Apple Watch: 5 heart health features you should know

The Apple Watch comes with several health-tracking features. The heart health-related features of the Apple Watch help track physical activity, sleep, mindfulness and more with irregular rhythm notifications, ECG, sleep schedules, Breathe sessions etc. Here are 5 heart health features of the Apple Watch you should know about:

1. Heart health notifications: On the Apple Watch, you can enable notifications from the Heart Rate app to alert you to high or low heart rates and irregular heart rhythms. If your heart rate remains above or below a chosen beats per minute, your Apple Watch can notify you. Also, the irregular rhythm notification feature on your Apple Watch will occasionally look at your heartbeat to check for an irregular rhythm that might be suggestive of atrial fibrillation and notify you, so you can take action. If you’re feeling symptoms, you can simply take an ECG from anywhere.


2. Sleep schedules in the Sleep app: With the Sleep app on Apple Watch, you can create sleep schedules to help you meet your sleep goals. Once you’ve enabled a sleep schedule, Wind Down is a feature that helps you prepare for sleep by reducing distractions and creating a calm environment. And when you wear your watch to bed, the Apple Watch can estimate the time you spent in each sleep stage —REM, Core, and Deep—as well as when you might have woken up. With the new Sleep Apnea Notification feature, you can get notified if your breathing disturbances are showing consistent signs of sleep apnea, which can have important health consequences over time if left untreated, including cardiac disease.


3. Physical activity tracking with the Activity app: The Apple Watch can track your activity and workouts, and encourages you to lead a more active life through gentle reminders and friendly competitions. The Activity app tracks how often you stand, how much you move, and how many minutes of exercise you do. Three rings in different colours summarise your progress. The goal is to sit less, move more, and get some exercise by completing each ring every day.


4. Reflect and Breathe sessions: One way of de-stressing is mediation and reflection. The Mindfulness app on Apple Watch encourages you to set aside a few minutes a day to focus, center, and connect as you breathe. Once you complete a Reflect or Breathe session, you can see your heart rate on the summary screen. You can event set reminders to encourage consistency.