Does anyone use a fitness watch or smart watch for monitoring sleep and thyroid symptoms? I'm thinking of getting one (maybe the Huawei band 8?) and wondering what measures I should be looking for and which are the most useful.
Measures I know about are skin temperature, pulse, blood oxygen saturation(?), sleep quality/time, smart waking and logging of steps/exercise. Am I missing anything? Are these measurements accurate enough to be useful?
Any other comments very welcome!
I have an Andoid phone, if that's important...
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FoggyThinker
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I have an Apple Watch 8. There are many discussions/arguments available about whether Apple is better or worse than Android or proprietary devices. And I don't know what the answer is!
But there are some things which are relevant across the board.
Temperature measured by a wrist device is not directly comparable with other things like ear or oral thermometers. It will pretty much go in the same direction but the numbers don't compare.
I have noticed if I feel under-dosed, my temperature is likely to show a little low. But I've never used it that way round. Only checked after and seen it was the case. So it helps confirm.
Also, my sleep is worse if I am under-dosed.
Heart rate, etc., are useless for me with respect to thyroid. (In atrial fibrillation effectively 100% of the time regardless.)
Oxygen saturation might be worth having in general - but not specifically for thyroid - as far as I am aware.
Sometimes third-party analysis tools can provide what the manufacturer doesn't. Or make it easier. So check that aspect.
Consider the straps. I had a previous device with a silicone strap. It seemed OK but, in time, I hated it. When I got this watch, I determined to avoid silicone, so bought a cheap non-Apple woven stainless steel strap - and am much happier with that.
Thanks helvella interesting point about the straps. I guess it's like any measuring instrument, you need to consistently use the same one and take note of accuracy; I do have a mercury in glass thermometer but tend to forget about it when life gets busy, ditto pulse, and the others I can't currently measure at all; so I'm thinking a rough idea is better than no idea
I find resting heart rate count useful... and time of deep sleep.
One role of thyroid hormones is to promote oxygen delivery to tissues. So, if you have low thyroid hormone levels (hypothyroidism), your tissues may have low oxygen levels.
I tend to check my O2 levels weekly. I'm on high dose T3-only and my low-ish O2 level ( and other symptoms) is currently suggesting I need to increase my dose.....but I use an Oxymeter for the O2!
hi yes I have an Apple Watch it records sleep and heart rate I also have medication logged in mine also has an ecg it was so helpful when my gp would not prescribe my meds x
"One role of thyroid hormones is to promote oxygen delivery to tissues. So, if you have low thyroid hormone levels (hypothyroidism), your tissues may have low oxygen levels."
I did not know that DippyDame. How interesting. I had a procedure recently where my oxygen saturation kept bouncing back down to 89 over and over. I took notice as I am forever looking.for clues to alleviate my last symptoms.
The nurse told me I came in with low saturation.
I had no clue this could be linked to thyroid hormones. It is t3 based? I guess so, eh since that is the active hormone.
No unfortunately not on t3 only. Too difficult here (Canada) with price as we can not import by law to save money on it.Yes it is low. Always.
On 275 mcg of levothyroxine right now and my T3 is around 20%. Even when I took Cytomel (25) with levothyroxine it was never at a good place, which I find bizarre.
Anyway, I have gone way off topic on FoggyThinker's post. 😊 But the oxygen saturation caught my eye -had no clue it could be connected to thyroid hormones. Great information to know. Thank you as always DippyDame.
No worries Litatamon thanks for adding to the conversation. Did you post about oxygen saturation recently? I think it may have been your post if so that made me think this could be interesting to measure...
I *think* the oximeters are fairly accurate. I got one at the very beginning of Covid, before the vaccine, when they made an early observation that people were passing away or in ICU with Covid because they would feel okay & come in to the hospital with a saturation that had simply plummeted too quickly.
I hardly used it. And have now misplaced it. Brilliant me thought it was useless as it kept reading 92/93 and I thought it was broken.
I had a thyroidectomy during this time as a goitre was impacting my breathing & swallowing. And two of the nodules were getting too big and being little buggers. So I was the dummy, obviously not the oximeter.
Why it is still low my guess is low t3. My t3 results were low pre-surgery and remain so even with an outrageous amount of thyroid hormones.
