4 ms·
A low (R)HR isn't always indicative of good health. High blood pressure can cause your HR to drop, for instance. I hope they're actively researching their data
by Tharkun 8y ago
A low (R)HR isn't always indicative of good health. High blood pressure can cause your HR to drop, for instance.
I hope they're actively researching their data set, I suspect we can learn a lot from it. They might even be able to detect certain arrhythmias, though that can't be easy with just an optical sensor which only reads HR.
With a user base this large, I'm sure people have died while wearing their fitbit. Maybe they could help predict/prevent the sudden cardiac death syndrome that many young athletes are afraid of?
- Engineering-MD 8y agoWhile you are correct, it’s not normally seen as an indicator of high blood pressure. The larger concern would be an arrhythmia or a form of heart block. These are definitely dangerous, but usually concern is only raised if symptomatic or the heart rate is below 50. Even in this case, a heart rate below 50 can be normal in very athletic people.
- Tharkun 8y agoOh yes, you're absolute right. I'm not saying that a a HR below 60 is abnormal or bad. I'm just saying that "low = good" isn't automatically true. AFAIK devices like fitbit have no indication of blood pressure (or heart block or certain kinds of arrhythmias), so they can't really make this bold claim.
- agumonkey 8y agoI'd love to see more information about blood rheology and actual flow versus extremas of pressure waves.
- Tharkun 8y agoWasn't someone working on a step-on scale which (somehow?) looked at blood flow in your feet and tracked this over time? Something like that might be able to detect plaque buildup over time. Not sure how accurate this would be, or how exactly this would work.
- agumonkey 8y agoNever heard of it but interesting nonetheless. Time to google.