The Apple Watch’s electrocardiogram function, along with other health indicators, can act as a simple stress detector.
A new study shows that the device is useful for indicating stress because of a range of health characteristics it is supposed to detect.
Apple recently claimed that the Watch can tell when a person is having a nightmare based on various sensors and how they move in their sleep – gently nudging them out of the experience, but not waking them up.
“The link between stress and multiple biomarkers has revealed opportunities to develop technologies to quantify stress,” says the study, published earlier this month in Frontiers in Digital Health.
A new study shows that the Apple Watch is useful for indicating stress due to a range of health cues it is designed to detect
“One of those features is heart rate variability (HRV) which is now routinely quantified by electrocardiograph (ECG).”
EKGs are usually performed in healthcare facilities, which limits their accessibility. The ECG function has been included in the device since Apple Watch Series 4.
Researchers note that developing self-monitoring devices would provide critical information to healthcare professionals and enable real-time interventions that could save lives.
In 2020, there were an estimated 100 million Apple Watch users worldwide, all generating a huge amount of data thanks to the wearable’s built-in sensors for heart rate variability, blood oxygen levels, and more.
“The datasets obtained from this new, real-life data can be used to create prediction models using Machine Learning (ML), helping public health authorities better understand and study the prevalence of a condition in a population,” researchers argue. in the study.
Study participants received an iPhone 7 with iOS 15 and an Apple Watch Series 6 with an installed ECG app (WatchOS 8.3) for two weeks.
They were told to collect data six times a day at three-hour intervals. Prior to ECG collection, participants completed a stress questionnaire on the iPhone.
“To our knowledge, this is the first study to use Apple Watch ECG data to predict individuals’ stress levels,” the research paper continues. ‘Furthermore, the results are in line with the start-of-the-art for stress prediction, albeit on the low side.’
“This is promising given the ultra-short-term and real-life nature, as well as the novelty of the Apple Watch ECG data,” the researchers say.
Although the Watch does not yet contain a specific stress function, it can still function quite well at predicting “no stress” states, the researchers note.
The study was conducted by Frontiers in Digital Health and the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. It had 33 participants who were split, 73% women and 27% men, ranging in age from 18 to over 65.
They were told to collect data six times a day at three-hour intervals. Prior to ECG collection, participants completed a stress questionnaire on the iPhone
This isn’t the first time Apple Watches have been studied for their impact on heart health.
A 2017 study from Stanford University and Apple, involving more than 419,000 users, was the largest ever to examine screening apparently healthy people for atrial fibrillation, a condition that, if left untreated, can eventually cause strokes.
The device didn’t panic large groups of people and alerted only half a percent of participants — about 2,100 — that they might have a problem.
But even among those marked, “it’s not perfect,” said Richard Kovacs of the American College of Cardiology, who was not involved in the study.
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DID APPLE WATCHES EVER REALLY SAVE LIVES?
In 2018, a Michigan woman saved her drowning husband’s life by calling 911 on her Apple Watch. But that’s not the first time the wearable has helped owners in difficult circumstances.
In April 2017, Casey Bennett of Laytonsville, Maryland, was driving home from school when he was hit by another vehicle, sending him and his Jeep Patriot flying.
A 28-year-old received life-saving treatment for a pulmonary embolism because his Apple Watch detected a sudden increase in his heart rate
Bennett, 22, found himself hanging from the driver’s seat only by his seatbelt, with his iPhone too far out of reach to call for help.
However, he remembered that his Apple Watch had an SOS Emergency function and held down the side button to contact the rescuer, who arrived on scene within six minutes.
Many wearers use the heart monitoring capabilities of the Apple Watch to detect heart problems early.
James Green, 32, said his watch alerted him in 2017 to a sudden increase in his heart rate, a sign of a possible pulmonary embolism.
Green had previously suffered a life-threatening clot and rushed to the hospital, where doctors found another clot in his lungs, which could have killed him within minutes if left untreated.
He says the only reason he’s alive alone is because of that report.
“Never thought a stupid lil [sic] wrist computer I bought two years ago would save my life,” Green tweeted. “Saw my heart rate go up, ended up being a pulmonary embolism.”
