Low heart rate monitoring included in watchOS 5

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AppleInsiderAppleInsider
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in Apple Watch
Apple debuted a trio of new heart rate monitoring features set to be included in the Apple Watch Series 4. As it turns out, at least one of them was included in watchOS 5 for existing Apple Watch owners.

Low Heart Rate Monitoring


Previously, Apple included support in Apple Watch to detect elevated heart rates while in your body appeared to be at rest. Now, Apple also incorporates the ability to detect low heart rates as well.

After installing watchOS 5, if you open the Heart Rate app, there is a new welcome screen that reads "Heart Rate can now notify you if Apple Watch detects a heart rate that falls below 40 BPM for 10 minutes."

These alerts will show up on your Apple Watch, and be logged in the Health app. If you launch the Health app on your iPhone, you will see a new statistic that tracks anytime a low heart rate is detected.

To adjust this setting, or turn it off, you can head to the Apple Watch app. Under Heart, there is now an option for Low Heart Rate. You can elect to disable the feature completely or choose between 40, 45, and 50 BMP as the threshold.

Apple Watch Series 4 will be able to track low heart rate, elevated heart rates, AFib, and take an ECG.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 10
    appleabuserappleabuser Posts: 38member
    I wouldn't be surprised if a version of the Afib is added for series 1-3 in watchOS 5.1 (or whichever version adds ECG to series 4). II could be mistaken, but wasn't data from the Apple heart study with Stanford used to get clearance for the Afib app... which came from pre-Series 4 watches?
    watto_cobra
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  • Reply 2 of 10
    king editor the grateking editor the grate Posts: 673member
    I get notifications on low (and high) heart rates from HeartWatch on Series 0. I suppose that functionality has just been absorbed into first-party app. However, I'm convinced the majority of times I get really high or low rates, it's just a false reading, because it instantly recovers and I don't feel a lurch of several dozen bpm.
    edited September 2018
    watto_cobra
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  • Reply 3 of 10
    SoundJudgmentsoundjudgment Posts: 187member
    Hmmm.... a heart-rate sustained below 40 bpm?? I'd be dead already.
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  • Reply 4 of 10
    StrangeDaysstrangedays Posts: 13,171member
    But but but Apple uses planned obsolescence to force people to upgrade to newer hardware!
    lolliverracerhomie3watto_cobra
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  • Reply 5 of 10
    night9hawknight9hawk Posts: 104member
    SoundJudgment said:
    Hmmm.... a heart-rate sustained below 40 bpm?? I'd be dead already.
    My resting heart rate is in the mid 40's and occasionally when I'm in for a medical procedure that requires anesthesia it'll drop to 38-36 beats per minute. Freaks out the people who are performing the procedure so I warn them ahead of time that it's slow.
    watto_cobra
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  • Reply 6 of 10
    royboyroyboy Posts: 458member
    night9hawk said:
    My resting heart rate is in the mid 40's and occasionally when I'm in for a medical procedure that requires anesthesia it'll drop to 38-36 beats per minute. Freaks out the people who are performing the procedure so I warn them ahead of time that it's slow.
    For most people, a heart rate below 40 bpm can lead to serious health issues, including death.   My normal resting heart rate is in the mid 40s.   But when I sleep, my heart rates wants to go down into the 30s.   The reason I say “wants to” is because I have a defibrillator implanted in my chest, which keeps my heart rate from going below 40 bpm.    My heart rate has always been slow, but medically it wasn’t an issue until I had a heart attack.   The doctors would always say “good, but we need to keep an eye on it”.   But insurance companies determine what healthcare we receive, so it seems like a heart attack, with a $498,000 bill, was the wakeup call.   A $50 K defibrillator would have be cheaper.  I would like to buy and wear an Apple Watch, but I think all it would tell me is “get yea to the emergency room immediately!”   
    fotoformatwatto_cobra
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  • Reply 7 of 10
    king editor the grateking editor the grate Posts: 673member
    royboy said:
    I would like to buy and wear an Apple Watch, but I think all it would tell me is “get yea to the emergency room immediately!”   
    I believe its official lingo is “Hie thyself to a room of emergencies, posthaste!”
    watto_cobra
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  • Reply 8 of 10
    ElCapitanelcapitan Posts: 372member
    SoundJudgment said:
    Hmmm.... a heart-rate sustained below 40 bpm?? I'd be dead already.
    I have always had a low heart rate, but after a small heart attack it has crept down to the low 40-ties during sleep and occasionally when being awake.

    Getting the watch in the first place was to get a handle on the low rate and how often it occurs as we had recorded as low as 35 on Holter but you can't go around wired to that thing 24/7.  The watch has recoded as low as 30 once, but that might be an error. 

    Turned on the low rate monitor set for 45 last evening and had 2 alerts this morning. 
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  • Reply 9 of 10
    franklinjackconfranklinjackcon Posts: 612member
    royboy said:
    For most people, a heart rate below 40 bpm can lead to serious health issues, including death.   My normal resting heart rate is in the mid 40s.   But when I sleep, my heart rates wants to go down into the 30s.   The reason I say “wants to” is because I have a defibrillator implanted in my chest, which keeps my heart rate from going below 40 bpm.    My heart rate has always been slow, but medically it wasn’t an issue until I had a heart attack.   The doctors would always say “good, but we need to keep an eye on it”.   But insurance companies determine what healthcare we receive, so it seems like a heart attack, with a $498,000 bill, was the wakeup call.   A $50 K defibrillator would have be cheaper.  I would like to buy and wear an Apple Watch, but I think all it would tell me is “get yea to the emergency room immediately!”   
    I suspect my future is the same as yours. My heart rate is regularly in the 30s and since I started wearing a Garmin watch, it has spotted me getting into the 20s a few times. Normal doctors raise their eyebrows but my cardiologist tells me the same thing as yours - don't stress, keep an eye on it - and also that one day I'll be one the 10% of people that need a pace maker. 
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  • Reply 10 of 10
    ivanhivanh Posts: 597member
    ECG feature, read a recent article from NewScientist that scientists are warning that consumers using ECG features may risk their lives more because more patients will be prescribed with blood thinner medication unnecessarily. And Apple has no measure at all to prevent false alarm.  See “New Apple Watch’s potential risks”, Clare Wilson, on 22nd September 2018, NewScientist.
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