and specialists , no matter how senior they are seem to only concentrate on BP and common ECG changes and are completely confused when looking for Tachycardia, angina and orthostatic intolerance relating to heart rate and autonomic function. The amount of times I've heard your BP is fine to have to say , "but what was my heart rate,would you like me to do it again?".
It took a lot of lip biting and polite querying to get them to remember to look at heart rate when doing the initial tests or remind them that it would only show up in checks if they were done when it was happening , the type of thing that in the beginning when I was a new and inexperienced patient I would never have thought I would need to do , causing years of extra pain and delays.
Basically unless they are looking for it , and know how to look for it, no matter how many appointments, ECGs , Echo's and MRIs you have it's not going to leap out at someone who doesn't know what they are looking for.
Unfortunately, my heart and circulation issues bang heads. I need blood vessel narrowing medications for the most widespread issues but that can make both the VA and certain migraines worse , so it's a constant juggling act of what I can do and precise timing of medications so one drug doesn't undo the work of the other one. Still it keeps me busy!
It felt like a major breakthrough a few years ago when my cardiologist came in to ER and saw the nurse taking my obs stating all was normal for him to say , no she has to rest before you take them and then stand and have them taken again , move then sit and do it again, or you'll see nothing then he took over....hooray.
My physio knew more about Dysautonomia than most of the Specialists I have seen , thank goodness someone did. We are now working together on creating a physical therapy system that works for people with Dysautonomia, Fibro and activity onset pain.
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