Interestingly I noticed that they have oximeters in Lidl at the moment (top shelf, next to the canoes and above the yucca plants ) but no idea if they would be accurate. I'm curious to know what my level's like - on NDT now, but I suspect I've had hashi's untreated for most of my life. Thanks for the info DippyDame
Yeah I did have a garmin forerunner 45, which I bought on ebay for £50 years ago. Its brilliant for the price but since doubled in value. It measures heart rate but also had this other useful metric - body battery, which is a unique garmin invention which estimates your reserves of energy based on hrv, daily stress level from fluctuating heart rate. I actually think its more useful than hrv.
I upgraded to a garmin 955 which has oxygen saturation and hrv but to be honest its not particularly useful. The oxygen saturation improves immediately when I workout - probably because my low hr goes above 60, and then lowers again at my typical 44 resting hr.
In the night my hr is typically lower - 44, but has gone as low as 40.
Imteresting fact:
My oxygen saturation went to 75 once for a minute after eating 2 apricot seeds. Frightening.
In anycase, the finger oxygen saturation metric is accurate. The watches are not but a good guide.
The temperature measure is also not accurate. You need to measure orally. Even that is not perfect but best overall unless you want a rectal thermometer.
THanks SteveT3 . I do have an oral thermometer (and I'm not too keen on the idea of a rectal one, no!!) but am not great at remembering to use it; I'm thinking the watches could be better than forgetting altogether, and also could show me if/when I need to measure more accurately... body battery sounds interesting, I must look into that
I've got a Garmin Forerunner 45 too (paid about £120 a couple of years ago). I find its heart rate and sleep monitor very useful. If I think I'm having palpations at night, I look at the watch and it reassures me my heart isn't going through the roof even though it feels like it.
Love the sleep and body battery function that SteveT3 mentions too. It helped me realise how bad drinking even a little bit of alcohol is for me. If I drink, my "recharge" after sleeping is often zero. If I don't drink, I get up to nearly 100%. It matches what I feel. You can also see when you've had a tough day or few days and need to rest more, I find the battery indicator usually tallies with how wiped out I'm feeling.
I like that it's basic, Android based and easy to use. It's still like a watch. A friend has a fancy Apple thing that tells her health stuff but is also an agenda, smartphone etc, but I don't want to spend hours tapping a screen working it out. I do that enough with my phone! That said the forerunner can connect to your phone via Bluetooth and will give you the headlines from your email/SMS messages.
If you're trying to get fitter, it records diffttypes of workouts, steps, V02 max etc too, and you can record your routes with GPS, so it'll show you where you went on a map in their app.
Thanks montluna that's a good point. I like Strava and I think they might connect to it. And good point, I think I'd prefer a watch that isn't telling me about texts, calls etc. (although a find my phone button might be handy, and my OH might connect it to the phone for me so I stand a chance of actually realising the phone's ringing now and then!!) The body battery sounds really interesting, especially for us thyroid folk
I have a Huawei GT2 which and have used xiaomi band before for a few years. I use it for steps, heart rate and it also tracks sleep. In general I don't think they are very accurate but I find them useful for looking at trends. I found that the nightly summary telling you how bad you have slept is not very helpful so I turn the notification off.
I am on the look out for something that will more accurately measure heart function etc which I don't believe will be too far away. These will be key imo for monitoring your health going forward. there are also rings which do similar things but I have not tried those.
Thanks StanleyThyroid I haven't heard of that brand. The Huawei phone is new to me but I'm liking it so far, haven't really explored how much the health app does but the phone on its own counts the steps I've done on the odd occasion I actually have the phone with me Yes, I'm not expecting great accuracy but trends seem like they could be useful
I had a Fitbit and when it finally expired I bought an Oura ring as I always rather resented the watch that I couldn't read without my glasses! Perhaps worth a look, I wouldn't necessarily recommend it if you workout as it might get in the way... I take it off when I row but you can add the workout afterwards... I'm not a keen jewellery wearer but this is ok
They pick up on the slightest changes and question what might be the cause, you have the ability to add tags and it gives daily, weekly and monthly reviews so you can easily see your progress... or decline 😬
Glad to say it has helped me to tweak things in the right direction.... incredibly clever and good user interface
Thanks TiggerMe that's a great recommendation. I've heard them recommended elsewhere, too, but had forgotten about them - another contender. I like the idea of no beeping or flashy lights!
