AFib patients using wearable devices are more likely to engage in high rates of symptom monitoring and experience anxiety than non-users, a study shows.
This article is a great example of the post hoc fallacy; it’s more likely that people anxious about their heart condition are purchasing wearable monitors at an elevated rate compared to the rest of the population
“Oh my SPO2 is dangerously low, at 82%?”
*adjusts watch to be a bit tighter*
SPO2 back to 98%
So yeah I do monitor it moreso than without, but understanding the limits of the tech, hasn’t made me more worried. Bought one to record sleep schedule. Works very well for that.
Understanding the limits of the tech is key - I don’t equate the sleep tracking to the quality of the same I’d receive in a sleep lab, but I do value understanding my perception of sleep quality (i.e., totally subjective and rarely valid) vs the partially objective tracking I get from the watch.
I think I responses to the wrong comment, here’s the reply:
Yes, I agree.
Which is why I only got one after being declined from a sleep clinic for absurd reasons.
Mine uses a green light, but afaik it’s more or less the same as hospital ones. Just cheaper shit. Like how an aeroplane and a paperplane are technically both aircraft. You could study aerodynamics with paper aeroplanes, but it’s gonna be much easier if you don’t have to resort to that but can actually study the knowledge available to make reasonable choices.
the public healthcare here just plain up denied my referral from a psychiatrist. despite more than 20 years of sleep problems. if I could meet the person who made that decision, I’d have a few strongly selected words to tell them
82 is a bit below dangerous I’d say, especially if the wearer is unconscious.
If the wearer can see that value and understand it, it’s probably a hardware failure.
That was my reasoning exactly.
The sensors are decent enough for something that cost less than 50 euro, but clearly there’s room to improve.
Good contact is quite fickle if there are any obstructions or even dirt on the skin, but my experience are mostly with the fingertop or earlobe sensors which are quite sensitive due to only using a red led. Does the wrist one use another kind of tech?
I disabled those warnings on my smartwatch because they made me worry and it worked like a vicious circle. The more they say high heart rate or something the more I was unable to calm myself down.
Can see them being useful but yeah not for me.
Correlation or causation?
People that are more anxious about AFib might be more likely to buy a device to monitor it.
If anything I have the opposite with my garmin watch that shows my heart rate. I’ve gotten used to seeing what my heart rate does just before I have a panic attack. This has really helped me ‘catch’ myself before it happens and calm myself down. I’ve not had one for over 2 years.
In a similar vain, I tried out a garmin smartwatch for a while, and at some point it warned me I was getting stressed.
I wasn’t though - I was excited about a project that I had been working on coming together. But apparently the watch could only think in negative moods.
For that, and other privacy and usability based reasons, I decided to return it and go back to my non-heart-rating Pebble Time Steel.
