Which is why Apple’s idea of delivering alerts in case of increased heart rates seemed like such a good idea. The Apple Watch would use the heart rate sensors to measure your heart rate and its other sensors to work out whether you were active or not. The alert would go out only if the app sensed that your heart rate was high for a period of ten minutes AND you were relatively inactive. Seems sensible on paper? Well, it actually works. I have now had three occasions when a gentle buzz on my wrist has informed me that my heart rate is on the higher side. Fortunately, it has never reached levels of significant alarm, but each such notification has managed to make me realize that I perhaps need to slow down a little and be, if nothing else, then a little on the careful side. What’s more, on a couple of occasions, cross-checking with more elaborate equipment showed that the Apple Watch’s sensor had got the rating relatively correct and that this was not a case of a heart rate sensor gone crazy – you will be surprised at how often that can happen.
No, I am not qualified to comment on how useful these Elevated Heart Rate alerts actually are in medical terms. But then, it is not really meant for doctors. It is a handy tool for letting you know when your heart is in overdrive. And that can only help. In case you are wondering how to get Elevated Heart Rate alerts on your Apple Watch (it works with all Apple Watches except the original one, evidently because of hardware limitations), here is how you go about it:
That’s all there is to it. Hope you never get one of the alerts. They can be disconcerting. On the flip side, hey, they prove that the feature actually works. Now, I need to get back to those breathing exercises, perhaps.