I was recommended to get a smart watch by endo and it is a godsend. I was terrified when I was getting palpitations but actually the heart rate was lower than how bad it felt.. so it helped calm me to know I wasn’t having a major event. I love the sleep app, again helps with confidence when I can see I had some good zzzeds, even if I feel a bit ropey. In addition, over the past six months I see steps per day progress.
I got the Apple 2022 smart watch.. cheaper as it’s older and recommended by Which at the time I was buying.
I'm a big fan of not getting the latest greatest too SakaraHare I'll have a look at those. I've had IPhones before and generally found them to be well built and easy to use and the Which recommendation is a plus
Good luck lovely, it’s well worth getting some kind of watch, really does help to feel like you have a bit of control and knowledge with a very tricksie condition
Thank you I hadn't realised that and don't want to change phone so that's helpful(actuary having less choice will make the decision easier!) but yes I think it'll be worth it
I have a garmin vivomove and it measures heart rate (including resting), how well I slept (how much deep, how much light etc), step count, exercise intensity. I also add my menstruation info there, so when I gain 1 kg overnight I know it’s probably because of where I am in my cycle
I have the Apple Watch 8 series .. love it because I can set a million alarms (lol) it definitely tracks my sleep, temperature, walking steadiness, EKG , Heart rate and lots of other stuff… is it 100% accurate honestly I don’t think any tracking watch will be 100% accurate … I had a Fitbit Versa watch for years loved that watch but the watch had so many frustrating blips I could no longer deal with and I wanted something that played well with my apple phone.
Thanks Batty1 I did wonder if it's better to stick with the same brand as my phone. Yes, I agree, I'm expecting an idea of trends and what to look into, but not expecting pinpoint accuracy here
The Apple Watch requires an iPhone! (In case you had not realised.)
I got my Apple watch 8 around halfway between its release and the release on the Watch 9. Price reflected that. But the differences between recent releases haven't been huge - except for the Ultra models.
No, I didn't! The huawei ones work with apple or Android so I thought apple might be the same. Thanks, that's saved me some time as I really don't want to change phone!
Like TiggerMe I have an Oura ring - mines's 2nd Gen. Very good but I think 3rd Gen now gives more metrics. I really like it for sleep measurements but can't comment on thyroid as not yet diagnosed. I also like that is pairs on Bluetooth and can be put in aeroplane mode overnight to avoid EMF's. Nice interface and links with various other health monitoring apps like Chronometer.
Thanks Bertiepuss Interface is a good point, I get very frustrated when it's not intuitive. Hopefully a good sales website would give me an idea about that ahead of buying, mental note made to check!
You're welcome 😊 Good luck with your research, these gadgets are quite an investment so take some time to work out what is it you actually want to know and measure. Then if you're like me, make a massive comparison spreadsheet, look at it 100 times a day and procrastinate about what to buy for several weeks! 😁
Yup, I've used a Fitbit Charge since 2016 and it has really helped in the provision of clinical evidence to both GP's and Endo's. And indeed for myself. I use the heart rate and sleep stats most.
Doctors can't refute what you are saying if they can see the graphs in front of them. Try as some might. With the NHS going down the pan, functional medicine and individuals taking more control over their health (especially in the thyroid world it seems) appears to be the way forward so I will not be getting rid of mine any time soon. It's one of my most valuable life tools.
Just choose one that suits your own needs and do your due diligence. I don't need many of the features on the super duper ones but the basic model has been great. Each to their own.
Thanks SilverSavvy that's a really great recommendation, I'm glad it's been a good investment for you. It's so easy to upsell yourself but often the basics are what you need the most.
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) but no idea if they would be accurate. I'm curious to know what my level's like - on NDT now, but I suspect I've had hashi's untreated for most of my life. Thanks for the info DippyDame 
Thyroid results- Monitor my health
Sleep Apnoea and Thyroid Conditions
Self-dosing without self-monitoring of thyroid levels.
