Asking Doctor Mike About Fitness Wearables

Doctor Mike stopped by to discuss all things health in tech! In this clip, Marques and Andrew ask him about his thoughts on fitness wearables and whether or not they're actually useful.

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[stevenichols]

About four years ago, I had a stroke and I fell, and I couldn’t get up and I use the SOS feature of my watch to call 911. So, in a very real sense, my watch did help save me from a worse outcome.

[iplahalo]

My mother tripped on an uneven sidewalk and fell right on her cheek bone on the concrete. Her Apple Watch called 911 as she was concussed and confused with no one around. It truly can be a life saving device for many people. I’m forever sold.

[realdanpatterson]

Medic student here. I had suspected that I might have SVT, and after an episode of syncope during an episode of tachycardia, palpitations, difficulty breathing etc. I decided to pick up an apple watch. First ECG I captured was textbook SVT: Narrow complex, hidden P-waves, 190bpm. Took that into my GP and her first words was "that's awesome, that's so cool! I can't believe you caught that!". I'm now scheduled for an ablation!

[christianhotter]

I just got a wearable wristband for my kid who has seizures. It notifies parents when it detects a seizure. The device is just a wristband, but there is an app for apple and android watches that claim to do the same function. They all take a monthly sub for the monitoring, so it would be helpful to have studies that were run by independent sources to make sure we are getting something that actually helps.

[EdwardsNH]

He's just one doctor... I'm a health professional, and I can tell you most doctors have mixed opinions about this, but most agree the ECG is (incomplete, but) pretty accurate. I know of one doctor that does house calls to remote areas, and uses his own watch to take people's ECG sometimes. However, wife is an ER doctor, and she's tired of people coming in 'cause their "heart rate is lower than normal".

Personally, I can't wait for the day it monitors glucose

[Jnthnpg]

To be completely honest I had weird heart palpitations last year, did a few ECGs on my watch over maybe an hour or so, took the readings to the hospital and they did find issues with my heart. It didn’t solve anything but the watch at least gave me something to hand to a doctor to look at.

[AprilTheRockStar]

My mom has had afib since she was a teenager, but she didn't know it until 2020. It was getting worse, happening more often, and lasting longer. She got a Galaxy watch for free with a phone, and even though she doesn't ever wear it, she was using it to keep track of her afib before she had an ablation. It helped her doctors get a better idea of how much it was affecting her.

I totally get how people become anxious over the functionalities on their watches and not understanding how helpful or harmful certain data is.

[TravisFloyd]

I treat my watch as a tool, if something is irregular I’ll just ask my doctor. Never soly rely on one tool.

[WinstonBoogie]

It all depends on how you take the information. I'm a nurse and when I see the information I take it with my knowledge of what I have learned with my education. If I see something troubling I use it as more of a warning. You can't take maybe the 1 or 2x of high BP and panic. It's like when I have been asked by people "I have a cough. What does that mean?" Cancer! I don't know!

[joemccall]

Educated patient who has learned to live with cardiac issues for 25+ years. I can easily feel tachy (SVT), PVCs, and atrial flutter but it's nice to have confirmation without reaching for my Kardia. Can I tell a PVC from a PAC? Nope, and unsure anyone can from a single-lead device. But again, it's an arrhythmia and having a record of the event and being able to track it over time is actually reassuring. Certainly, if I had a different personality I might be running to the ER every time my watch beeped and just get anxious waiting for the next alert. But short of getting my own halter or (heaven forbid) Medtronic giving me access to my pacemaker readings a smartwatch is my only reasonable option.

[JapaneseAlley]

I have been using health gadgets for almost 10 years now. I've had 5 gadgets over the years.
• Fitbit Flex
• Fitbit Flex 2
• Fitbit Inspire 2
• Fitbit Inspire 3
• Vital Bracelet BE
I love having health gadgets, but I've had doctors tell me not to trust them. It can start a conversation, but it won't solve anything. I love that it is WAY more fun to get out and exercise than it use to be because anything that can lead me to better health is good. Just know it isn't perfect, anything can happen and if you know the answer, then you're probably right and just trust your gut and listen to your doctor first and foremost. Active gadgets can be great, but not a solution.

[xsleep]

Retired physician. I've had intermittent A.fib for over a decade. It occurs for about 24 hours or less about every 2-3 months. I always know when I have it if I'm awake. I don't ever remember it waking me up but I have had it while I'm asleep. I got the Apple Watch and it now summarizes what % of the time I'm in A.Fib every month. That, the Activity app, and (especially) the Shazam complication on my watch face is why I continue to wear one.

[davidgomesdonascimento]

I totally agreed with him. The watch has great sensors, but it’s different from proper medical gearing. If you do an EKG on your watch, you only have one lead. Standard EKG is 12 leads, just to pinpoint one of the differences. What we really need is research and a lot of AI to help understand how can we use this data and standardize it, because if Apple does something in one generation and change it in the other, results are gone be different, not to mention the variation between all the different products that do this measures. Now, it’s more of a gimmicky/enthusiast tool than a life changer.

[paawansagar]

I’ve gone through this fitness tracker anxiety. Before, I used to feel great but ever since I began to constantly track my head rate, oxygen level and breaths per minute, I have been having a bit of issues breathing. So it definitely can help to sometimes ignore the trackers

[bokbokeh]

thanks for monitoring the audio and bringing everything back up so quick!

[vjmtz]

Totally agree with Dr. Mike...for me the only real reason I have a Apple Watch is for convience, much like a regular watch, but now I can respond to a text message, maybe look up directions, and pay/monitor stuff without needing my giant phone which I cannot have on me when working out or riding my bike as it would fly out of my pocket.

The ultimate thing these smart watches can do the best at: making a phone call for an emergency (aka...old school Life Alert).

Its why I wear my smart watch, just in case I fall, crash, get stranded, etc I can make a call.

[beawriting]

I love my garmin watch because I can track my walking / hiking. But yes, I have had to turn off a lot of the health noise tracking because it was actually increasing my anxiety. On the flip side, I have my mom to turn hers on when she is walking at the park. So if she falls asleep will be notified.

[kirillkiryushin]

I had some nightly low heart rate alerts during my peak fitness form (I’m a long distance runner). I was OK with that. What I would not be OK is to miss such an alert out of bounds of my peak fitness form.
Also I’m using ECG to communicate its results to my health check doctors. Which saves a lot of mine and their time.
Also-also, VO2Max is AFAIK one metrics that highly correlates with life longevity. So, I keep my health and fitness in check to keep this metric above average))

[nancydegrace]

I am not in great shape so just to do a light cleaning. I noticed my heartbeat go to high. Now I noticed that when I started getting more active my heartbeat went lower. So I ues my fit bit to see my progress. So I am getting healthier. It's really helping me with my bad sleep habits and I am getting better. I really feel that is good for me to get healthier

[mimisachanxxv]

I have Afb. Before I was diagnosed, my heart rate is really irregular like 25% if the time. Then after taking medication, it notified me that it lessens, since then it only reads I have 2%.