Apple, Samsung, Fitbit, Other Company's Wearable Technology: How Are They Affecting Health, Fitness Specialists in Interacting with Patients?

Now that people can directly access technology and their gadgets, they have the chance to take their health and fitness into their hands specifically, into their smartwatch, be it an Apple, Samsung, or Fitbit.

As specified in Techpluto, wearable technology, a trend that was something we never heard of until a few years back, has turned out to be a "foreseeable sensation" in the outcome of rapid digitization.

People are now using and trusting wearable technology like the smartwatch to proactively manage both their health and sickness, which is helping them in tapping into their specific needs, whether physical or medical.

In 2014, when Tim Cook took the stage at an event to announce the much-anticipated, long-talked about Apple Watch, he described the product as a "comprehensive health and fitness device," The Verge report said.

His announcement set the standard for what the company thought wearable devices and smartwatches would be, which is, they are designed not just for fun and time-telling, not just for the wearer to be notified of incoming calls and text messages, but essentially for health.

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(Photo: Solen Feyissa on Unsplash)
In 2014, Tim Cook claimed their 'Apple Watches could be lifesaving.'

Wearable Technology for Cardiology

After four years, Cook called the smartwatch of Apple as a health device; he was back for a bigger claim which is, their "Apple Watches could be lifesaving."

About five years ago, cardiologists began to see many of their patients bringing in heart rate data from their smartwatches.

According to a 2019 Harvard Health Publishing report, smartwatches with special sensors can record a tracing of the electrical signature, an electrocardiogram or ECG of the heart, and alert the wearer if it detects an irregular rhythm.

In the fall of the same year, the FDA approved Apple for its ECG sensor and an app that comprises an algorithm to detect atrial fibrillation or afib, the most typical heart rhythm disorder.

Smartwatches for Sports and Fitness

Fitness and fitness-adjacent information, including step counts, were among the earliest data available in wearables. However, this The Verge report specified, it was frequently divorced from context. The main objective was to hit a certain target, and that particular target could frequently be arbitrary.

Sports medicine specialist and senior medical director of wellness and nutrition Liz Joy, from Intermountain Healthcare in Utah, said people would say, "I try to get 10,000 steps a day." Then she'd ask them where they think such a recommendation came from, and nine out of 10 times, they have no idea, she said.

Joy explained, though, that there is nothing wrong with hitting 10,000 steps a day; it's just that, she elaborated, people don't need "that many to get health benefits."

In many circumstances, though, the widespread use of wearables as fitness trackers can at times be dangerous, like for patients with obsessive-compulsive behaviors or eating disorders, the specialist also sees. She said, "it's more of a curse than a blessing," with the said cohort.

Related information about the effectiveness of wearable technology is shown on Newsy's YouTube video below:

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Check out more news and information on Wearables in Science Times.