Hi,
I've googled and googled and YouTubed but can't find the answer.
When at rest my watch ECG is fine.
Immediately after excericse it reads as inconclusive or the odd AFIB detected ( heart rates around 100-115).
When I cooling down and relaxed post excericse my ECG 'S are fine.
Do ECGS & Excericse on smartwatches = dodgy results?
It's a Samsung 6 smartwatch.
any thoughts from other excericse folks welcome.
thanks C
Hello there I can only tell you what my heart consultant told me, when I showed him I had one and I asked if it was ok to have one as I thought one would be useful when exercising.
His words were to me yes, that's fine however keep out of the red on the BPM monitor.
My watch is 2 years old (but has regular updates) I wouldn't solely rely on my watch, I use it as a guide though, with the old fashioned way of ensuring I can still hold a conversation while exercising at the rate I am using.
I would finish with this I am by nature a technophobe and sceptic, and therefore wouldn't reply on google anyway. What I would say though (and I fully understand if anyone doesn't believe me!) but AI is improving all the time, (I know this as one of my godsons owns one of the most advanced AI research companies in the UK and from what I have been told and seen we haven't seen nothing yet as to the capabilities that AI will bring to heart care and diagnose).
I’m not sure what you’re googling or even what your question is. Exercise changes your heart rate and putting stress on the heart can often bring out arrhythmias. I get a lot more ectopics and a lot more of my left bundle branch block after exercise.
AF can be at any rate, high or low. Mine is usually in the 70s on averaage. My husbands only peaked at roughly 160. Others have rate up around 200.
I dont think the smartwatches or any other non-medical grade ECG is meant to monitor you during exercise. It is during rest.
This not a HR monitor.
I also have a Samsung smartwatch. I note that it missreads any rapid rate that is mildly irregular as atrial fibrillation or any rhythm that may not be rapid but has some PACs as inconclusive. Also the amplitude of the P waves is low and the watch may not sense them. I obtained a Kardia which gives a much clearer rhythm strip during fast or slightly irregular rhythms. I wouldn't rely on a smartwatch or even the Kardia during exercise when heart rates exceed 100/min
Some smart devices such as Apple Watch and KardiaAlive are approved by the US FDA to monitor diagnosed heart conditions. The problem with all watches is that they move when a person is moving so results cannot be relied upon. For example, my wife has a Pacemaker set a minimum of 60bps. Often her Apple Watch will detect a lower heart rate. The annual pacemaker check confirms that the minimum rate is being obtained.
If you are worried, then pay for a holter monitor (it tends to be much quicker than the NHS). The results will be reviewed by a cardiologist and sent to your GP.
Hi, I have used a number of devices and software to monitor HR and blood pressure.An Apple watch Series 5 - still used
A Withings Scanwatch 1 & 2 - not used anymore.
Software
Fibricheck app, which is very good, but requires a subscription. This uses the camera on your mobile phone and finger to measure your HR.
KardiaCare device 6L. I use the 6 lead facility which works okay, once you learn how todo the measurements. This requires a subscription as well.
The Withings software app to record measurements, which is quite good. You would need a Withings device to use the app. I have BP monitor with no leads, just a cuff.
There are a number of advancements in the pipeline, namely Smartrings and facial apps that can measure your HR and BP., but these are still being tested.
Smartrings to check out Oura 4 and Samsung.
A nocost app also is Anura.
There is a learning curve involved, but when you a medical condition, it is necessary.
sweat can affect the contact of a smart watch on your skin and give artefact. But it wouldn’t usually cause a arrhythmia reading.
During and Immediately After exercise my readings can be all over the place. In the past I’ve shown these to my EP who classified them as artefact. But the watch just said unclassified it’s never labelled them as AFib. Your AFib readings should be taken seriously and checked out
Hi, long time arrythmia patient and wearables user here. In a word, no. There is not a smart watch out there reliable for ECG use during exercise, even the HRM function is inaccurate on most, except maybe the Garmin. None are medical grade devices and they are all prone to noise - moisture, poor contact, movement.
If you'd like to see you ECG during exercise look at the Wellue or Fourth Frontier chest straps. You will need to learn to read a single lead ECG to be able to discern what's normal for you and what's noise. Their algorithms do clean up the signal but especially at home where I have a lot of electronic devices I occasionally see what looks like fibrillation but it's really RF interference - I can identify a P wave but it will mark it as a possible arrythmia. You can read the strips for yourself and make your own mind up on the phone app and web portal. The FF app has a good pinch/zoom on the strips to make them easier to read.
They give as good an output as you're going to get from a non medical device. They are worn just like any HRM on a chest strap, they will also do a 24 hour trace, real-time ECG streamed to your phone, HR Variability, body shock, breath rate - a bunch of telemetry useful for people who train. They take a standard HRM strap, are waterproof and comfortable to wear. I think the Wellue also has stickers available so you can wear it as a patch (like Zio) .
I have the Apple watch and only use it as a general guide to tell you your heart rate. I definitely don't use it when I'm exercising such as using a rowing machine in the gym. The Apple watch would say that my heart rate was 200bpm which I knew wasn't correct.
I purchased a Polar which fits around your chest and you download the Polar App onto my Iphone. The Polar shows my heart rate at around 130 bpm which is a lot more accurate as I stop and take my heart rate to see if its close to the Polar rate which it is.
Apple watches become inaccurate if there is a lot of sweat and rapid arm movement.
Yeah same, apple watch is pretty poor with some exercises, especially rowing. You dont have to use the polar app, you can synch to the apple app when using the polar monitor.
Previously, the HR would freak me out as I was just 20 sec into my session and recorded a heart rate of 175bpm 😂.
I use a Garmin runners watch. My GP has accepted readings from it, the only ones they will accept are Garmin and Apple.
My cardiac rehab staff also accepted it especially when used with an hr strap which I do use when running or doing cardiac gym circuits.
I’m 72 and 16 months post AVR, 2xPCI and CABG. I run 5k at least once a week, do a cardiac gym session once a week and try to do at least one other form of exercise weekly.
Hi, (69, tech geek, cyclist and hill walker). I was diagnosed with persistent AFib at the beginning of the year. I exercise with a Garmin cycle computer and watch, with a chest strap for the former. I have always found that the watch gave poor results when cycling or walking with poles and am pretty sure it's due to the pulsing grip that interferes with the rhythm of the blood flow in the wrist. The chest strap worked fine until the AFib started then it just stopped reporting anything sensible. It's thought that this is because my HR was so arrhythmic that it couldn't make sense of it. I now walk and cycle with a Polar Verity Sense optical sensor strapped round my left bicep and this works fine, keeping my HR below 140 for safety. (Not so good with short bursts of HIIT, but not doing that these days!!)
Forget the devices, what actual symptoms do you have? To the docs that's more important than even what the medical devices say never mind non-medical ones.
Thank you all for your real life input. I don't have any symptoms other then the anxiety the watch causes. And as some replies have suggested they are unreliable during or immediately after excericse I will stop using it for ECG during/post excericse and carry on as normal.
Cardio rehabilitation over
Atrial Fibrillation on smart watch
Referal to cardiology after 24hr holter monitor result
Anxiety 1 year after CABG
